In this episode, Nick speaks with Eric Whitley, co-founder of GridSME and GridSec, one of the leading providers of grid compliance, engineering, and cybersecurity services for renewable energy operators in the Western United States. After decades working inside the power grid, Eric and team built a highly specialized business that became essential to the rapid growth of solar and other inverter-based resources.

But what makes Eric’s story especially compelling isn’t just the business he built, it’s the decision he and his team made not to sell it.

After going through a full sale process, meeting with buyers, and receiving multiple offers, they ultimately walked away. Instead of optimizing for an exit, he and his partner and top leadership chose to structure the company for long-term independence, internal ownership, and what he calls a “forever company.” And since Eric stepped aside from leading the company, they chose to fund his buyout of GridSME through the company rather than outside investors, thus creating a succession ownership model for each of the remaining owners when their time is right.

Along the way, Eric shares the frameworks that shaped his thinking, from The Pumpkin Plan to Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last, and how they translated those ideas into real decisions: focusing on A-level clients, building almost entirely through referrals, and sharing 50% of profits with employees.

More than anything, this conversation is a reminder that behind every acquisition opportunity is a real person who has spent decades building something meaningful.

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In this episode, Ibrahim Abdel Rahim returns to share how ETA has evolved from a niche strategy into a rapidly globalizing asset class.

Moonbase has expanded beyond Europe into markets like Brazil and India, where activity is accelerating, while countries like Spain continue to produce strong deal flow. But as the ecosystem grows, Ibrahim argues that deeper structural issues are emerging.

He points to investor dynamics as a key pressure point. What was once a collaborative, trust-based model is, in his view, seeing more misalignment, politics, and investors who underestimate the level of involvement required to support operators.

According to Ibrahim, this is most visible in board composition, arguably the most important driver of outcomes in ETA. He suggests that boards are increasingly formed based on check size rather than merit, leading to under-engaged or overly financial oversight, which becomes especially problematic when companies struggle.

Ibrahim shares his framework for building effective boards:

• Prioritize merit over capital
• Balance experience with hunger
• Include operational, not just financial, expertise
• Optimize for trust and responsiveness

Zooming out, Ibrahim argues that while ETA is scaling quickly, the model’s success depends on maintaining high-quality investors and strong boards. The key question going forward is whether the ecosystem can grow without losing what makes it work.

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DC Moore is a mid-career searcher and the new CEO of Atlantic Technology Group, an enterprise wireless and mobility infrastructure provider benefiting from durable tailwinds tied to 5G densification, in-building connectivity needs, and rising mobile data demand.

With a path that includes Georgia Tech (electrical engineering), Wharton, and time at Motorola, Lockheed Martin, and McKinsey, followed by more than a decade in Africa doing M&A and operating leadership, DC brings a fundamentally different profile to ETA than the typical post-MBA searcher.

Instead of buying a simple business and replacing the owner, DC deliberately sought out complexity, kept the founder on, and structured real alignment around long-term growth.

In this episode, DC discusses:

• Why ETA appealed to him as a way to combine acquisitions with real operating authority rather than just board-level investing
• Raising a traditional search as a mid-career operator and challenging some of the stereotypes around who “fits” the model
• How a failed deal process with ATG turned into a better partnership by preserving trust with the seller
• Structuring meaningful rollover equity so the founder remains economically and emotionally invested in the next phase
• Managing unexpected hockey-stick growth, especially working capital strain and building hiring systems before scaling too fast

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Kevin Hong is a former searcher who was fired from the company he acquired and is now the founder of Caprae Capital, a tech-enabled lower middle market investment platform behind SaaSquatch Leads, Search as a Service, and a growing portfolio of businesses.

After years as an entrepreneur, Kevin turned to search as a more de-risked path to ownership. But his experience running a data center services business turned into a battle over governance, board control, seller alignment, and strategy. Instead of disappearing after being removed, he went public, interviewed other terminated searchers, and began publishing investor rankings and operator feedback in an effort to bring more transparency to the search ecosystem.

In this episode, Kevin discusses:

• Why search appealed to him, how he approached his acquisition, and what ultimately led to his firing
• What he thinks traditional search gets wrong about governance, boards, and operator-investor alignment
• How Caprae works, what he means by “rewriting LMM PE from the source code,” and why he believes founder-led, tech-enabled models can outperform the traditional playbook
• What he learned from surveying terminated searchers and why he believes the industry needs more transparency as it scales

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Turner Wyatt is the founder and CEO of Small Capital, an investment firm backing self-funded searchers who want to bake employee ownership into their acquisitions from day one. A lifelong social entrepreneur (food security, food waste/climate, and founding the Upcycled Food Association), Turner describes his pivot into ETA as a direct response to what he sees as the other defining challenge of this century: income inequality. His core thesis is simple: if ETA is reshaping ownership in America, it’s a missed opportunity if employees remain locked out of wealth creation, and it’s also a missed opportunity for business performance.

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On this episode of Search Funded, we sit down with William D. Cohan, bestselling author, longtime financial journalist, and former Wall Street M&A banker, for a wide-ranging conversation that spans search fund investing, leadership, capitalism, and career reinvention.

Before bringing moral clarity to the financial world through his journalism and books including Money and Power, House of Cards, The Last Tycoons, and Power Failure, Bill spent nearly two decades as an M&A banker at Lazard, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, and GE Capital.

But what many people do not know is that he has also been a search fund investor for many years, backing entrepreneurs in the U.S. and internationally, including a decades-long investment that ultimately exited to the Pritzker family.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why search fund investing appealed to Bill compared to traditional private equity, especially around incentives, fees, and alignment (00:03:30)
• Patterns he has observed across successful and unsuccessful search fund investments, and why outcomes are often unpredictable (00:06:45)
• The risk of greed creeping into search funds, parallels to SPACs and private equity, and why modesty still matters in entrepreneur compensation (00:17:52)
• Bill’s career pivot from Wall Street to journalism after being fired post-9/11, and why taking control of his work and time led to a more meaningful life (00:22:35)

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On this episode of Search Funded, we sit down with Tom Sarig, founder and CEO of Antifragile Equity Partners. A Grammy-winning music executive and former SVP at multiple major labels, Tom has worked with artists like The Roots, Erykah Badu, and Lou Reed. He now applies his decades of experience to acquiring music catalogs and helping independent artists grow their careers sustainably.

In this episode, we cover:

• Tom’s unusual journey from international tax consultant at Deloitte to A&R executive in the music industry (00:01:39)
• Lessons from managing legends like Lou Reed, Brian Ferry, and the Violent Femmes—and how that shaped his approach to younger artists (00:10:48)
• How Antifragile evolved from an artist management firm into a label and now a fund acquiring music IP (00:18:14)
• Success stories like Cannons and Mipso, and how Tom uses sync licensing and AI to grow streams and fanbases (00:22:24)
• Why Tom sees investing in music catalogs as similar to acquiring cash-flowing businesses—and why streaming has made this model more predictable (00:32:25)
• Antifragile’s investment strategy: how they select artists, where the value lies, and how they achieve multiple expansion (00:36:39)

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New SBA rules are making self-funded search tougher—especially for non-U.S. citizens. In this episode, we explore why it might be time to look abroad and my personal reflections after spending the past few months traveling through the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Links to INSEAD Emerging Markets Podcast: Spotify, BuzzSprout, Apple.

Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, legal, or investment advice. Please do your own research or consult a professional.

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