The Found & Funded Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In the Season 3 finale of the Found & Funded Podcast, Carl Lundberg is joined by Jo Cockburn and Sandy Farmer, co-founding partners of Orca Equity Partners. Orca is an entrepreneurial investment firm backing the next generation of CEO talent to acquire and grow established SMEs across the UK and Europe. Its approach spans traditional search funds, self-funded acquisitions, man...

Send us Fan Mail What does the future of entrepreneurship through acquisition look like? For the Season 3 finale of Found & Funded, Carl Lundberg sits down with Jo Cockburn and Sandy Farmer, Co-Founding partners at Orca Equity Partners, to explore the opportunities shaping the next generation of business ownership. From the rise of search capital, to the qualities that separate good acquisitio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Found & Funded Podcast, we’re joined by Jan Simon, an investor, academic, and all-round leading voice in the global search fund industry. To say Jan has a diverse background is something of an understatement. From time in elite military units to senior roles at global investment banks, and from trading emerging markets to shaping the next generation of e...

Send us Fan Mail Jan Simon has spent his career leading, investing, teaching, and helping entrepreneurs succeed. In this episode of Found & Funded, he shares his perspective on:  - What investors look for in search fund entrepreneurs - The biggest mistakes searchers make - Untapped opportunities in today's market - The realities of becoming a CEO for the first time If you're interest...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Found & Funded Podcast, host Carl Lundberg is joined by Ben Marcilhacy, CEO of HMDG. Born and raised in France, Ben’s career has taken him from Google to Harvard’s MBA programme, tech startups, and now, entrepreneurship through acquisition.  After initially looking at a buy-and-build strategy in the physiotherapy space, Ben shifted away from a roll-up mo...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to leave a career at Google, earn an MBA from Harvard, and acquire one of the UK’s largest healthcare marketing agencies? In our latest episode, Carl Lundberg sits down with Ben Marcilhacy, CEO of HMDG, to discuss his journey into entrepreneurship through acquisition and the lessons learned along the way. From abandoning a buy-and-build strategy to structuring a...

Send us Fan Mail Season three episode three is here! This time, Carl is joined by Ibrahim Rahim, Managing Partner and co-founder of Moonbase Capital, a global investment firm backing search fund entrepreneurs to acquire and grow established businesses. Ibrahim shares his journey from growing up in Egypt and working in the family business, through to consulting at McKinsey, and ultimately founding...

Send us Fan Mail In episode three, Ibrahim Rahim, Managing Partner at Moonbase Capital, shares a journey that moves well beyond theory.  From scaling a family business in Egypt, to advising at McKinsey, and ultimately backing search fund entrepreneurs globally - this is an episode grounded in reality, unpacking what it truly takes to grow and transform a business, including the hard lessons, the n...

Send us Fan Mail Season three episode two, 'How two HBS graduates built a healthcare holdco' with Claire Nesler and Yoni Wehbe is now live.  In this episode, the Co-Founders of Kinetico Health sit down with Carl Lundberg to unpack: • Why they chose the roll-up model. • How they convinced sellers to take a chance on them. • The systems needed to manage integrations. • How they closed two...

Send us Fan Mail "You're going to have to be ready to do 20, 30, 40 deals. You’re going to have to be ready to do 20, 30, 40 integrations."  From business school graduates with entrepreneurial ambitions to operators running simultaneous acquisitions, our upcoming episode with the co-founders of Kinetico Health, Claire and Yoni, explores what it really takes to succeed in the search...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to a brand new season of The Found & Funded Podcast. In this first episode of season 3, we welcome Linh Van Deibel, Director of Infrastructure Design Solutions, a B2B telecom services provider.  From her roots in Vietnam to the high-stakes worlds of JP Morgan and private equity, Linh eventually moved into business operations, where she led five major acquisitions...

Send us Fan Mail “Search is a binary process — you either make it, or you don’t." In our upcoming episode with Linh Van Deibel of Acacia Partners Ltd , we dive into the raw, unfiltered reality of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition: - No salary. - No safety net. - A year (or more) of uncertainty. - Deals falling apart — even at the 11th hour. And still… making the decision to keep going. Fro...

