General Advice for a New Guy

August 05, 2022

by an member from North Carolina State University in Destin, FL 32541, USA

Quick Background: I have an undergraduate Accounting degree from NC State University, and I am currently serving active duty in the U.S. Army as a Sr Communications Sergeant with 7th Special Forces Group. I will be transitioning out of the Army in the next year and I am planning on applying and enrolling in an MBA program. ETA and Search Funds are something I am very interested in and I was hoping I could get some good general advice and words of wisdom with respect to what I can be doing now to get ahead and position myself.

What are the best resources available (books, websites, online courses, etc) to potential searchers like myself? I have read HBR: Guide to Buying a Small Business and Buy then Build by Walker Deibel.

What are the best MBA programs for ETA and Search Funds? Any of the M7 are obviously great but what about schools like Duke, UVA, Texas, UNC, Michigan?

Any help or insight that could be provided would be greatly appreciated.

Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Boston, MA, USA

Hey Frank - as you've already seen even on this thread (^redacted‌), there's a great network of veteran searchers out there who are happy to help. Some are still students, some are still searching, and then there's all sorts of operators and operators-turned-investors across a decade or more's vintages. I'd recommend reaching out to that group for some of their advice and to get your next round of Q&A going after you run through the resources you already listed. The Stanford Search study is always a good resource. Same goes for the Acquiring Minds podcast, esp. their view on self-funding vs. traditional search funds https://acquiringminds.co/articles/self-funded-search-vs-traditional-search-funds

I fully admit it could be the error of self reference, but seeing mixed opinions on doing the MBA vs. diving right into search has me wanting to throw my hat into the ring. Yes there's tremendous value in just getting after it, and I'll agree you don't "need" to go, but a top MBA program with a good ETA curriculum can pay tremendous dividends. It gives you (lots of) specific knowledge and skills directly relevant to search, helps you develop a peer group / cohort with other searchers, provides a low risk environment to confirm Search is right for you (e.g., summer internhip), and once you're fully committed to the path it opens a lot of doors in terms of fundraising, deal sourcing, etc. (both from the direct network you build over a couple years, as well as the extended network / credentialing effect). Especially if you've got GI Bill and/or VR&E benefits available, it's a no-regrets move.

You can shoot me an email too - redacted - happy to chat and help how I can.

Reply by a professional
from University of Southern California in North Palm Beach, FL, USA

Try these if you want to move on from the academic and theory kinds of books.

Tactics matter.

How to Prepare Yourself and Find the Right Business to Buy

How to Buy the Right Business the Right Way—Dos, Don’ts & Profit Strategies

https://cutt.ly/vvV5PHs

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