Search Fund raise didn't attract a lead investor - looking for options

by a searcher from University of California, Los Angeles - UCLA Anderson School of Management

1 month ago

Hello Awesome people!.
Our partnered search didn't anchor a lead investor - various reasons sighted ranging from: Over committed, Lack of gray capital, We aren't backing non-collocated searchers, we aren't sponsoring California focused search (we were explicit about whole of US in our discussions)
Decided to put a pause on partnered search till we accumulate more skills & create a compelling profile.
a. Has anyone here successfully changed an Investor's initial No --> Yes? (& willing to share tips?)
b. Is anyone looking to bring on Interns/consultant (pro-bono is fine) to do the due-diligence and financial analyses et al?

Happy to chat other strategies (including self-funded, buying small and re-connecting with a deal with investors) and compare notes incase anyone else has similar experiences! Looking fwd. to connecting! - hitesh

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7 comments

searcher from Tufts University

Were the concerns with California specifically or with having a geographic focus/limit in general?

2 weeks ago | like reply | 0 likes

searcher from University of Texas at Austin

I probably wouldn’t throw in the towel based on that alone. I would double down and really try to get some more detailed feedback about your model and adjust to make it more compelling and add more value. Also how many investors did you reach out to? Raising money is a numbers game especially if you don’t have any warm intros from folks they trust.

2 weeks ago | like reply | 0 likes

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