Grand Exchange

Pseudonymous self-funded searcher. Tweeting about the day-to-day of a self-funded search (and occasionally tweeting about domain names)

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

Quick bio: state school -> consulting -> PE -> self-funded search.

I’m tweeting about the day in the life of a self-funded searcher, borrowing heavily from (read: “stealing”) @SamtLeslie’s format of daily updates.

Looking at services / light mfg businesses in DFW ($0.5-2mm SDE)

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@patrickdichter +1 for Santosh

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

Shot in the dark, but does anyone have suggestions on how to get in touch with a human support rep at Meta?

Closed on a business (more to come soon!), but struggling to get access to the Facebook & Instagram accounts because the sellers don’t have access.

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@petelehrman @pascal_ambro Professional acquirers are going to look at good deals and pass on bad ones regardless of the representation.

You’re not wrong - intermediaries make the deal easier/harder - but folks aren’t making investment decisions based on who that intermediary is.

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@pascal_ambro @petelehrman +1. I’m not looking for info on the broker.

[Derek Pitts @Derek_CayneQofE]

Interesting insight from a partner at a large PE focused on LMM transactions:

They are very interested in buying searcher exits.

Why?
-> CEO in place that now has experience and is battle tested
-> Can be a great platform for add-ons with capital + corp dev support.

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@SJ_Cap 1000000%

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@ElliottEHolland Looking back at the P&L now - I was misremembering.

$105k + $45k in Rolex adjustments. $150k total 🤯

As you can probably imagine, that deal died before I figured out what the owner drives 😂

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@Unbalancedfund @pipedrive I’ve heard great things - just a bit more expensive than Pipedrive. I love a good purpose-built CRM though

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

Unpaid plug: @pipedrive is a bad ass CRM for searchers. I implemented it in December and it’s been amazing for keeping me organized.

I started off with a Salesforce license and it was so painful that I decided a CRM wasn’t necessary for search (lol).

Just needed the right tool.

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@Derek_CayneQofE @pipedrive Yep that makes a lot of sense.

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@mrtrash757 @pipedrive Track deals, track contacts, and track associated emails/calls/activities. Nothing crazy. But the outlook connector never worked, customizing fields was a major pain, etc.

I’m sure it works — but it was too complicated for me to figure out

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@bibelhausen @pipedrive The setup itself probably took me an hour or two — it was easy. The slog was getting my old deals logged. I spent the holidays entering my old deals and got to October 22…not sure that I’ll ever get deals prior to Oct 22 logged

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@Derek_CayneQofE @pipedrive I used Monday at my old firm for project management, but never thought to use it for CRM.

The ease of email sync with Pipedrive is huge for me. I’m not sure if/how that works with Monday

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

@mrtrash757 @pipedrive Essentials. Maybe I’m just an idiot (I am) but it was nearly impossible for me to use

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

14. I’ll continue sharing thoughts from time to time. This is a great community!

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

Self funded search updates:

1. It’s been a while - thought it would make sense to share a quick update
2. I sent 3 LOIs last year, in 6 months of searching
3. I’ve sent 3 LOIs / IOIs so far this year
4. Two of them are already dead; one more on life support

[Grand Exchange @SelfFundSearch]

12. I stopped posting daily updates because I noticed a prospect following me, and I have evaluated a couple deals with folks I met here
13. Just didn’t feel right to share specifics when at least a couple of folks knew exactly what I was talking about