Entrepreneurship is a lonely world. And it’s even lonelier if it’s entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA). Nine times out of ten, if you meet someone in ETA, they’ll tell you they started “searching” in 2019 or later. Although it’s a new and small world, it is growing fast. Many first-time buyers start the search process armed with a podcast playlist and a stack of books, thinking knowledge alone will be enough. But that’s not enough, for two reasons: Everyone else already has access to that same content You’ll need real, specific support, which can only be found in the ETA community The ETA world is lonely enough to make a lot of driven, knowledgeable people give up. In order to make it through the tough times, you need to plug into a solid community that knows what it’s like when the search gets hard. @redacted‌ and the Search Fund Coalition Andrew Hoffman didn’t start out as a banker or private equity professional. He spent 15 years in advertising and ad tech, before entering ETA aroundredactedAndrew quickly realized just how important community was in that world. The Search Fund Coalition (SFC) grew out of that realization. Founded in 2020, SFC has hosted over 75 events and brought more than 4,500 people together across the ETA ecosystem. What began as a breakfast meetup in New York turned into a global network, one that now includes conferences, virtual events, and premium mentorship programs like SearcherBoost. The Rise and Fall of Your Average ETA-er The life cycle of ETA is surprisingly predictable. It begins with a spark. You get the idea that you could buy a certain business and grow it into something lasting. Then comes the learning curve. You spend a dizzying first few months drinking through the fire hose of industry fluency, deal structures, and broker conversations. Andrew compared this to your freshman year of college, where everyone around you is a potential friend and the world is full of opportunity. And then, around nine months in, many searchers hit what Andrew calls the pit of despair. This is the point where deals have fallen through, you're having trouble with an SBA loan, and you start to ask “What am I even doing with my life?” You’ll quickly realize that all those “relationships” you built in the first few months were fleeting, and you’re only left with a few meaningful connections. That’s why community matters. It goes beyond sharing resources to sharing each other’s burdens. SFC believes in a realistic and supportive approach to the entrepreneurial journey. By bringing together experts in the M&A process for their community events, they’re able to support the acquisition entrepreneurs at every stage. Andrew explained that everyone has their own “zone of genius and different skill sets. No one can (or should) do everything themselves.” Some searchers manage to push through, but others quit. So, what makes the difference? It’s not so much a question of confidence or competence. More often than not, it comes down to community. Having supportive peers, mentors, and collaborators keeps searchers from giving up during the tough times so they can reach their breakthrough. Finding a Cure to the ETA Loneliness Epidemic If you’re just getting into ETA, you’ll soon find that it is overflowing with content. You’ve got Twitter threads, newsletters, and podcasts offering more insights than any searcher in 2019 could have imagined. And if that’s not enough, you can always pay for more content. No doubt, you’ve come across business gurus selling you their MasterClass course for hundreds (thousands?) of dollars and may have even been tempted by it. While it’s great to have this information, the content alone won’t get you across the finish line. As Andrew says, “Content is a commodity, community is not.” There’s a huge difference between listening to a great webinar or reading a solid article (couple examples here) and actually sitting down with someone who will work with you during your own process. They can tell you that you’re not crazy, share their own experience, and then pat you on the back and point you in the right direction. It Takes Two to Tango To drive home this point about community, you can look at the success of partners versus sole owners. According to Harvard Business School, there is good evidence that having a partner leads to more financial success. It’s not hard to imagine why. Having a partner will reduce blind spots, boost creativity, and bring credibility to the table. Credibility, specifically, is what makes community so valuable in the search world. Community also drives credibility. In ETA, buyers are often competing for the same deals. Andrew calls it a friendly competition, given the shared sense of community, but it’s still a competition at the end of the day. What sets buyers apart isn’t just the end valuation or deal structure, it’s whether they have the right partners and community members willing to vouch for them. Partnerships, mentorship, and peer networks all make a real difference between being seen as “just another searcher” and being trusted as the right steward for a business. SFC is an active community. It holds regular virtual and in-person events, with a great ETA Capital Forum event coming up in NYC on 10/10. We’re excited to be supporting this event, and you can sign up here with our code QOE10 for a discounted ticket! Learn more about Search Fund Coalition and start building connections during your ETA journey. We’ve Got Your Back At QOE Prep, we fully recognize the need for community. Please excuse the cliché, but we actually do care about the journey more than the destination. Of course, you’ll get your tried-and-true quality of earnings report just like you would with any other service provider. But with us, you’ll have our personal phone numbers so you can call at any point along the way. We’re here to help you get through a deal without you feeling alone or overwhelmed. When the pit of despair hits, having someone in your corner who knows both the technical details and the emotional weight of the process can make all the difference. That’s the kind of partnership we aim to build. If that sounds good to you, go to our website today to get a free quote on your QoE.