Rich Kelley is the co-founder of Search Fund Partners; his company has participated in over 125 acquisitions in the last 15 years since its creation and they’ve backed 170 different deal searchers. On today’s show, Rich takes you through the process from finding the right deal and finding the right leader for the company, to the end-game plan once the company has been acquired.
Key Takeaways:
[2:10] What did Rich start Search Fund?
[4:10] A lot of pairings and transactions are quite emotional for the founder and Search Fund helps navigate through that in a logical way.
[6:00] Todd does a quick overview of Rich’s process.
[8:20] What does Rich look for in a new CEO?
[11:10] Sometimes Rich will hire more than one person to fill in positions within the company and get them to work as a team. This allows for a more robust company.
[15:55] Rich gives a two-year budget to have his searchers find a deal and if they can’t get it done in two years, it’s best that they move on.
[17:10] Rich’s team looks at hundreds of deals a month; it’s really intensive and by the end, they will talk to roughly 200 perspective sellers on the phone.
[17:30] What kind of people are considered ‘sellers’?
[22:30] It’s way better to fully vet a deal and not get it done than to get into a bad deal.
[24:00] What is the transition process like between the new CEO and old CEO?
[24:40] What kind of challenges does a new CEO have in the beginning?
[31:05] After acquiring a company, what’s the end goal for Search Fund?
[34:55] What kinds of speed bumps do sellers experience along the way?
[36:40] Curious to know about Search Funds? Please visit the website!
Mentioned in This Episode: