Introduction from a new mid-career searcher

January 17, 2021

by an investor from New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business in New York, NY, USA

Hello all,

I am excited to join the Searchfunder community and wanted to provide a brief introduction, as well as to see if I can be helpful to any of you. My name is Robert Samaan. I currently live in Dubai, but will be relocating back to New York in the coming months after having spent the past 10 years in the Middle East. I have 25+ years of global experience in principal investing, investment banking and corporate finance. I have an MBA (emphasis in Finance) from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BBA (major in Accounting) from Stetson University.

After spending my career advising and investing on behalf of others, I have finally reached the point at which I would like to do this on my own behalf. After quite a bit of soul searching and research, I believe that EtA is the perfect next phase for my career. While I have a good amount of experience in private equity, M&A and capital raising, EtA is obviously a unique discipline, so I am still in the process of getting up to speed. I have read Buy then Build and the HBR Guide, and am going through the Stanford GSB Primer. I also just subscribed to the Polsky ETA Podcast so will check that out soon.

In addition to educating myself on EtA in general, I am also pulling together a plan of what I am looking for in terms of geography, industry, deal size, financing, etc. If you have any suggested resources for someone at this step of the journey, that would be very helpful.

Also - if I can be of help to any of you, please do not hesitate to reach out. While my background might not be specifically in EtA, I do have a lot of relevant experience that will hopefully allow me to contribute to the Searchfunder community.

Thanks,

Robert

Reply by a searcher
from University of Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada

^redacted‌ Thanks for putting your profile up. I would call myself an early mid-career searcher. Though I am not officially a searcher just yet as I have a couple things I want to clear in my life over the next couple months. I have spent 14 years as an engineering consultant in the nuclear energy sector in Canada. While that may sound specialized, I have cultivated a very diverse set of experiences - primarily in Project Management, Ops and Consulting. I come from an entrepreneurial family with background in real estate and tech. I will need to build up my M&A skills, so I am also getting up to speed on the mechanics of an acquisition and really looking forward to doing one in the near term. Once acquired, I have a lot of confidence in creating long term value through operational excellence. Since we are at similar points in our respective journeys, I thought we should connect. Good luck with your transition back to NYC!

Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Toronto, ON, Canada

Welcome and goodluck!

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