Minority investments have a place in the lower middle market, but not sure how they would fit into a Searcher's mindset. If there is a longer term play to get your foot in the door of the business, then I could see it, but if you are shelling out $ to invest, and stuck riding shotgun instead of generating value the way you want to, it can become a hard partnership. on the flip side, the folks making the minority investments (particularly in search funders) are on to something big.

Don't BS us. Odds are we have seen what you are trying to pull before. If we get the feeling that something is "off" we will just high-tail it out of there. There is always another deal. That honesty and trust in new partnerships is enormous. The economics are important and why we are all here, but we want to do business with good human beings. Those relationships built during diligence and good times go a loooong way to help ride out the tough times if we have to go through them.