Self Funded vs Sponsorship Model?

searcher profile

August 07, 2025

by a searcher in Miami, FL, USA

I'd love to get community feedback on which decision you feel was better for you and why. The goal is an aggressive three-year rollup leading to an exit. I welcome thoughts from both self-funded searchers and independent sponsors
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Reply by a searcher
from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Westport, CT, USA
^redacted‌ thank you for the ping. Ultimately the decision goes down if you are able to self fund the search or not. In case you are able to self fund the search, I would still recommend to create a network of investors and advisors early on. This will become extremely helpful once you find the deal and will look for investors. The strength of the sponsorship model relies on the input you are able to receive from your sponsors beside the possible investment in money.
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Reply by an intermediary
in New York, NY, USA
As with most things, the answer is "it depends." I would need more details on deal sizes, industry, desired level of control, exit strategies, investors, etc. At CapFlow we do a lot of larger independent sponsor acquisition financing ($5m - $30m), and smaller SMB/SBA self-funded search financing ($1m - $5m or up to $8m if Pari Passu). Happy to discuss the differences based on what the details are. Feel free to ping me at redacted or set an intro call at capflow.net.
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