The Growth of Search Funds and the Increasing Importance of Software Acquisitions

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

*

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Profit Line: The Outsourced Finance & Accounting Department for Small and Medium Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

*

Today I'm joined by two of the most thoughtful, distinguished, and respected investors in the ETA ecosystem, Jeff Stevens and A.J. Wasserstein, to discuss the future of acquisition entrepreneurship. The paper that inspired this episode, written by both Jeff & A.J., can be accessed here:

Jeff Stevens is the Founder of Anacapa Partners, a firm with over 20 years of experience structuring, operating and investing in search fund-owned companies. Jeff was an acquisition entrepreneur himself, having managed 3 funded searches during the period from 1990-2005, each one culminating in the acquisition of a SMB.

A.J. Wasserstein is the Eugene F. Williams, Jr. Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management. His research, writing, and teaching concentrates on search funds, entrepreneurship, programmatic acquisitions, and small businesses. In addition to his role as an educator, A.J. is also a private investor in lower middle-market businesses.