If you're looking to raise money from investors for your self-funded acquisition, or you are considering investing in this asset class yourself, listen closely to this roundtable with 3 self-funded search investors. Niklas James of Minds Capital (my partner), Tony Cappeart of Workbench Capital, and Adam Borcz, an investor in both self-funded and traditional search, were the panelists on a recent Acquiring Minds webinar. The conversation was so rich and wide-ranging that I thought it deserved being a proper episode of the podcast. Here's but a sampling of the many topics discussed: How these investors evaluate self-funded searchers How they think about searchers with no experience in their target acquisition's industry Do you really know what you're getting yourself into, and your need to demonstrate that you do Embracing the suck, and your need to demonstrate that you can What's more important: operational chops or finance chops? Self-funded deal terms: where they've been & where they're going Are terms too favorable for searchers? The rise of offering self-funded investors a put option so there is a well-defined path to getting their money out of your deal The needle you need to thread when pitching investors Off-putting assumptions to avoid making in your financial model The risk/reward profile of investing in self-funded search versus traditional search funds or independent sponsor deals As an investor myself now via Minds Capital, I realize how stark the difference is in how investors see search deals and how the entrepreneurs themselves do. Hopefully this conversation sheds light on investor thinking, something that hasn't gotten a lot of attention and which I would like to remedy going forward. Please enjoy this roundtable with Niklas James, Tony Cappaert, and Adam Borcz: Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Or, listen to the episode in the player at the top of the page ☝️☝️

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