The Next Step

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So, to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is EtA Down Under. We hope you enjoy it. I...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is Eta down under. We hope you enjoy it. In...

G'day, I'm Pete Seligman. There are a growing number of people thinking about buying a business in this region, but it can be hard to see what that actually looks like. So to help bring one part of that process to life, I've teamed up with my mates Jason Andrew and James Frank to throw some businesses on the table and share our raw thoughts on each. This is 'Eta Down Under'. We hope you enjoy it!...

This episode of The Next Step – the final episode for the season – is a short bookend to wrap up the series, and we’ve included it in the interest of completeness. These are closing remarks after a wonderful and insightful EtA Forum. As I mentioned, for the first effort at something of this scale for the EtA community, the turnout was truly incredible. Many more people came than was expected, and...

The final session of the inaugural EtA Forum was a hugely entertaining and insightful story about the searcher’s journey. Richard Hernan decided, at the age of 40, that it was “now or never” to follow his dream to become an entrepreneur and business owner. At the time he had 12 months’ worth of financial reserves, which he assumed would be ample to find and acquire a business. Three years later he...

In this session of the inaugural EtA Forum, people from all ends of the search spectrum came together to discuss a vital, if sometimes prickly topic: how to structure the perfect deal, especially when the seller isn’t as experienced. Often in search, the business owner is not an experienced business seller, and this can have implications in many ways. For example, they might be unaware of the crit...

Andrew Locke’s Ambit Partners is one of the big global names in search. Based in South Africa, the company has invested in searches across the world, and in some interesting markets. From the mature and established markets of Western Europe and the US to fascinating emerging opportunities in places like Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire, Andrew and his people have deep insight into the true opportunity and...

Getting to the core of what makes a deal backable is at the forefront of anyone who is involved in search. That was the subject of this panel at last year’s inaugural EtA Forum, which brought together four people involved in search in different ways to share their experiences. The key theme driving the conversation is, as the moderator, Paige Kohalmi says, “the searcher plus a good opportunity, an...

Sometimes a search goes wrong. It’ll start with a sense of unease, and only really become apparent after the acquisition, but it can be a stressful, morale-crushing experience when it happens. That’s the experience that Nick Bamford had at one point during his own search journey. That case study forms the basis of this important session of the inaugural EtA Forum. Nick – who is now happily running...

This panel, as part of the inaugural EtA Forum, takes a close look at how a searcher should approach their first hundred days after closing with a business. The panelists – Johnson Wang, Alex Simmons and Nikita Gossain – have all had successful searches and are now busy managing their businesses. They share some excellent insights about what they learned, what surprised them, and the mistakes they...

Anyone that is interested in search and acquisitions needs to tune into this panel. It ran at last year’s inaugural EtA Forum, and brought together four experienced veterans at this fledgling space to talk about how they got started, and what options are available to searchers. The panel kicks off with a breakdown of the different approaches to search, as well as the benefits of each and what migh...

Akram Sabbagh, the co-founder of Wayfinder Capital and Second Squared, used his presentation at the inaugural EtA Forum to discuss a subject that is often overlooked by searchers and business owners alike: the emotional investment, and how that affects perspective. There’s an excellent example that Ak gives in his presentation about the different ways a owner might handle a broken printer. When ti...

The first panel at the inaugural EtA Forum provided a lively and hugely interesting discussion, as success stories in both investment and search across Australia and New Zealand came together to share their thoughts on a wide range of topics. From the appeal of search to investors, through to the relationship that investors and searchers have, this panel is an essential guide to a truly unique rel...

The opening keynote at the inaugural EtA Forum last year was Tim Moore, the Director of Dorado Property and Dorado Capital. This was a fascinating and far-reaching opening keynote that really set the tone for an excellent day, and I thought the insights that came out of the presentation would be particularly interesting for anyone looking to make acquisitions via search fund. Tim not only has had...

Search funds are still in their early stages in Australia. For that reason, one of the big questions that those of us that are early movers in the space have, is around what the opportunity really looks like. That can be difficult to define with limited data, and this is why Jake Nicholson’s presentation at our inaugural EtA Forum is so essential. Jake has done an incredible job to collect data on...

Last year we brought you the inaugural EtA Forum, and were thrilled with the response. The idea was that we would give our growing and dynamic part of the Australian investment and acquisitions space a chance to come together and share some great insights, and the response was overwhelming. To help further spread the insights that came from that event, the content from the presentations will form...

This year, the Australian EtA and Search Fund community is looking forward to its first big event for the region. The EtA Forum (www.etaforum.com.au) will be held in Manly Beach in Sydney, on Friday 16th September. In today's episode of the next step, I speak to Scott Middleton, who is the founder and CEO of Terem. Terem is a technology based business that provides tech product development support...

This year, the Australian EtA and Search Fund community is looking forward to its first big event for the region. The EtA Forum (www.etaforum.com.au) will be held in Manly Beach in Sydney, on Friday 16th September. On this episode of The Next Step podcast, I speak to Grant and Ben from Judo bank. Judo has kindly offered to sponsor the ETA Forum, which is coming up next month in Manly. And it's exc...