Searchers that made a mid-career pivot

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by a searcher from University of California, Los Angeles - UCLA Anderson School of Management
in Pacifica, CA 94044, USA

1yr ago

meetup

15 attending

Searchers that made a mid-career pivot

· https://ucla.zoom.us/j/4084555088

Hi All,
So it seems like in a post covid world, the best way to meet others like you is to host an event ;)
I'm super excited to be a part of the search funder community and am curious to how many here can identify with me.
I am in my 40s, trying to make a pivot to ETA/SF and was curious if there are others that are in the same boat as myself!
If you have a perspective on raising a fund in mid career, Please do join me and others to share your perspective!

Event Type:

meetup

Format:

In-Person

Start Time:

Duration:

1 hr

2 Likes

157 Views

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from University of California, Los Angeles in Pacifica, CA 94044, USA

Thank you All for joining the zoom call! ^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ ^^redacted‌ ^redacted‌ and others! (apologies if I missed mentioning you!)
redacted

reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from University of Calgary in Calgary, AB, Canada

Hitesh, a few thoughts post call

On traditional search fund: One of the parties in my investor outreach was a duo that successfully raised, acquired and exited as "mid-career" searchers. He offered some of the biases they ran into (1) that searchers coming in later career have somehow failed to achieve success elsewhere by this stage (2) you should be able to riase through your own network with more work experience (3) mentioned on the call was perception of higher energy/drive/focus with youth and no family commitments to distract/impede relocation (4) Mid-career searchers viewed favorably if they come out of an industry and have a thesis/focus that aligns with their past experience./network.

Other observations; as discussed, and highlighted in Stanford study; ETA interest is up exponentially both in the US and abroad, so competition for capital is higher (more programs offering ETA courses, and funders on campus annually to meet potential candidates), legacy funds are resource constrained. Endurance indicated they received >150PPM's last year. and several groups indicated that current cohorts were slower to acquire, creating a backog of searchers.

There are some groups that require you to chase for a response, many that will tell you to come back at >50% committed. Those who softly commited valued the perspectives that mid-career stage inherently brings to the process and cited situations where the newly minted MBA from a top tier program struggled to adapt to real world situations post close, leaning heavily on their investors for support. Finding the investor group that aligns with your level of mentorship and their desired level of input is a challenge.