Should I Keep Searching Full Time?

March 06, 2026

by a searcher from Louisiana State University - E. J. Ourso College of Business in Nashville, TN, USA

Hi everyone. I'm a self-funded searcher focused on construction-adjacent industries and industrial supply/distribution. However, I keep my industry criteria fairly open since I'm geography-constrained. Over the past several months of searching full-time I've built what feels like a solid foundation: CRM populated, outreach sequences running, a steady cadence of broker calls, and proprietary-lead seeds planted and in various stages. When I launched, I was intentional about runway. I carved out a dedicated living expense fund specifically so I wouldn't have to touch my acquisition capital (down payment + closing costs). That separation was the plan. That runway is now approaching its end in the next 3-4 months, and I'm staring down a decision I suspect a lot of people here have faced. **The Fork in the Road** 1. **Stay Full-Time** — Keep the search at 100% intensity, but begin drawing from the capital I've earmarked for the actual deal. 2. **Pivot to a Strategic Role** — Step into a part-time or full-time position — remote or otherwise in a construction-adjacent or industrial business — to replenish the living runway while potentially gaining real operational exposure in the industries I'm targeting. **What I'm Trying to Understand From the Community** - **Down Payment Dilution:** For those who drew on acquisition capital to cover living expenses — at what point did the shrinking checkbook start limiting the deals you could realistically pursue, or affect your standing with SBA lenders? - **Strategic Employment:** Has anyone taken a specific role (e.g.- construction-adjacent work: estimating, project coordination, supply chain, operations) purposefully as a search bridge? Did the inside access sharpen your thesis, or did the job noise erode your momentum more than you expected? - **Perception:** Does re-entering the workforce during a search read as a red flag to brokers, sellers, or equity partners — a signal of wavering commitment — or is it generally viewed as disciplined capital management? **An Open Note** If anyone in the network happens to know of opportunities — full-time or part-time — with operators or owners in industrial supply, construction services, or adjacent spaces, I'm open to a conversation. Not the primary reason for this post, but figured it was worth mentioning while I have the floor. Looking forward to some brutally honest feedback.

Reply by a searcher
from Columbia University in Atlanta, GA, USA

I'll weigh in here also, even though I'm early days with my search and many of the others here are much more wise and experienced than I am wrt this topic. That being said, I've learned that above all you need to protect cash flow. You need cash to survive. So this needs to be your priority. This means you can either get a job on the side while you search, or you can eat into your capital. If you eat into your capital you run the risk of the search taking too long and you eat into too much and then your acquisition strategy becomes at risk...and it would be really unfortunate to have made all that sacrifice and then at the end of it all can't afford the purchase. So I would vote for finding a job that brings in some cash while you search so you can pay the bills and protect your capital. The whole thing about dedicated time to focus on the search is valid, but honestly, many businesses have been started while the founder was working another job, and also there are many hours in the day that we waste. I spent most of my career working for big corporates, and then my last job was with a smaller start-up, and the biggest difference I learned was that start ups are "scrappy". You just have to do what you need to do. I learned to make the hard choices that I never had to deal with at big corporates, and most of them were around protecting cash. You need to be in fight mode and you need to be aggressive (also, on this point....once you start to sense you need to do something, just do it...waiting for a miracle never works). So maybe you take a non-sexy part time job for cash flow, maybe you sell your car and just do Uber for a while. I don't know, but my point is I would prioritize cash and capital preservation and don't be afraid to make the hard choices, and be aggressive. Anyway, I might have a different view 9 months from now haha but those are my thoughts for today.

Reply by a searcher
from Columbia University in New York, NY, USA

@Luke Tatone, thanks for looping me in here. I have been searching part-time so I'm living a version of this. I'd say protecting the down payment is important and having flexibility to work in your target industry part-time while searching makes you more credible in that specific ecosystem. It will also help you gather more industry knowledge and identify issues quickly in any deal that comes up. Having said that, you need to understand that your rate of deal review might go down

+25 more replies.

Join the discussion