Search Party

Artificial intelligence has reached the lower-middle-market, as seen in the case study of Haley, an AI agent deployed by Entrepreneur-Through-Acquisition (ETA) Tyrel Sulzer to win customers for his commercial driving school, TransTech.

In a fascinating conversation with Search Party, TransTech co-CEO Sulzer and his investment partner, Dustin Sellers, Managing Partner of ETA private equity firm Next Coast Legacy, share details of Ha...

Curt Black, CEO of a growing SaaS business, was a successful Google executive before deciding to pursue the path of Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition. His ETA journey introduced him to the founder of Aproove, who agreed to be acquired by Black and partners, then called the whole thing off. 

Black finally managed to acquire the Aproove business in January 2025. 

Through deal-search twists and turns, Black tried to differentiate h...

A board of directors should hold the CEO accountable and evolve with the company's growth, say veterans of lower-middle-market business building.

In a conversation with Search Party, Megan Webster of law firm Mayer Brown, Max Artz of Peterson Partners and Anthony Walker of Next Coast Legacy share observations about the positive impact a board can have on a lower-middle-market business, and the challenges the Entrepreneurship-Throug...

A decline in email response rates is forcing deal searchers to be more creative, says Entrepreneur-Through-Acquisition searcher Christine Koval, currently on the hunt for a lower-middle-market, back-office services business to acquire. 

In an interview with Search Party, Koval notes the increasing competition to find deals in the vast US lower-middle-market, as well as the ubiquity of powerful business-outreach platforms that help...

Professionalizing the finance function of a lower-middle-market business is one of the most impactful forms of value-creation a new CEO can pursue, according to a panel of Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) market experts.

To learn the importance of the finance function in ETA investments, Search Party convened a conversation between Anthony Walker, Managing Partner at Next Coast Legacy, Sam Swan, CEO of TaskRay, Eric Lough...

Small insurance brokerages make for "great" Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition deals, provided the acquirer has a deep understanding of the industry, says August Felker, an ETA searcher turned CEO of Oberle Risk Solutions.

In an interview with Search Party, Felker shares his personal ETA journey to becoming the CEO of a leading lower-middle-market insurance brokerage, starting with being raised by a father who ran a St. Louis, Mi...

The relationship between lender and lower-middle-market CEO is a critical factor in the success of ETA deals, say veterans of the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition strategy. This episode of Search Party is about how to get the most from your lender over the lifecycle of an ETA investment, with expert commentary from ⁠Castle Capital ⁠Managing Partner and ETA veteran Chandos Mahon, Conor Tidgwell of ⁠Avidbank⁠ and Anthony Walker o...

As a growing number of MBA students become interested in Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA), a proper understanding of the challenges involved in finding and running a business is essential, say Austin Fruchter and Rohit Datta, Co-Presidents of the Columbia Business School ETA Club. 

The Columbia ETA Club provides students with exposure to the ETA process, connecting them with investors, operators, and service providers to ...

Failing to strengthen the sales function can undermine the growth of a newly acquired business, a CEO stumble made worse in a leveraged environment, three veterans of the lower-middle-market tell Search Party.

Founder-led small businesses often lack structured, scalable sales systems—and the ETA searchers-turned CEOs who acquire them must rapidly diagnose and improve how EBITDA is generated, according to a panel of experts convened...

Shortly after acquiring security-camera service ⁠EyeQ Monitoring⁠ nine years ago, Markus Scott had no way of knowing he’d eventually grow revenue by a factor of 24. He was too busy dealing with “a whole list of terrible things” that indicated the business was doomed. In an interview with Search Party, Scott says, before detailing these tribulations: “This is the place where I should be pouring bourbon.”

Scott’s path to profitable ...

An increasing supply of investor capital is chasing business-school students contemplating ETA as a career, and "search-curious" MBA candidates should know the risks involved are manifold, but well worth the journey, according to Matthew Conley and Daniel Lazier, Co-Presidents of the Kellogg School of Management's Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Club.

The Kellogg ETA Club was spun out of the school's private equity club in ord...

Bob Boniface and his ETA search partner went searching for a high quality, blue-collar business in the lower middle market, and found ⁠TransTech⁠, a commercial driver's license (CDL) training business in North Carolina. The business had predictable revenue and competed in an essential, growing market. The seller was impressed with the research that Bob and his parter had done into the niche industry.

A letter of intent was issued, ...

Businesses acquired in the lower-middle-market at single-digit multiples of EBITDA can be sold for double-digit multiples, but only if the new owners improve operations and grow earnings, according to three veterans of the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) search-fund market.

Multiples arbitrage, seller dynamics, buy-and-build opportunities and market mega-trends are attractive features of three industry sub-sectors discus...

Women are making gains toward substantial representation in the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) community, and supporting each other along the way. In fact, 17% of ETA searchers in the market are now women. In a fascinating conversation, three ETA leaders compare notes about the appeal of the ETA search-fund career, the advantages women can have connecting with fellow entrepreneurs, and the challenges and misperceptions ...

A career move to the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) search-fund market may result in any combination of bewilderment, disappointment, wealth creation and self-actualization, according to A. J. Wasserstein, a Senior Lecturer at the Yale School of Management.

Wasserstein, himself the builder of two successful businesses, has made entrepreneurship and the search fund community the subject of his teaching and academic work....

Dustin Sellers and Anthony Walker, Managing Partners at leading Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) investment firm, Next Coast Legacy, share their personal career journeys through the finance industry to become leading practitioners of the ETA strategy, and comment on the exciting growth of the asset class, the attributes necessary for successful searchers, and the rigors of acquiring and running small- and medium-sized bus...

Financial journalist David Snow explains the impetus for the launch of Search Party, a new video-podcast featuring Next Coast Legacy Managing Partners Dustin Sellers, Anthony Walker and a rotating roster of expert guests.

On a regular basis, Search Party will delve into topics designed to elevate knowledge of the entrepreneurship-through-acquisition (ETA) strategy, a form of investing, value- and wealth-creation that is increasingl...