Does anyone else in Nashville want to connect?

November 26, 2025

by a searcher from University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa in Franklin, TN, USA

Hi everyone, My name is Jacob, and I’m an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alabama. I’m new to ETA and just getting started learning about search funds. I’ve been reading articles and listening to some podcasts, but I’d love to hear from people in this community and get to learn from them. What advice would you give to someone my age who’s just starting to learn about ETA and search funds? Are there any specific books, podcasts, or people I should follow to build a strong understanding and meet new people.

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Reply by a lender
from Cornell University in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Hi ^redacted‌ - nice to meet you. Great idea on starting this journey early. If you end up going the self funded route, spend time on four things: Learn about the SBA 7(a) program: It is how most first time buyers finance a good size deal with ~10% down and a 10 year term. You can also do a 5% down and 5% seller note, if the note is on full standby for the entire length of the loan. Understand liquidity: Lenders care about your down payment, working capital, and how much cash you have left after closing. Start building savings now. Be a real operator: With SBA you are expected to run the business day to day, not be a passive owner. Make sure you actually understand and like the industry, are ready for the headaches that come with small business. Most importantly, gain experience and/or acquire a license in the same type of industry you may want to buy into later. Look for roles where you manage people, schedules, or a budget - those examples will matter when you talk to lenders and sellers. I highly recommend the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, Buy Then Build (Walker Deibel), The Messy Marketplace (Brent Beshore) and The Personal MBA (Josh Kaufman). We have a lot experience financing various companies via the SBA. If you ever need help talking through a deal, I am happy to help. We work with all the major SBA lenders. The bank pays us after your loan closes, so this is a 100% free service for you. You can email me directly at redacted or schedule a meeting with me: https://cal.com/francodeguzman/30min. Look forward to chatting!

Reply by a searcher
from University of Southern California in San Francisco, CA, USA

Awesome to see you getting started as a freshman! You're already consuming content which is great and imagine you'll build a financial foundation through courses and future work experiences. I'd recommend curating your future internship experiences to understand which industries you're most excited about or at least rule out the ones you're much less interested in. Industry expertise can act as a unfair advantage in your search, but finding the right deal also comes down to why would you uniquely be best to do this deal even when others cannot. I encourage you to think broadly about what roles you're best suited to at these companies and where you'll want to rely on others for expertise as you explore different internships. You could also intern with a searcher during the school year or summer and to get a sense of what the day to day grind can be like. These typically involve a lot of outreach to companies, industry research, organizing the CRM, building scalable systems, etc.

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