Buying a business with us could be the best decision of your life
Let’s partner together
A new path to small business ownership
“Traditional” search fund model
“Traditional” searchers raise money from investors to fund their full-time search. If they are successful, their investors receive equity in the business.
The model offers entrepreneurs support and de-risks the search process. But that support comes at a price, with traditional searchers typically only vesting into up to 25% of the equity in their business.
“Self-funded” search fund model
“Self-funded” searchers venture out alone—funding their search out of savings and reaching out to investors only when they have found a business to buy.
The model offers more flexibility - as well as greater financial upside, with searchers getting most of the equity at closing. But searchers are on their own until the final steps and carry significant risk. If they cannot commit to searching full-time, they’re also less likely to find a business.
“Conventional” independent sponsor model
Independent sponsors are similar to private equity firms, except that they typically raise funds on a deal-by-deal basis. They then find operators to hire or retain existing management.
Operators are often incentivized with equity in the business, but their share is typically much smaller than in other models. They are also often not part of the search from the beginning. As such, they are closer to being employees than true co-owners.
The Concorde independent sponsor model
We combine the best of all three models. We’ll bring you on at the beginning of the search and stay with you right until exit, ensuring that the business we acquire together is not only a fit for you but that you are successful running it.
We think the risk/return profile is compelling. We share in the risk and rewards of acquiring and running a company alongside you—and treat you as a partner. If you don’t succeed, neither do we.
Your ownership journey with us
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Expressing interest is the first step. But we want to make sure that we are the right fit for you and that we have the bandwidth to support you.
During this process, we’ll get to know your background, personal and professional aspirations, skills, and commitment.
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Once we take you under our wing, we will search for the right business alongside you. We will lead the process, assuming that you are working full-time on your day job.
Beyond being a sound investment, we’ll make sure the business fits your interest and expertise, intended level of involvement, and risk tolerance.
We’ll lead interactions with the sellers and their agents, price negotiation, and due diligence, and get to an LOI.
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Actually buying a business can be dizzying process, with many steps that need to be done quickly - and correctly. We’ll manage the close process for you from start to finish, including performing confirmatory due diligence, securing financing, supporting negotiations, and liaising with other parties like lawyers and investment bankers.
Our assumption is that we take the lead on what needs to happen to close, and you take the lead on ensuring the transition is successful.
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The close is not the end, but the end of the beginning. Our success is directly tied to yours, and so we depend on you doing well.
With deep experience from assisting private equity funds and senior management add value to their companies to actually running our own businesses as CEO, we know what levers to pull to move the needle. We’ll not only help you diagnose potential levers, but help execute on them too.
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We are open-minded on exit timing and let ourselves be guided by your objectives, as well as those of our investors. We however structure our acquisitions so that our returns - including yours - will be driven primarily by strong distributions, not by a successful exit.
Once it’s time to sell the business, we’ll guide you along the way. We have experience crafting equity stories for top private equity funds, as well as selling our own businesses and will position it in the best way possible.
We intentionally want to address as diverse a group of potential operating partners as possible. If you want to co-own and run a business and but time, know-how or funds are holding you back, we should talk. Our explicit mission is to enable acquisitions and value creation that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
Here are example of profiles we think could be a great fit:
You’re a mid-career executive with a track record of success. You want to move to a co-owner/operator role and have more potential upside, but can’t afford to quit your job to search for a business full-time - and wouldn’t quite know where to start even if you did
You’re an officer in the military looking to move into business. You know how to lead a team like few people do and would make a great CEO, but you’re new to the business world and need help to navigate the process
You’re a practitioner or tradesmen who knows the ins and outs of a licensed industry. You’d be ideally suited to carry on the legacy of somebody in your industry looking to retire - perhaps even the owner of your current firm - but wouldn’t know where to start to acquire a business of your own
Who we’re looking for
FAQs
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We purposefully keep our criteria broad - in line with our mission to broaden potential ownership. Our two key criteria are:
Serious intent to acquire a business
Proven track record of running a business
We explicitly encourage the following types of candidates to apply:
Mid- to late-career professionals
Applicants who cannot pursue a search full-time
Applicants from non-traditional backgrounds
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We are unable to accept the following types of candidates:
Applicants who have already raised a traditional search fund or are otherwise affiliated with a fund
Applicants with less than 10 years of professional experience
Applicants who are unwilling or unable to personally guarantee a bank loan if required
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You not only can - you must. We want to ensure the business is a right fit for you. We don’t have any preset criteria on things such as industry or geography (as long as it’s within the US or Canada). Ultimately, you decide whether you want to co-own and run the business.
Of course, bear in mind that the narrower your criteria, the less likely you will be to find a business (or, at least, the longer it will take).
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No, we expect all Operating Partners to cover their own living expenses. We assume that you will be working full-time prior to acquisition.
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We will get paid after close based on the performance of the business, typical by having an equity stake. This aligns our incentives with yours to ensure we find a business and that it will perform well.
We do not charge any retainer or fees prior to close.
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Yes. Although it is not our focus, we can help you manage the close process, including securing the financing, performing confirmatory due diligence and managing the different work streams.