Sure, searching for a lower-middle-market business to acquire and run is challenging, but have you tried doing it while pregnant? Entrepreneurs-through-acquisition Ania Aliev and Courtney Dunn share their own searching-while-pregnant stories in a fascinating, inspiring and touching conversation with Search Party's Lauren Farkas.

Aliev, now CEO of Life Support Systems, and Courtney Dunn, now VP Customer Success at Cerbo, began their respective ETA searches childless and between jobs and now are both moms and business owners. 

Among the key takeaways in this episode of Search Party:

• Pregnancy during search can function as a filter, not just a burden. When some sellers withdrew from conversations upon learning Aliev was pregnant, she reframed their reaction as useful signal: "If that's what you think about me because I'm having a baby, what else might not align between us?"

• Dunn found that showing up visibly pregnant to meet Cerbo's team cut through their fears of a hard-nosed acquirer: "They were like, oh, she's not this bloodsucking Medusa person — she's a human being and she's creating a human being."

• Both searchers have advice for anyone contemplating an ETA search, but worried about timing and the interference of big life events: stop waiting. Aliev distilled the lesson bluntly — "If you keep delaying doing certain things until this is all set or that is figured out, ultimately you never get to those things."

Watch the full episode on the Search Party Substack: https://searchpartychannel.substack.com/p/searching-while-pregnant

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