Connecting with UK searchers / investors
June 14, 2023
by a searcher in London, UK
Hi all,
I'm early in my UK search fund journey (research phase) and would love to connect with fellow UK searchers or investors.
A little bit about me:
-- Ex Bain & Co
-- Marketing and commercial (P&L) experience at IWG (largest global co-working provider)
-- Operations at Shopee (largest South-East-Asia e-commerce player), managing a team of +1,000 people
-- Founder of Forever Passport, a unique travel journal that's sold on Amazon, on Shopify and B2B
I'm currently living in Malaysia, but planning to move back to the UK in 2024 and am seriously contemplating setting up a UK based search fund.
Some of the questions I have for UK based searchers:
-- What resources have you used a) assessing industries (e.g. IBIS reports) and b) companies (e.g. anyone used Beauhurst)?
-- What was your approach to sourcing search capital?
-- What are classic UK capital structures (equity vs. senior debt vs. seller financing)? e.g. the Stanford primer indicates in the UK most of it is redeemable preferred equity
-- Any connections to investors, lenders, ... you can share?
-- Any tips / tricks for someone just starting this journey?
Looking forward to connecting with all of you!
from University of Hull in Portsmouth, UK
I use open market data, Endole, Companies House, etc.
I fund the search myself.
Unfortunately this is a how long is a piece of string question. I would estimate a 20% funded day one payment, and seller finance the rest.
You need to make your own network unfortunately, it's all about individual relationships.
Get stuck in is my biggest tip. Speak to people, get used to the language, focus on building rapport.
Happy to chat.
in City of London, London, UK