Searching in California?

May 19, 2026

by Luke Tatone from Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management in Portland, OR, USA

We're working hard to grow the Searchfunder community in California. Please take a moment to introduce yourself below. Some questions to consider answering: Where are you based? What is your background? What's your buy box? Have you acquired yet? Where do you need the most help right now? Where can you provide help to others? Anything else on your mind? We'll be able to have much deeper discussions if you can provide as much detail as possible. A paragraph or two is perfect. Be sure to tag (@) when replying to comments to make sure your sub-comments are read.

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Reply by a searcher
from United States Air Force Academy in Escondido, CA, USA

Hi everyone, I'm Alicia Powers, based in North County San Diego. My background is military → commercial construction → residential construction and I completed my acquisition of a 32-year old residential general contracting company here in SD in July 2025 after a self-funded search. Where I need help: I'm always interested in meeting with other ETA'ers looking at or in home services/construction in SoCal to bounce thoughts off of and compare notes. Also always looking for referrals for people who want to do projects - we specialize in residential additions, ADUs, and structural remodeling across San Diego and North County. Where I can provide help: I earned my CA general contractor B license in January 2025 and am well-versed in the CSLB licensing requirements plus RMO/RME requirements and happy to discuss those. I also have a good set of service providers (attorney, marketing, etc.) that I'm happy to refer as they've been critical to my acquisition and now business. Finally, I know a lot about home services marketing and lead generation from my previous role as the GM of a shower remodeling business, so I'm happy to discuss that as well. Also I was recently interviewed on an episode of Acquiring Minds if anybody wants to check that out!

Reply by a searcher
from Biola University in North Tustin, CA, USA

Thanks for kicking this off ^redacted‌. I’m Scott Phillips from OC. 30+ year tech exec with sales, marketing, business development, product management, and business unit management experience. Looking to make a last 6-8 year push in SMB ownership. Looking smaller ($300K to $750K purchase price) to fund mostly with cash, some debt, seller financing, and bridge investments to avoid PG (agreement with spouse). Open to partnering on deals. I lean toward commercial/industrial services as well as light mfg (CNC, additive mfg, sheet metal, coatings, plastics, etc.), IT services, and professional education services. Have been searching for 18+ months while working the W2 and have spoken with a lot of sellers and submitted several LOIs (for what I thought the business was worth) but none accepted. Have made a lot of decent broker and funding contacts, now just need to find that needle in the haystack business with unicorn seller who will allow some creative financing. Not sure how I can help but feel free to ping me and I’ll do my best.

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