Holdings managing remotely

August 21, 2025

by a searcher from University of Massachusetts Amherst - Isenberg School of Management in Bothell, Washington, USA

Hi Searchfunder community, I’m exploring the idea of acquiring or building a holding company structure and managing businesses remotely. My background is in marketing, product development, and entrepreneurship, and I’m particularly interested in women-focused and consumer-facing businesses. I’d love to hear from anyone who has: • Experience acquiring businesses through SBA loans • Insights on owning multiple businesses under a holdco structure • How to effectively oversee operations and leadership remotely • Tips for building systems and hiring managers to handle day-to-day while focusing on strategy • Lessons learned (good or bad!) about balancing location independence with active ownership If you’ve gone down this path — or know of resources, case studies, or SBA-specific considerations — I’d really appreciate your perspective. Thank you in advance! Mercedes

Reply by an intermediary
from The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA

1. In all fields, theory and practice have a gap. What you are asking has one of the largest gaps. 2. SBA most likely will not fund such acquisition. 3. In my 35 years as M&A Intermediary, I have probably met few thousand sellers. Sellers prefer to sell to first-time-buyer who is going to be hands-on, at least for a while.

Reply by a searcher
from University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA

On 3 and 4: My business operates out of Alabama. I moved there for a 16 months and moved back to Seattle after I felt like I understood the day-to-day challenges and was confident in my staff's ability to handle all of the random things that crop. It's definitely doable but it is challenging. A couple of things to consider based on my experience: 1. Getting the right level of support to set up remote mechanisms is difficult even if you're technically savvy. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the service providers in the SMB niche I've found (and we've gone through half a dozen) are either over-priced for the service they provide or simply unable to provide the level of service you're likely going to be expecting. I've had to resort to setting up many of our processes myself to meet my needs and I'd say we're about 60% of the way to having a "real" EOS in place. 2. You're going to have to be lucky and patient with your staff. My company had supported a remote co-owner for 5 years before I bought it, and it was still challenging to have the culture shift accept that I wouldn't be physically there all the time. I was very lucky to have inherited a few engaged and self-reliant staff to lead the day-to-day work. 3. Being remote as a leader is different than being remote as staff or middle management. My team relies on me for real-time problem solving to unblock them, communicating strategy, building culture, motivation, coaching and development of their teams etc. That requires a lot of impromptu and scheduled team meetings. You'll need to be thoughtful about your org structure to make sure you truly can focus on strategic issues, while providing face time to your key people.

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