Hi Searchfunder Community, After close to a year of running a part-time self-funded search alongside my full-time consulting career, I’ve decided to wind down my efforts. The search started after coming to a mid-career lull and discovering ETA through my spouse’s MBA program. Keeping my full-time income was non-negotiable for me and my family, so I ran a tight process on the side: evaluated hundreds of deals and submitted two LOIs, though neither ended up countersigned. Statistics show that roughly 40% of searchers never end up closing a deal, but you rarely hear from them in the community once they stop. Having gone through the process and making the decision to discontinue searching, I wanted to share a few candid thoughts on why I’m stepping away. The Hard Math: Multiples, Debt, and Opportunity Cost The primary driver was the market. Over the last year, I’ve seen a trend of massively inflated valuation multiples, and the math on LMM deals, particularly in the SBA 7a range, has completely shifted. When you plug today's multiples into a self-funded capital structure, debt service coverage gets razor-thin. Most of the time, you don't achieve your best-case outcome, and with that reduced margin for error, the result is an uncomfortable level of PG risk, even if you’re bringing in investor capital or over-capitalizing the deal. While you may not have the worst-case outcome of bankruptcy, a large portion of outcomes end up with the searcher managing a highly leveraged operation where you're just grinding out a job with a multi-million dollar PG hanging over your head. That reality is that the numbers make achieving that life-changing financial outcome more and more difficult, and the opportunity cost of giving up a strong corporate career for me became too great. The Narrative vs. The Reality of Ownership The internet constantly beats into your head that the only real path to financial independence and success is through cash flow from business ownership. I bought into that narrative for the potential financial outcomes, but the reality forced some introspection. I realized I didn’t have a true passion for the day-to-day grind of operational ownership. In my corporate career, I actually enjoy having a team of smart people around to bounce ideas off; the weight of every outcome doesn't rely solely on my shoulders. Going solo as an operator means losing that environment in most cases. This is something that every searcher really should have an honest conversation with themselves about. Re-allocating Capital and Next Steps for Career Pivot I still believe in the asset class, but I’ve decided my involvement is better suited as an investor. I took the capital I had earmarked for my own equity injection and instead invested it as a passive LP in a PE firm that focuses on independent sponsor acquisitions. This gives me exposure to the space, solves the PG risk, and leaves the operational stress to the operators. That said, I’m still focused on making a career pivot. The search process sharpened a lot of my technical skills, particularly around valuation, financial modeling, and due diligence. I’m looking to take those finance-heavy skills, combined with my 10+ years of business operations and project management background and apply them to a new corporate role, potentially in a corporate finance, PE-adjacent, or strategic operational role. I want to further leverage the finance and analytical toolkit I've built in my search. If anyone in the community has made a similar pivot out of a search and back into a corporate career where you successfully utilized your search skills, I’d love to connect. I'd welcome any advice on how you positioned the experience, or just a casual networking chat if you're in a similar space. Finally, a huge thank you to the Searchfunder community. This platform has been a wealth of information, and the people here are incredibly helpful. I'm glad I took the shot, and I look forward to staying connected as an LP and community member. Best, David