Send us Fan Mail From finance to founder; trading career certainty for autonomy and long-term impact. In our season finale, Carl Lundberg is joined by Darnell Irozuru, CEO of Birch Faraday Capital and 2024 ETA Award winner, to unpack his ETA journey. Darnell’s instinct for entrepreneurship has been central to this story, starting with his own tutoring business straight out of university. Initially...

Send us Fan Mail "I would not want to put my worst enemy through what I went through in that year, in terms of the highs and lows of getting that deal over the line." Faced with setbacks and challenges, Darnell Irozuru's first acquisition was anything but smooth. As someone who likes to hit the ground running, Darnell found himself doubting his decision to trade a sturdy 9-5 for ent...

Send us Fan Mail In our penultimate episode of the season, Carl Lundberg is joined by Toby Henry, CEO of Accelerator Solutions, to unpack the personal and professional driving force behind his ETA journey. After starting out in financial services and spending seven years in management consulting, Toby realised he wanted more from his career. Inspired by his entrepreneur parents, Toby shares what d...

Send us Fan Mail A sneak preview of what's to come in this week's episode. After starting out in financial services and spending seven years in management consulting, Toby realised he wanted more from his career. Inspired by his entrepreneur parents, Toby shares what drew him to the search fund model, how he's balancing legacy and leadership, and why flexibility, autonomy, and purpo...

Send us Fan Mail Sergey Sushentsev, Co-Founder of Astra Holdings, shares how a failed succession plan sparked his journey into ETA. He unpacks his deal sourcing tactics, Astra’s 3-step value creation playbook - professionalise, incentivise, digitise - and why the HoldCo model is a game-changer for long-term growth. LinkedIn Instagram Website

Send us Fan Mail New episode coming soon!  Hear from Sergey Sushentsev, Co-Founder of Astra Holdings, as he shares the personal story behind his passion for succession planning, his approach to sourcing deals, and how Astra creates value through its three-part playbook: professionalise, incentivise, and digitise. Make sure you're subscribed for when episode four drops on 13 June. LinkedIn Ins...

Send us Fan Mail Episode three has landed.  Traditional searcher, Allison Stuckless, sits down with Carl Lundberg to share her journey from investment banker at JP Morgan, to stand-up comedian in the UK and then into the world of search.  Plus Allison puts Carl in the hot-seat with some of her questions on the economic trajectory of the UK, managing seller expectations as a searcher, and what it t...

Send us Fan Mail Our next guest to join Carl in the hot seat is traditional searcher, Allison Stuckless, Founder and Managing Partner of Vericor Capital.  Allison shares her journey from investment banker at JP Morgan, to stand-up comedian in the UK and then into the world of search.  Stay tuned for the full episode, coming on 30 May.  LinkedIn Instagram Website

Send us Fan Mail 'Leave your job, become a self-funded searcher and start building relationships’ - Gareth Hawkins.  In our brand new episode featuring Gareth Hawkins, CEO of BizCrunch, Carl and Gareth explore how data, technology, and a relationship-first approach are reshaping how searchers find and close deals.  Whether you're an aspiring searcher, investor, or operator, this episode...

Send us Fan Mail Episode two coming soon... In this brand new episode, Carl sits down with Gareth Hawkins, to dive into how deal sourcing is evolving and why traditional methods may get left behind. From data-driven strategies to the future of search, this is a must-listen for anyone in the world of acquisitions, private equity, or search funds.  Be sure to tune in on Friday 16 May. LinkedIn Insta...

Send us Fan Mail Episode one of this brand new season kicks off with Olivier Stapylton-Smith, Director of Serv-Ice Refrigeration.  Listen along as Carl and Olivier deep dive into self-funded search, initial deal pipeline, the importance of having a good support system, and balancing being an entrepreneur with having a family.  LinkedIn Instagram Website

Send us Fan Mail An official first look at what's to come in episode one of season two... 👀 'A self-funded acquisition with no external equity' with Olivier Stapylton-Smith, Director of Serv-Ice Refrigeration, will be dropping on 2 May 2025. In the season two premiere, we learn more about Olivier’s self-funded search journey and explore why he chose the acquisition path after launc...

Send us Fan Mail "Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money." - Alex Glasner on seeking investment.  Bringing you a never seen before bonus clip from episode five 'The self-funded path to success - Harvard Business School to CEO'.  In this extended cut, Alex shares how he found himself with an over subscribed cap table and his best advice for those who are looking to...