Making Smarter Financial Decisions in Your SMB with Michael Young

Member resources:

Frequent asked questions:

What is Searchfunder.com?

Searchfunder.com is an online community of searchers, investors, lenders, brokers and other professionals. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder account to help them network, hire, and mentor others.

What are the benefits of membership?

In addition to accessing the most active online network of business buyers, Searchfunder licenses research that is simply not cost effective for individuals. Access over 15,000 industry reports and 50,000 transaction financials. You also get monthly credits for contact information for your company sourcing campaign with the option to purchase more at drastically discounted rates. Searchfunder has pre-purchased access from these data providers in order to empower individual buyers and to help searchers level the playing field versus private equity.

Do you have deals?

While we are primarily a buy-side network, we do have hundreds of brokers that regularly post deals to the community.

Can I find an internship on Searchfunder?

Absolutely! We have the industry's largest intern job board. If you are considering a search, the first step is to help another business buyer so you can hit the ground running.

What does it cost?

Searchfunder is a subscription service. We offer flexible monthly, annual and lifetime memberships.

Monthly

$79 / month

Annual

$19 / month

Lifetime

$432 / once

Those who maintain an account with us for over 4 continuous years are permanently added to the community without the need for a membership.

Do I need an MBA to join?

While a large number of our members come from dedicated programs at Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth, and other top programs, searching is no longer reserved for the elite. With the current abundance of dry powder in private equity, and an increasing number of business owners reaching retirement age, good deals rarely go unfunded.

Post a question, deal, job, etc...

Make a post...

Complete registration to post.

by an investor from University of Virginia
in Tampa, FL, USA

5mos ago

Making Smarter Financial Decisions in Your SMB with Michael Young

In this episode of The Intentional Owner, Kaustubh Deo sits down with Michael Young to explore the realities of building and scaling a people-first accounting firm after a long and uncertain search journey. Michael shares how he transitioned from Big Four accounting into entrepreneurship, ultimately acquiring and growing Bay Business Group while navigating the challenges of hiring, client selection, and operational discipline. The conversation dives into what small business owners should actually expect from bookkeeping, controller, and CFO services, and how financial clarity can drive better decision-making. Along the way, Michael offers an honest look at the emotional and practical challenges of search, and why defining your “why” matters more than anything. They discuss: • The differences between bookkeeping, controller, and CFO support and what small businesses actually need • Why search is unpredictable and heavily influenced by luck, not just effort • How to scale a people-driven business and the challenges of hiring high-quality talent • The importance of client selection, scope control, and saying no to the wrong fit • How AI is changing accounting and why advisory and judgment still matter Support our Sponsor Bay Business Group provides managed accounting and finance--think bookkeeping to fractional CFO--for scaling businesses. Learn more at ⁠redacted Have SMB questions for Kaustubh and Sam? Email them to redacted and they will answer them on the Pod! Topics: 00:00 - Intro 01:26 - Introducing Michael Young 04:06 - Dropping search to build a startup 07:49 - Bookkeepers vs controllers 11:35 - When do you need a CFO? 13:03 - Owner finance literacy 14:51 - Scaling a people firm 16:42 - Client fit and boundaries 20:09 - Operational metrics and change 24:07 - Family life and time control 25:22 - Long term vision and short term priorities 28:50 - Ideal client profiles 31:37 - Searchers as clients 34:02 - Churn and scope control 35:41 - Sales versus service 36:34 - AI and accounting 39:01 - Future proofing systems 44:53 - Search journey reflections

0 Likes

2 Views