30 Jun Acquiring Minds: New Way to Pursue ETA: Searcher-in-Residence
Today’s episode has two segments. The first is the story of Matt Brunnig building a holdco. Back in 2017, Matt was eager for an offramp to his high-travel, 90-hour-week life in the power plant industry. It was either find another job or find a business to buy. He kept an eye on BizBuySell, and, funny enough, actually skipped over the business he eventually bought. In the second segment we bring on Kevin Peer, whom Matt hired in October of last year. Kevin was a searcher, raising for a traditional search fund. He connected with Matt on Searchfunder when he saw they were both in St. Pete. One thing led to another, and instead of continuing his search, Kevin went to work for Matt as a “part-time CFO, part-time some other stuff.” This would give him operational experience in a small business and allow him to stay in St. Pete, which he wanted. That was about 8 months ago, and since then Kevin’s role has evolved into something best described as “searcher-in-residence.” We unpack what this novel role entails, and its benefits to both searcher and existing owner. OK, here is Matt Brunnig, owner & president of Octal Ventures, and Kevin Peer, searcher-in-residence at Octal Ventures.
