Lasean Smith is founder of CAGR Investments, a micro-PE firm that is part family office and part product studio.. Lasean holds a bachelor's in media and computer science from Southern Illinois University, a master's from Arizona State University, an MBA from Georgetown, and a professional screenwriting degree from UCLA. LaSean is also a veteran of the US Navy and has worked at Deloitte, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and while doing so deployed over $450 million deployed across corporate R&D, Lasean also holds several patents and has invested in over 12 companies himself at CAGR.

In this episode, we discuss Lasean’s philosophy on what startups and SMEs can learn from corporate practices (and vice versa), how AI can help search fund acquisitions, and why he's focusing on Malaysia for his non-US investments. Lasean also shares valuable insights on attaining financial independence, diligencing culture, and building scalable processes for long-term success.

Lasean is the author of Values-Based Business Design, a book on product development for modern high growth companies: https://www.amazon.com/Values-Based-Business-Design-Development-High-Growth/dp/1623010012

Kevin Bibelhausen is an investor and business owner based in High Point, North Carolina. He frequently consults on digital strategy & operations, is a sought after conference speaker, frequent podcast guest and author. Kevin is passionate about professionalizing the "wild west" that was once SMB acquisitions. 

He has helped dozens of entrepreneurs find, finance and acquire small businesses and escape corporate America. Kevin received his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Link to his substack: https://bibelhausen.substack.com/

Interview starts at 9:08.

Ambit Partners is a dedicated Search Fund investor, enabling entrepreneurship through acquisition in traditional and developing markets. They combine a global investment mandate with deep SME transacting and operating experience - supporting a portfolio of exceptional entrepreneurs to find, buy, & build enduring businesses around the world.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

This episode originally appeared on the INSEAD Emerging Market Podcast.

Pete is a former acquisition entrepreneur himself who now backs  aspiring private business owners by co-investing in their businesses and coaching them to make real progress by: distilling the mission; articulating the strategy; building great teams; and then, designing pragmatic plans to put rubber on the road.

In this episode we discuss the Australian market for search funds and dive deep into how successful searchers navigate acquiring and operating businesses.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

Dr. Campos is the Country Director of IE University in Brazil, Professor of Entrepreneurship at FGV EAESP, Visiting Professor at IE Business School (Spain) and ITA (Brazil) and Founder and Managing Partner of Newton Equity Partners, a company that invests in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) via Search Funds worldwide.

Professionally, Newton's life is driven by reshaping Capitalism through entrepreneurship and technology, preparing leaders to thrive relentlessly in their quest to solve local and global business, environmental and social challenges.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

M Capital is the second traditional search fund ever in Japan, where Mitsuya is currently searching for a business to acquire.

Prior to launching his search fund, Mitsuya had an MBA from IE Business school and a Master's in Civil & Environmental Engineering at Waseda University and worked in sales in the construction industry in Japan.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

Bruce Vann is a self-funded searcher who has acquired 3 businesses since launching his search fund journey in 2019.

LuXout Products Inc. is a stage curtain company and he has vertically integrated it with subsequent acquisitions after first taking over in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In this episode Bruce talks about building an employee culture of ownership and excellence and the self-determination that entrepreneurship allows after getting fired from 3 jobs in 4 years.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

Philip Desrocher, along with his search partner Cameron Roblin, acquired GLP Canada (one of Canada's largest HVAC distributors) less than a year after launching their search fund in 2021. 

Brenden is both a search fund entrepreneur, having acquired Pro Max Fence Systems in 2018, and a search fund investor as co-founder of Generational Transfer Entrepreneurs (GTE), which now has 5 acquisitions under its belt.

Founded in 2017, GT Entrepreneurs (GTE) is a private investment firm that leverages its vast search fund and executive-level expertise to help procure highly favorable outcomes for today's most talented aspiring CEOs. While they primarily look to partner with traditional searchers during their initial capital raise, they also provide gap investment capital to both traditional and self-funded searchers alike.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

Moonbase Capital is a search fund investment group that invests in and provides hands on support to search fund entrepreneurs in Spain, France, and Italy.

Their model is differentiated by providing their entrepreneurs with an advisory board of business operators, consultants, CEOs, and CFOs.

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

Viva Partners is a mission-driven search fund with long term ownership goals. 

The firm is managed by a husband and wife team with a combined experience of +25 years in consulting, startups, investment banking, and private equity. 

Subscribe to Search Funded: the ETA Podcast on Spotify or Apple.

Gabriel Chick is the President and CEO of Cleveland, Ohio-based HVAC and industrial cleaning services company Service Tech Corporation (STC). Prior to STC, Gabriel served over 4 years as a Field Artillery Officer in the US Army where he led and oversaw a 40+ personnel team. Gabriel is a co-founder of GT Entrepreneurs, which he helped create while enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper Business School's full-time MBA program.

In this episode, Tom Gilroy, representing the fourth generation at GKG Risk, shares invaluable insights into the critical role of insurance due diligence in the process of acquiring a business and often-overlooked aspects of insurance in ensuring the long-term success and stability of an acquisition.

Saumil Jariwala, of Feta Fund, (Founder-focused Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) joins us on this episode to talk about his mission to  help one thousand entrepreneurs acquire businesses in his lifetime. 

We dive deep into the philosophy behind Feta Fund, highlighting its unique approach to specializing in providing support during the search phase of the EtA journey, as well as stories of EtA entrepreneurs Saumil has helped in their journey to make exceptional financial returns and change employee and customer lives.

Arada Capital Partners is a multidisciplinary team that invests in search funds across Europe.

Javier Puig, Partner at Arada Capital Partners, joined me to discuss Arada's value add and his journey launching a search fund investor after his MBA.

In this episode, host Nick Lall interviews Bakari Akil, Managing Director of Graves Hall Capital. 

They discuss Bakari's unique path to becoming a successful acquisition entrepreneur, including his most recent acquisition of a $30 million burlap bag manufacturing company. 

Bakari also shares his experiences as a lecturer at Cornell and Columbia Business Schools, his founding of New York's largest private equity hedge fund group on meetup.com, and what led him to launch Nomad Noir, a community for black digital nomads. 

Bakari offers extremely valuable insights on leveraging unconventional routes in entrepreneurship and business acquisitions, forging strong relationships with prominent figures like Dr. Cornel West and Tim Bovard without prior connections, how to approach deal analysis, and his daily habits that have led to his success.

AIJ Global (also known as AIJ Holdings, and formerly known as AI Global) is an international investment group with interests in multiple asset classes, including search funds, private equity, and startup ventures led by highly motivated and talented entrepreneurs.

They bring value by:

(1) Providing ongoing guidance to entrepreneurs,
(2) Working closely with their operating and managing partners through each phase of the project,
(3) Leveraging their global network of experts and collaborators.

Rafael is a solo traditional searcher looking to acquire an SME in France. He has 11 years of purchasing, sales, business development, strategy, and general management experience in Manufacturing (Steel, Textile) and FMCG (Personal care, Hygiene) industries, and France, Spain, Morocco, China and Australia.

Over the past 8 years, Rafael has built a track record in managing crisis situations as well as organic growth strategies in privately held medium size companies (€20m to €90m of revenues) both as General Manager and Strategy & Business Development Director. 

Rafael is a CFA® Charterholder, he holds an MBA from IESE Business School as well as a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from INSA Lyon and a Project Management Professional PMP ® certification.

Moonbase just raised $5M and Ibrahim and Khaled returned to discuss what they're seeing in the search fund ecosystem.