Thoughts on aligning a search fund with government budgets for next year?

by a searcher from Staffordshire University

Feb 07,2023

I'm debating offering consulting to search funders on how to align their searchers with future government budgets and grants available in Canada. Examples
- Infrastructure for electric cars (recharging stations for cars and heavy duty/commercial vehicles). 
- Education to help the adoption of heavy duty electric cars (this funding closes soon so may not apply). 
- automotive repair shops that can help with retrofitting of boat tails, cab heaters, auxiliary power units (will be funding for it next spring). 
- Private colleges that can offer training to the types of trades workers needed by these businesses. 

Thoughts on aligning a search fund with government budgets for next year? Is that thinking too 'short-term' and not advised? Or smart?

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searcher from Staffordshire University

To clarify, I don't mean the gov con space, I mean industries that benefit from government subsidies the most. What I mean is focusing the search on areas you know government is putting public money into. For example, any business that helps people learn a skilled trades, business related to converting commercial /heavy duty vehicles into electric ones, and business related to charging stations for EV's.

02/08/2023 | like reply | 0 likes

searcher from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Kenan-Flagler Business School

^Searchfunder member‌ - thanks for posting. I know it can be difficult to come up with an idea and throw that idea out to the wild without knowing the reception you will receive. So you have my respect for taking the brave steps here and seeking input. I would be happy to talk more 1:1 if you prefer. I have a number of years working in the US GovCon space as well as a few years in the Search space, but would not consider myself more insightful than many others in this community. As Johannes mentioned there are other very knowledgeable people to talk to, but here are my main thoughts:
‌
The positive: I think your offering to consult would be a value add to any searcher looking to get into GovCon or looking at an industry that plans to benefit from government spending (like US infrastructure bill). Anyone who is banking on a government for the success of their business needs to learn as much as possible about how governments work. Even those of us who have been around the space for a long time still have plenty to learn. So in that regard I think it is a good play to offer up your professional experiences as a resource to the search community.

The caution: I would not expect to see a high level of demand for this specific type of consulting. Maybe I'm not seeing the deal flow, but it doesn't seem to me that there are a lot of acquisitions in GovCon - although there might be a bigger push to search for industries to benefit from government spending. What I have seen is that investors (and lenders) are uncomfortable with the volatility and uncertainty that comes from the government funding cycles. I could be wrong, but I just don't see (or hear) a lot of deal flow in those areas.

My recommendation: if you really have a value add proposition to someone looking at the government space then go for it. Offer the service to the search community, but don't bet on "us" being your biggest customer group. There are thousands of US companies in the federal space and Canada might be a great growth opportunity for them - if only they knew how. Your ROI targeting companies that could grow into the Canadian markets seems much higher than from the search community.

Overall, I want to encourage you and your idea, but paint expectations as to the level of demand you might see from the search community. Just my two cents. Best of luck in your endeavors regardless. - Austin

02/08/2023 | like reply | 0 likes

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