Are traditional searches declining?
December 30, 2020
by an investor from University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business in San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
I have noticed an increasing number of self funded searcher discussions on this forum over the past two years. At the same time, anecdotally I have been hearing a lot less about funded searchers successfully closing an acquisition target. I have also personally invested in both funded search funds and unfunded search deals in the past and noticed lately that my funded searchers appear to be running out of time (could be coincidence due to small sample size).
I would be interested in observations from search fund industry insiders and professional investors on this forum:
1. Are fewer funded search funds getting funded lately?
2. Has the failure rate (no deal closed) of funded search funds increased over the past 2 years?
3. Has the quality of searchers declined due more sophisticated searcher going the self-funded route?
from University of Pennsylvania in Toronto, ON, Canada
However, Most sellers lie or show their financials in a better light which causes deals to be pulled off and there are many hundreds of reasons
More searchers are inclined to "self funded" as they get more equity and a better exit after 5-8 years.
However, if you try to speak to 2 "potential sellers" every week- ones with real financials and are willing to speak to you... you can do it.
All the best :)