Search Funded: The ETA Podcast

Lasean Smith is founder of CAGR Investments, a micro-PE firm that is part family office and part product studio.. Lasean holds a bachelor's in media and computer science from Southern Illinois University, a master's from Arizona State University, an MBA from Georgetown, and a professional screenwriting degree from UCLA. LaSean is also a veteran of the US Navy and has worked at Deloitte, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and while doing so deployed over $450 million deployed across corporate R&D, Lasean also holds several patents and has invested in over 12 companies himself at CAGR.

In this episode, we discuss Lasean’s philosophy on what startups and SMEs can learn from corporate practices (and vice versa), how AI can help search fund acquisitions, and why he's focusing on Malaysia for his non-US investments. Lasean also shares valuable insights on attaining financial independence, diligencing culture, and building scalable processes for long-term success.

Lasean is the author of Values-Based Business Design, a book on product development for modern high growth companies: https://www.amazon.com/Values-Based-Business-Design-Development-High-Growth/dp/1623010012

Kevin Bibelhausen is an investor and business owner based in High Point, North Carolina. He frequently consults on digital strategy & operations, is a sought after conference speaker, frequent podcast guest and author. Kevin is passionate about professionalizing the "wild west" that was once SMB acquisitions. 

He has helped dozens of entrepreneurs find, finance and acquire small businesses and escape corporate America. Kevin received his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Link to his substack: https://bibelhausen.substack.com/

Interview starts at 9:08.

Gabriel Chick is the President and CEO of Cleveland, Ohio-based HVAC and industrial cleaning services company Service Tech Corporation (STC). Prior to STC, Gabriel served over 4 years as a Field Artillery Officer in the US Army where he led and oversaw a 40+ personnel team. Gabriel is a co-founder of GT Entrepreneurs, which he helped create while enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper Business School's full-time MBA program.

In this episode, Tom Gilroy, representing the fourth generation at GKG Risk, shares invaluable insights into the critical role of insurance due diligence in the process of acquiring a business and often-overlooked aspects of insurance in ensuring the long-term success and stability of an acquisition.

Saumil Jariwala, of Feta Fund, (Founder-focused Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) joins us on this episode to talk about his mission to  help one thousand entrepreneurs acquire businesses in his lifetime. 

We dive deep into the philosophy behind Feta Fund, highlighting its unique approach to specializing in providing support during the search phase of the EtA journey, as well as stories of EtA entrepreneurs Saumil has helped in their journey to make exceptional financial returns and change employee and customer lives.

Arada Capital Partners is a multidisciplinary team that invests in search funds across Europe.

Javier Puig, Partner at Arada Capital Partners, joined me to discuss Arada's value add and his journey launching a search fund investor after his MBA.

In this episode, host Nick Lall interviews Bakari Akil, Managing Director of Graves Hall Capital. 

They discuss Bakari's unique path to becoming a successful acquisition entrepreneur, including his most recent acquisition of a $30 million burlap bag manufacturing company. 

Bakari also shares his experiences as a lecturer at Cornell and Columbia Business Schools, his founding of New York's largest private equity hedge fund group on meetup.com, and what led him to launch Nomad Noir, a community for black digital nomads. 

Bakari offers extremely valuable insights on leveraging unconventional routes in entrepreneurship and business acquisitions, forging strong relationships with prominent figures like Dr. Cornel West and Tim Bovard without prior connections, how to approach deal analysis, and his daily habits that have led to his success.

AIJ Global (also known as AIJ Holdings, and formerly known as AI Global) is an international investment group with interests in multiple asset classes, including search funds, private equity, and startup ventures led by highly motivated and talented entrepreneurs.

They bring value by:

(1) Providing ongoing guidance to entrepreneurs,
(2) Working closely with their operating and managing partners through each phase of the project,
(3) Leveraging their global network of experts and collaborators.

Rafael is a solo traditional searcher looking to acquire an SME in France. He has 11 years of purchasing, sales, business development, strategy, and general management experience in Manufacturing (Steel, Textile) and FMCG (Personal care, Hygiene) industries, and France, Spain, Morocco, China and Australia.

Over the past 8 years, Rafael has built a track record in managing crisis situations as well as organic growth strategies in privately held medium size companies (€20m to €90m of revenues) both as General Manager and Strategy & Business Development Director. 

Rafael is a CFA® Charterholder, he holds an MBA from IESE Business School as well as a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from INSA Lyon and a Project Management Professional PMP ® certification.

Moonbase just raised $5M and Ibrahim and Khaled returned to discuss what they're seeing in the search fund ecosystem.