Any recommendations for a "buyer's coach"?

June 04, 2023

by a searcher from Texas A&M University in Dallas, TX, USA

Does anyone have vetted recommendations for formal coaching/advisory/support during self-funded search?

A lot of the search process feels like you're progressing through a dark cave by trial and error. Are there experienced coaches that can walk with you and bring a map and lantern?

Feel free to DM me if you have anything specific that you'd rather not share publically. Thanks!

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Reply by an investor
from McGill University in San Diego, CA, USA

David, for what it's worth, your dilemma underlies the key reason accelerators exist. Launching a search from scratch involves a heavy administrative burden (develop a website, a back office, a CRM, populate the CRM with data, develop an internship program and figure out how to recruit, investor reporting, to name a few), and also requires searchers to do a lot of things they may not have expertise in (like hire a Q of E provider, negotiate a working capital peg, find debt providers, etc). Accelerators were set up to help searchers hit the ground running, enabling them to focus their time on where they have expertise. Blind spots and talent gaps are then handled by each searcher's partners. Think of it as a baseball player coming up to the plate with the benefit of having a 3rd base coach, 1st base coach, bench coach, analytics team, and teammates sharing notes on which pitches to swing at, and which ones to lay off of,

Reply by a searcher
from Oklahoma State University in Wichita, KS, USA

Hi David, great question. As a non-traditional searcher I recruited a number of advisors really out of necessity. Former colleagues, an experienced CFO/investor as well as hired a former venture capitalist as advisor/consultant/partner. In total, four individuals that I meet with monthly if not more frequently when needed. These individuals review key decisions with me, discuss learnings, search runway, and go-forward strategy. I have found this group to be extremely valuable. I might recommend considering your own personal network of folks who have served as mentors to you in the past. I have found that most were happy to serve in the fractional advisor/coach role pro-bono for the learning experience as they thought the search model was a neat structure.

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