You don’t eat a hamburger for the nutrients in the lettuce and tomato, and you don’t go to LinkedIn for a multimillion dollar acquisition. Imagine you’re about to sell the business you’ve been building for the past couple decades, and you try looking for help on LinkedIn. You’re going to have to sift through motivational quotes, corporate PR, and generic listicles just hoping for something relevant to appear. It usually doesn’t. That’s why Searchfunder works. It’s not trying to be everything at once. It’s just trying to be one thing: a place where people who are actually involved in search fund deals can talk to each other. Searchfunder was founded in 2016 by @redacted‌ and @redacted‌ with the goal of focusing on quality over scale. The platform is built specifically for search fund entrepreneurs, investors, brokers, and lenders. It’s not for everyone, and that’s why it works. Let’s take a quick look at what makes Searchfunder so unique. A Chef-Owned Restaurant In an email, the Searchfunder team compared its success to that of a chef-owned restaurant. These restaurants are almost always the winners of the James Beard award because the owner/chef is directly involved in the kitchen. They taste-test every meal and control the quality of what gets delivered to their guests. In the same way, the team makes an effort to read nearly every post and hand tag them whenever possible to promote good conversation. This approach would be entirely impossible at scale, but it is, at the same time, what keeps Searchfunder fresh and valuable. This organic setup also allows for new users to enter the conversation more easily. On winner-takes-all social media platforms, the conversation is largely dominated by a tiny portion of creators who’ve amassed a following. High Signal-to-Noise Ratio On LinkedIn, you might spend an hour trying to find a single useful M&A thread. I just checked, and here’s a couple posts from my feed. redactedFun stuff, but not very helpful. Now, let’s look at Searchfunder, where almost everything is relevant to what I do. Here’s what’s on my Searchfunder feed. redactedredactedThese posts reflect the incredible value density found on Searchfunder. There are posts about sourcing deals, evaluating them, or announcing a close. It feels like everyone is on the same team and speaking the same language. As a bonus feature, the comments are genuine and human-to-human, given that the Searchfunder team asks their users to avoid the use of AI. While its number of active members is small compared to other social media platforms, these 6,500 community members have completed over 1,158 acquisition and raised more than $3 billion. When you have that much activity and such a specific user base, the noise stays low, and people find what they’re looking for. Breaking Down Silos Even today, the M&A search world is fairly fragmented. If you need a broker, you typically have to ask around. If you want to meet other searchers, you’re likely going to try to get an introduction from someone you know. Searchfunder is actively working to pull those separate networks into one space. A broker in Florida can connect with a first-time searcher in California without a middleman. A lender can post terms for deals they want to fund and only attract the most fitting buyers. As the silos get weaker, the deal flow gets stronger. Members have noticed how intentional the platform is. One user posted a thank-you to co-founder Luke for “his consistent ability to keep the community engaged” and for remembering details about members even as the site has grown. I highly doubt that Mark Zuckerberg or Reid Hoffman care to remember any details about you. Next Steps with QOE Prep Finding a deal on Searchfunder means you’ve already filtered for signal. But getting a clean signal is not the same as getting a clean deal. You still have to test the numbers. That’s where QOE Prep comes in. A Quality of Earnings report verifies whether the EBITDA holds up, whether revenue is really recurring, and whether the margins are sustainable. It holds up the narrative told by the owner and compares it to what the data says. If you’re interested in learning more, schedule a call with me or follow me on Searchfunder.