David Khalil, Partner and CFO at saas.group, joins Search Funded to discuss the changing economics of SaaS. 

We talk about the collapse of SaaS exceptionalism, the shift away from ARR multiples, why GAAP profitability matters again, how stock-based compensation distorts earnings, and how saas.group acquires and operates profitable product-led software businesses for the long term.  

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In this episode of Search Funded, I speak with Michael Johns, Managing Director of Ascentro Capital Partners, a New Zealand-based private investment firm focused on buying, building, and growing businesses across New Zealand and Australia.

Michael shares the story of leaving the corporate and finance world to build Ascentro from the ground up, and why that transition was far more humbling than he expected. He explains what it took to raise capital deal by deal, why walking away from bad deals helped build trust with investors, and how putting meaningful personal capital into each transaction shaped the firm’s approach.

We also discuss what makes the New Zealand and Australian lower-middle-market different from the U.S. Michael explains why competition is thinner, why public information on private companies is scarcer, and why good businesses in New Zealand may trade for 4–6x EBITDA compared to much higher multiples in the U.S. At the same time, he is clear that the lower entry multiples are not “free,” because operators still need to attract strong management teams, professionalize the business, and execute effectively after closing.

A major theme of the conversation is people. Michael talks about the importance of hiring high-quality CEOs and management teams, why he is willing to pay above market for exceptional talent, and why diligence needs to go beyond the founder or CEO to understand the real culture and bench strength of a business. He also shares lessons from deals that did not go as planned, including the importance of spending more time with the second layer of management before closing.

We also explore New Zealand’s “tall poppy syndrome” and how it affects entrepreneurship, ambition, and the way successful founders are perceived. Michael reflects on why New Zealanders often under-celebrate business success and why he wants to help normalize ownership, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy for the next generation.

Finally, Michael explains why he sees generative AI as a major opportunity in smaller markets like New Zealand. Because many traditional business owners are older and slower to adopt new technology, Ascentro is focused on using AI across sales, operations, finance, reporting, and compliance to create an operating advantage. He also discusses Ascentro’s long-term ownership philosophy, its approach to platform building and integration, and the appeal of New Zealand as a private capital market in a more uncertain geopolitical world.

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In this episode we are joined by Alexander Kelm, founder of ETA Europe and writer of Buyout Diary, to explore why entrepreneurship through acquisition in Europe requires a very different playbook from the one most searchers know in the United States.

Alexander shares his journey from finance and startups into ETA, why he chose independence over the traditional search fund model, and how his MBA research on governance, founder knowledge transfer, and post-acquisition operations shaped his thinking around buying and owning small businesses.

They discuss:

•  Why the U.S. ETA model doesn’t cleanly translate to Europe 
•  The importance of language, culture, and local trust in European acquisitions 
•  How seller financing and government-backed loans differ from SBA financing 
•  Why relationship-building matters more in European dealmaking 
•  The growing ETA ecosystem across Amsterdam, Brussels, Spain, and beyond 
•  How family offices in Europe are slowly waking up to ETA 
•  Cross-border investing opportunities between the U.S. and Europe 
•  Why Alexander chose a self-funded path instead of a traditional search fund 

The conversation also dives into a broader theme that often gets overlooked in ETA: how to design an acquisition path that fits the kind of life you actually want to live, not just the one that looks best on paper.

Whether you’re interested in international ETA, self-funded acquisition entrepreneurship, or the future of small business succession outside the U.S., this episode offers a rare on-the-ground look at one of the fastest-growing ETA ecosystems in the world.

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 Sally Tian shares her journey from consulting, tech, and Harvard Business School to building one of the first search funds in China alongside her husband and co-founder. She explains why she walked away from the “immigrant dream” and chose a more uncertain but aligned path in entrepreneurship. 

We discuss what it actually takes to do search in China, including how fundraising differs across international and local investors, why credibility matters more than the model itself, and how relationship-driven dynamics shape sourcing and dealmaking. Sally also highlights key cultural differences, from how sellers perceive young operators to why traditional search fund narratives don’t translate directly. 

Throughout the conversation, she reflects on identity, returning to China, and how her background across cultures has shaped her approach to building and operating a business in a market where there is no clear playbook. 

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Most private equity returns over the last decade were not driven by operators. They were driven by cheap debt and multiple expansion. That playbook is breaking.

In this episode, Lee McCabe, partner at Claymore Partners, explains what actually drives value creation now and why most lower middle market businesses are far less prepared than they think. At Claymore, Lee works directly with private equity firms and their portfolio companies to drive value creation across marketing, data, and technology.

Before that, Lee led digital and growth initiatives at companies like eBay, Expedia, Facebook, and Alibaba, giving him a unique perspective on how digital and now AI actually show up inside real businesses, not just pitch decks.

