Search Funds & Entrepreneurial Acquisitions

In the mid-eighties, a group of enterprising and industrious MBA students at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business pioneered an experiment which today we call "Search Funds." Captained and inspired by visionary Leader Irv Grousbeck, they designed a track that allowed them to acquire a company, become its CEO, and, if well executed, also be its largest shareholder. Supported by strong boards and a solid process, it turned an inexperienced entrepreneur into a successful business leader. In this book, Jan Simon, Managing Partner of Vonzeo Capital and Academic Director of the International Search Fund Center at IESE Business School, presents a best-practices-based roadmap for searchers, acquisition entrepreneurs, investors and board members. Drawing on generous contributions from the search fund community as well as his own experience, he sheds light on how this community converted $1.4 billion of investments into $8.7 billion, with $1.8 billion going to the entrepreneurs.