Search Party

About Search Party

Search Party is a video-podcast dedicated to elevating knowledge of the Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) strategy, an increasingly popular model for private investing and wealth creation. The thought-leadership series is hosted by private capital journalist David Snow, and features expert commentary by Next Coast Legacy’s Dustin Sellers and Anthony Walker, two veterans of the ETA strategy. Search Party explores the ”searcher” model for wealth creation in the lower-middle-market, and offers expert guidance about career building, investment sourcing, due diligence, deal structuring and operating value-creation techniques. Search Party is produced by Elatromme. Season 1 of Search Party is sponsored by Next Coast Legacy, Avidbank, Mayer Brown and Boulay.

Publisher

searchparty

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Aug 2024

Latest episode

29 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

31 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Sept 2026

   The Franchise Model Enters the ETA Scene

   Franchising businesses have become mainstream ETA targets, and the three-tier ecosystem of franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers offers talented operators more entry points than most investors realize, says Graham Weihmiller, managing partner of Pioneer Equity Partners. "When franchising is done well, it's a team sport," Weihmiller tells Search Party. "The customer and the franchisee are at the top of the org chart, the franchisor is at the bottom. You get this hive of ideas and execution, and the energy around a community building a brand is just amazing." Weihmiller joins Search Party host David Snow, August Felker, founder and CEO of Oberle Risk Strategies, and Dustin Sellers, General Partner of NCL Partners, in the episode, "The Francise Model Enters the ETA Scene." In a wide-ranging conversation, Weihmiller shares his own entrepreneurial journey, from an economically challenged family upbringing to the highest reaches of the franchising world, he draws on decades of experience, including ten years leading BNI, the global business networking franchise that grew from 165,000 to 357,000 member businesses under his watch. Among the key takeaways: • Franchising is no longer taboo in ETA circles. Only about five years ago it was ignored by serious investors; today business schools like Kellogg and Yale are building dedicated curricula around franchise-based entrepreneurship.• ETA searchers shouldn't fixate on the franchisor role — multi-unit franchisee ownership and supplier businesses offer equally compelling paths with different risk profiles.• A new CEO's job is not to fix everything. Putting the right people in the right seats will help the CEO solve problems better than they ever could on their own.• AI should be pervasive, but not central. Appointing an 'AI czar' gives everyone else permission to ignore the issue.• Founder transition is emotional above all else. A business is a part of a founder's identity in ways that go beyond financials, and investors who fail to develop a deep, honest relationship with the founder before and after closing risk losing the cultural foundation the business was built on. Access a full transcript and searchable content archive on the Search Party Substack. Lead Sponsor:NCL Partners https://www.nclpartners.com/ Sponsors:Boulay https://boulaygroup.com/services/sear...Kilpatrick  Townsend and Stockton LLP https://ktslaw.com/Oberle Risk Strategies  https://oberle-risk.com/landing-page/... #searchparty #eta #franchise #ai

2. 

   25 Aug 2026

   The Serial Entrepreneur Who Started Hustling in Kindergarten

   With his entrepreneurship tracing back to charging kindergarten classmates fifty cents for drawing lessons, Jason Williford has spent decades backing small businesses and building a sense of what it takes to lead one. Williford, a board member and executive advisor to Culture Index, tells Search Party that the riskiest small businesses he encounters are led by CEOs who have failed to surround themselves with smart advisors. Among the key takeaways of this Search Party episode: • Culture Index, which Williford has worked with for eighteen years, uses behavioral analytics and non-clinical psychometrics to remove the guesswork from hiring, pairing the science with behavioral-based interviewing to achieve a roughly ninety percent hiring success rate.• ETA searchers face a supply problem: Williford is concerned there are not enough viable deals for the number of people searching, and he worries that desperation near the end of a 12-to-24-month search window leads some to settle for below-average acquisitions.• The most important thing an ETA searcher can do, in his view, is build a board they report to, even if it means giving away equity to attract experienced advisors.• Williford looks for self-awareness above all. If a prospective CEO doesn't own their weaknesses, he won't invest, regardless of their credentials.• Williford believes AI is the current generation's industrial revolution, and he urges small business owners to pursue immediate, practical efficiencies rather than transformative moonshots. Access a full transcript and searchable content archive on the Search Party Substack. Lead Sponsor:NCL Partners https://www.nclpartners.com/ Sponsors:Boulay https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/Kilpatrick  Townsend and Stockton LLP https://ktslaw.com/Oberle Risk Strategies  https://oberle-risk.com/landing-page/search-party/ #searchparty #eta #privateequity #entrepreneurship

3. 

   21 Jul 2026

   The ETA Asset Class is Maturing, But Faces Size Constraints

   The ETA search has grown into a more professional asset class over the years, but its reliance on mentorship makes it hard to scale to the size many institutional investors require, says Susan Pohlmeyer, co-founder and partner of Futaleufu Partners, as well as a former investor at the Stanford Management Company. In a conversation with Search Party, Pohlmeyer explains the fundamentals of the entrepreneurship-through-acquisition asset class that also limit its ability to grow. "The three legs of the stool that make the search model work are: a great industry and company, a talented entrepreneur who can be a great CEO, and investor-mentors. If you take away the mentorship aspect, you don't have a stable stool" she says. Among the key takeaways of this Search Party episode: • The ETA asset class has matured significantly, with dedicated accounting, legal, and lending practices now existing specifically for search funds. But space is still low in institutional capital, with most investors still being high-net-worth individuals and family offices. • Futaleufu Partners evaluates searchers primarily on coachability and their ability to connect with and manage people, not pedigree or prior CEO experience. • Despite more capital flowing into the search world, purchase prices for lower middle market companies have remained relatively stable, because the core inefficiency is structural: illiquid markets with founders nearing retirement, not a lack of buyers. • AI is a significant opportunity for most lower middle market businesses, and good managers will have an edge as technology levels the playing field. • Roll-up and PE-style M&A strategies are appearing more frequently in ETA, but Pohlmeyer believes the core investment should be able to stand on its own without M&A. Access a full transcript and searchable content archive on the Search Party Substack. Lead Sponsor:NCL Partners https://www.nclpartners.com/ Sponsors:Boulay https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/Kilpatrick  Townsend and Stockton LLP https://ktslaw.com/Oberle Risk Strategies  https://oberle-risk.com/landing-page/search-party/ #searchparty #eta #privateequity #M&A

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

21,760

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 42 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.