We cover:

•  Why most businesses do not actually understand how they make money 
•  How KPI laundering and broken data lead to bad decisions 
•  Why AI is mostly a distraction for unprepared companies 
•  The real value creation playbook: data, systems, marketing, then AI 
•  How to think about CAC, conversion, and net profit per lead 
•  Why CEOs, not tech, are usually the biggest bottleneck 
•  How searchers and independent sponsors should adapt in a post multiple expansion world 

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In this episode we speak with Eric Whitley, co-founder of GridSME and GridSec, one of the leading providers of grid compliance, engineering, and cybersecurity services for renewable energy operators in the Western United States. After decades working inside the power grid, Eric and team built a highly specialized business that became essential to the rapid growth of solar and other inverter-based resources.

But what makes Eric’s story especially compelling isn’t just the business he built, it’s the decision he and his team made not to sell it.

After going through a full sale process, meeting with buyers, and receiving multiple offers, they ultimately walked away. Instead of optimizing for an exit, he and his partner and top leadership chose to structure the company for long-term independence, internal ownership, and what he calls a “forever company.” And since Eric stepped aside from leading the company, they chose to fund his buyout of GridSME through the company rather than outside investors, thus creating a succession ownership model for each of the remaining owners when their time is right. 

Along the way, Eric shares the frameworks that shaped his thinking, from The Pumpkin Plan to Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last, and how they translated those ideas into real decisions: focusing on A-level clients, building almost entirely through referrals, and sharing 50% of profits with employees.

More than anything, this conversation is a reminder that behind every acquisition opportunity is a real person who has spent decades building something meaningful. 

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In this episode, Ibrahim Abdel Rahim returns to share how ETA has evolved from a niche strategy into a rapidly globalizing asset class.

Moonbase has expanded beyond Europe into markets like Brazil and India, where activity is accelerating, while countries like Spain continue to produce strong deal flow. But as the ecosystem grows, Ibrahim argues that deeper structural issues are emerging.

He points to investor dynamics as a key pressure point. What was once a collaborative, trust-based model is, in his view, seeing more misalignment, politics, and investors who underestimate the level of involvement required to support operators.

According to Ibrahim, this is most visible in board composition, arguably the most important driver of outcomes in ETA. He suggests that boards are increasingly formed based on check size rather than merit, leading to under-engaged or overly financial oversight, which becomes especially problematic when companies struggle.

Ibrahim shares his framework for building effective boards:

•  Prioritize merit over capital 
•  Balance experience with hunger 
•  Include operational, not just financial, expertise 
•  Optimize for trust and responsiveness 

Zooming out, Ibrahim argues that while ETA is scaling quickly, the model’s success depends on maintaining high-quality investors and strong boards. The key question going forward is whether the ecosystem can grow without losing what makes it work.

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DC Moore is a mid-career searcher and the new CEO of Atlantic Technology Group, an enterprise wireless and mobility infrastructure provider benefiting from durable tailwinds tied to 5G densification, in-building connectivity needs, and rising mobile data demand.

With a path that includes Georgia Tech (electrical engineering), Wharton, and time at Motorola, Lockheed Martin, and McKinsey, followed by more than a decade in Africa doing M&A and operating leadership, DC brings a fundamentally different profile to ETA than the typical post-MBA searcher.

Instead of buying a simple business and replacing the owner, DC deliberately sought out complexity, kept the founder on, and structured real alignment around long-term growth.

In this episode, DC discusses:

• Why ETA appealed to him as a way to combine acquisitions with real operating authority rather than just board-level investing
• Raising a traditional search as a mid-career operator and challenging some of the stereotypes around who “fits” the model
• How a failed deal process with ATG turned into a better partnership by preserving trust with the seller
• Structuring meaningful rollover equity so the founder remains economically and emotionally invested in the next phase
• Managing unexpected hockey-stick growth, especially working capital strain and building hiring systems before scaling too fast

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Kevin Hong is a former searcher who was fired from the company he acquired and is now the founder of Caprae Capital, a tech-enabled lower middle market investment platform behind SaaSquatch Leads, Search as a Service, and a growing portfolio of businesses.

After years as an entrepreneur, Kevin turned to search as a more de-risked path to ownership. But his experience running a data center services business turned into a battle over governance, board control, seller alignment, and strategy. Instead of disappearing after being removed, he went public, interviewed other terminated searchers, and began publishing investor rankings and operator feedback in an effort to bring more transparency to the search ecosystem.

In this episode, Kevin discusses:

• Why search appealed to him, how he approached his acquisition, and what ultimately led to his firing
• What he thinks traditional search gets wrong about governance, boards, and operator-investor alignment
• How Caprae works, what he means by “rewriting LMM PE from the source code,” and why he believes founder-led, tech-enabled models can outperform the traditional playbook
• What he learned from surveying terminated searchers and why he believes the industry needs more transparency as it scales

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 Turner Wyatt is the founder and CEO of Small Capital, an investment firm backing self-funded searchers who want to bake employee ownership into their acquisitions from day one. A lifelong social entrepreneur (food security, food waste/climate, and founding the Upcycled Food Association), Turner describes his pivot into ETA as a direct response to what he sees as the other defining challenge of this century: income inequality. His core thesis is simple: if ETA is reshaping ownership in America, it’s a missed opportunity if employees remain locked out of wealth creation, and it’s also a missed opportunity for business performance. 

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