Owner - CEO Roles. Perfect for searchers
March 05, 2026
by a searcher from Elon University - Martha and Spencer Love School of Business in Charlotte, NC, USA
Hi everyone, my company DealTeam is doing a lot of Owner-CEO roles. It's a unique model so I wanted to open the dialogue to get some thoughts
Essentially how it works -
The sponsors find a great businesses with strong characteristics (always $1.5M EBITDA), they nurture the seller relationship, raise capital for the transaction, get the transaction to the finish line and are on the hook for any broken deal costs if anything were to go south.
Traditional PE-backed CEOs, get a hefty salary, but minimal equity (usually 2-5%). They have incredible experience leading businesses in that exact same industry, but some might not want to lead a $2-3M EBITDA business (we've seen a good about that do if the upside is right).
An owner-CEO has significant equity in the business and is thereby financially motivated to grow the company more than a traditional PE-backed CEO who may have 2-5%. Equity can range based on the sponsor but I would say ~30-50% is what we usually see. Traditional search funds are 25% tops, so this is more competitive than that.
Exact industry experience isn't a requirement. Prior operating experience is always preferred.
I believe that this model is more compelling than a traditional search fund because the operator doesn't have to spend 2+ years searching for a business. If you can execute a self-funded search, that's a great best path because you get a larger piece of the pie, but finding the deal and paying for the transaction expenses can be difficult unless you have a good cash pile.
For those interested in this model, reach out to me at redacted or you can fill out your profile via this link https://dealteamjobs.fillout.com/t/62BdZFtrnYus