Searcher In Residence

Thesis Capital is an independent sponsor that acquires businesses in the lower-middle market. We are the pioneers of a selective incubator model that enables entrepreneurs to acquire and run these businesses by lowering the barrier to entry, reducing acquisition costs, and increasing the probability of a successful outcome – an acquisition.  

We are a group of former MBB alumni and M&A experts in Private Equity and Venture Capital with a mission to acquire great businesses in the lower-middle market in the United States. Thesis supports aspiring Search Entrepreneurs seeking to acquire and operate businesses and ultimately lead the opportunity as the Owner Operator. We have a proven record of facilitating deals in the U.S. lower-middle market larger than traditional search funds. Our typical deals range from $20-$80M in total enterprise value. View our website to review press releases on past acquisitions. 

We are currently looking to partner with a highly select and limited number of Searchers with operations in their DNA that wish to acquire a business.  
 
Overview & What We Do 
 
Established in 2017 we are an established firm with nearly a decade of verifiable history. Our unique process enables the professionals we partner with to search for and buy a business while maintaining full time employment. Due to the demand for our programs and time we limit participation in any given year to a select few individuals with whom we partner.  

Unlike traditional search funds that require quitting full-time work, or self-funded searches that require a cost and risk trade off, our accelerator program enables busy, high paid professionals to pursue acquisitions without sacrificing steady income and career prospects. We partner with you through every step of this process to find a business that you can operate including: 

• Deal sourcing – Leverage our sourcing systems, refined over nearly 8+ years, and provide unlimited access to our full time staff working to source best in class opportunities. Our infrastructure enables access to deal flow at a greater scale and lower cost than is otherwise inaccessible to those going alone, in traditional model or self-funded-search models. 
  

• Full Transaction Support – We don’t expect our partners to be transaction experts, only experts in their respective fields of operations. Transaction efforts are led by a team of seasoned M&A professionals that have personally completed more than $10B in transactions. Thesis has existing tools and dedicated team members that support every stage of the transaction from sourcing, underwriting, negotiation, diligence, capital raise, legal review, board composition, closing, managing the business, through exit or recap. 
  

• Direct Access to Equity Fund* – Our fund index allocates a percentage to SBA(a) qualified deals making capital raising more predictable when compared to market capital raising. We pre-qualify the deal with you during LOI phase for funding.    

How we do it: 

• You work directly with the VP of Search, whom has completed and/or operated more than 10 SBA(a) acquisitions to source, negotiate, diligence and close your acquisition 

• Get unlimited access to full time staff dedicated to guiding your search, diligence and transaction process your company 

• Leverage our trusted accounting, legal and diligence professionals 

• Leverage our established fund and capital network of family offices, investors and lenders to finance your transaction with the optimal capital stack 

Benefits of this approach: 

• Reduce risk and costs from failing to acquire a business - The statistical failure rate for search is >67% of searches end in failure driven by (A) failure to acquire (B) failure to generate a return for investors. Our model seeks to minimize this risk. 

• Direct path to majority ownership in the business - We offer a clear and simple agreement structure to get you at least 60% ownership in the business you acquire 

• Reduce the time to scale your search - Our established search infrastructure allows you to eliminate the 6-9 months of ramp up time in a traditional process down to a matter of weeks; you don’t need to know how to search, manage much of the process for you and get you started in weeks. 

• Access to growth and operational support - We have a strong bench of Operators in the firm and within the Thesis network from businesses we’ve acquired and our LPs to help you solve growth and operational problems much faster. Essentially multiplying your professional network exponentially.  

• Rights to search under a legacy M&A brand name – When searching with Thesis you will be part of our group when interacting with Brokers, Sellers, Investment Banks, and Family Offices to boost your profile as a Searcher and distinguish yourself from other buyers 

What we look for: 

Seasoned Mid-career professionals that have experience operating a business in a leadership role with P&L responsibility, and leading teams or engagements as a consultant or similar capacity. 

Our model requires a strong entrepreneurial drive and an even stronger desire to be the leading officer of acquisitions ranging anywhere from $8M-$20M in enterprise value 

* Prior consulting and operations experience with interest in running your own company 

* Finance experience a plus, though not required 

We encourage individuals interested in this opportunity to apply after research into the established history and verifiable track record of comparable and real outcomes of alternative approaches. Ideal candidates will demonstrate a clear understanding of the differences and risk profile of various approaches to search.

*Some acquisition opportunities may not qualify for direct funding due to regulatory or compliance constraints. In these cases, Thesis will work with the Searcher to raise funds with our network of Limited Partners 

 This position can be either Full-Time or Part-Time