Live From SMBash: Justin Burris and Tim Ludwig on Majority Search - Ep.103

15 snips

Feb 22, 2022

Justin Burris and Tim Ludwig, co-founders of Majority Search, share their innovative approach to small business acquisitions. They discuss the personalized buyer narratives essential for success and the importance of stewardship in ownership transitions. The duo explores how aspiring entrepreneurs can gain experience through apprenticeship, helping create trust with current business owners. They emphasize the value of community among founders and investors, highlighting collaborative efforts to enrich the entrepreneurial landscape.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Search Funds Democratize Entrepreneurship

Search funds can democratize entrepreneurship for talented operators trapped in larger companies.
Matching operators to retiring baby boomer business owners fills a growing market gap.

INSIGHT

Traits of the Perfect Buyer

Perfect buyers combine price, committed capital, and competent management tuned to seller needs.
Knowing your edge helps you win or quickly filter out deals you're disadvantaged for.

INSIGHT

Patient Capital Maximizes Business Value

Long-term capital patience is crucial for maximizing multiple of money over IRR in small business investing.
Majority Search embraces patient capital similar to family companies to build enduring businesses.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

My guests on this episode are Justin Burris and Tim Ludwig who together have co-founded a new search investment fund named Majority Search. Majority Search aims to be the preferred buyer of small companies while giving searchers the chance to own the majority of the companies they operate. This is a brand-new model they've spent the last year working on, and I'm so excited to see it finally become public.

This episode was recorded live on February 4th at SM Bash in Orlando, Florida, in front of over a hundred attendees, my first podcast ever in front of an audience. We did have a few microphones snafoos here and there, and the overall quality was affected some, which I apologize for. Even so, this is a fantastic episode that I hope you thoroughly enjoy.

Over the course of the conversation, Tim and Justin share their inspiration for Majority Search, the keys to being a better buyer, great investors they both admire and learn from, and advice for building great relationships. If you want to learn more about Majority Search, reach out to Justin and Tim at majoritysearch.com. Please enjoy the first live conversation of Think Like an Owner.

Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.

Links:

Majority Search

BDT Capital Partners

Constellation software

Topics:

(4:12) - How Alex came into contact with Justin and Tim

(5:29) - Introducing Tim Ludwig

(6:24) - Introducing Justin Burris

(7:44) - How Majority Search builds upon the traditional search fund model

(9:53) - The inspiration behind Majority Search

(13:32) - What types of buyers have you studied when building Majority Search?

(16:00) - What are some of the challenges of designing a search firm?

(21:57) - What goes into being a perfect owner of a company?

(23:44) - How close is Majority Search to modeling how a high-net worth individual would behave investing off their own balance sheet?

(25:57) - What would you advise operators who don’t have access to capital do when searching?

(30:56) - How do you think about building a Berkshire-level cache of businesses from scratch to build a reputation as a buyer?

(32:44) - What college course would you teach?

(35:11) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?

(36:40) - What mechanisms that give YC its distinct notoriety?

(38:48) - Wrap Up