What part takes so long on the search

April 30, 2026

by a searcher from University of California, Riverside in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA

I am curious. I keep reading articles where they say a search take 18 months to close and more than half never close a deal. So what causes these issues? Is it the searcher not knowing what industry to focus on? Difficulties securing the capital? Trying to find the perfect business?

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Reply by a professional
from Technische Universität Berlin in Miami, FL, USA

I'm newer to this community so I don't have a search of my own to reference - but from the outside looking in, the pattern I notice is that the 18-month timeline is rarely about one thing. It seems to compound: an industry focus that's too broad adds 3 months, a deal that gets to LOI and falls apart adds 4 months, learning what questions to ask in diligence the hard way adds 2 months. The searchers I've seen move faster seem to have two things in common: a very specific operator thesis (not just an industry, but a specific type of business they know how to run), and a clear line on what they will walk away from. The ones who stretch their criteria to keep options open seem to spend more time evaluating deals that were never really right.

Reply by a searcher
from University of Pennsylvania in Danville, CA, USA

Walter Deibel had a video on it a while back. There were a few things he mentioned. The one that stood out to me was not enough deal activity and moving fast enough. You have to be hunting each day. When you find a deal, get out an IOI right away, have a call with the broker later that day or the next day. Agree to an LOI quickly. You can't sit on the fence on a deal. I can see how easy it is when you find mediocre deals... do you pursue or not? It's a tough grey area. But you have to force yourself to move forward or stop.

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