Search for Technical Specialist Companies

investor profile

January 27, 2023

by an investor from University of California, San Diego in San Diego, CA, USA

Does anyone have experience searching for companies with a technical expert founder?

My background is not like most of the MBAs that I see on searchfunder and in the larger community. I have a doctorate in a technical field, and I have spent most of my career in a company with a highly technical founder, which we have scaled from ~$1M in EBITDA to $10-20M in EBITDA.

There are many small companies that serve highly technical fields, for example optical coating companies that primarily serve researchers. Many of these are in the academic/DoD research community. They typically have a highly technical founder that has a very limited succession plan.

I am interested in these types of companies since I feel that I have a competitive advantage over more general purpose searchers, but I don't know of any way to find intermediaries that specialize in such companies. A proprietary search campaign might be successful, but I am not searching full time right now.

Does anyone have experience in this area?

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commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Texas A&M University in Johnson City, TN, USA
I have a similar background. These show up some with brokers, but it may not align perfectly with your expertise. Three that I bid on fit your description, but I got outbid on all. Direct outreach might work well for you, if you feel that you can while in your current position. There are lists of companies that win SBIRs, etc that you could look at for example. DM if you want to discuss.
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from University of Massachusetts at Lowell in Boston, MA, USA
I'm actively in the process of my first acquisition. I don't have my MBA either but 10+ years of experience in the space I'm purchasing in.
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