Finding a partner

March 02, 2023

by a searcher in Philadelphia, PA, USA

Does anyone on here have experience with finding a partner to do deals with? Not equity partners or anything like that but an actual business partner. I have done one deal and am currently working on my second but one thing is becoming abundantly clear... this is not an easy career choice if you're going solo. I also unfortunately didn't come from a PE or Investment Banking background so I don't have traditional GP connections. Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and how they went about that search, no pun intended.

Any thoughts appreciated

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Reply by a searcher
from University of North Texas in San Antonio, TX, USA

I agree with ^redacted‌ and the other commentary. For me, I found a great partner on Searchfunder and continue to network. We have an agreement that we can work together on a deal or do separately. I have others that can join me if I need to depending on capacity needs. We all have things we can bring to the table, but being able to have candid conversations helps. Reach out and talk and see what happens. They might start in one role and move overtime to another. Some play their cards close to the chest because they have been burned and others more open. As leaders, we should always be recruiting in some form or fashion. But get to the point for clarity sake. Ex., "Dave I've enjoyed our conversation, would you be interested in being COO or CEO or whatever you need."
Hope that helps and please don't hesitate to ask for help. If you never ask, you never get as the saying goes.
***One thing I forgot, when I was looking for a Chair for a vertical and doing multiple interviews, during a conversation I discovered after asking to be my chair, he turned out to be my eventual end buyer when I scale large enough.

Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Colorado Springs, CO, USA

I fell into a pretty great partnership. I didn't go specifically looking for one, though. I will say that you're absolutely right. Having a good partner is definitely worth it. If you don't, you'll always be sucked down into the day-to-day firefighting. With a partner, one of you can focus on M&A while the other does the firefighting. Anyway, the way it worked out for me is that I did a merger with someone close to my age, with a family about the same age. He and his wife each have 20 years of industry experience and my wife and I have MBAs. Together, both businesses are better off.
I'm not sure how you would go about finding something like that, but you might consider starting with a buy-side intermediary to find you something, but that might not be useful if geography is a consideration (it was for me). Best of luck!

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