Is it too late to raise from traditional search investors?
April 27, 2023
by a searcher from Georgetown University - The McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC, USA
I had heard that often investors have identified the search fund entrepreneurs they're going to support for the year, early in the year.
from Harvard University in Dallas, TX, USA
1. It is 100% false that there is any cycle to when people fund. I fund year round, with absolutely no regard to timing. So do a vast number of high net worth people. It's a 10 year investment typically. So it would be illogical to think there is some annual cycle to it. Funds may have timelines and be different. There is absolutely no shortage of capital.
2. When I was raising in 2009 I met with a very well known funder of searches. He told me I was great and then apologized that he wasn't funding any more searches as he was in too many. Over the next 6 months I found out that he met with 3 people that day. He met the other 2 in the afternoon after he met me. He funded both. A very well known current funder didn't ever reply to me after 3 meetings. Then asked me 3 years later why he wasn't allowed in my fund. You may think these are bad, or unfair or something else. They are what will repeat 100s of times from people who's businesses you want to buy and who don't know how to say no without offending and without having a good reason. There isn't a funding cycle and you likely won't hear the truth a lot of the time.
If you don't like that, search isn't for you.
from University of Pennsylvania in Dallas, TX, USA