New Member Intro | Early ETA Search | Seeking Guidance & Connections

Hi Searchfunder Community, Excited to join the group and begin learning from this community. I’m early in my ETA journey and am currently focused on learning the fundamentals and ecosystem — thesis refinement, understanding effective broker outreach, and SBA lender engagement. I’m based in the San Francisco Bay Area (Livermore) and exploring a self-funded search with a focus on acquiring and operating a single business long-term. Professionally, I’ve spent the last ~20 years in product, technology, and operations leadership roles across retail, eCommerce, and healthcare. That experience has given me strong exposure to unit economics, operations, and scaling teams and I’m now eager to apply that operator mindset to own and operate something enduring at the SMB level. I’m currently leaning toward home services, and healthcare-adjacent service businesses, and I’m especially interested in companies with durable demand, repeat revenue, and opportunities for operational improvement. I’d love guidance and connections around: - Tactical advice on broker outreach (who to contact, how to stand out early, and common pitfalls) - SBA lenders open to early conversations and pre-qualification - M&A, tax, and diligence advisors who work frequently with first-time searchers - Any early-stage lessons that helped you avoid costly mistakes I’m genuinely excited to learn from others and to be helpful wherever my background may be useful. Please feel free to reach out, I’d love to connect. Thank you — looking forward to the journey. Ashish