ETA search investing is more "hits-driven" than previously thought, and aspiring Entrepreneurs-Through-Acquisition can face steep odds delivering a performance of more than one-times invested capital, according to new research out of the Yale School of Management.

This episode of Search Party features a lively, candid, deep-dive conversation about the findings of the new paper, "How Are Search Fund Investors Really Faring?" with two of its three authors: A. J. Wasserstein and Daniel Lazier. Also joining the conversation are Dustin Sellers, Managing Partner of ETA private equity firm Next Coast Legacy, and Search Party host David Snow.

A. J. Wasserstein is the Eugene F. Williams, Jr., Senior Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management, and Daniel Lazier is a search fund entrepreneur and the founder of Skyline Crest Partners, a California-based search fund. Also contributing to the research was Jacob Thomas, the Williams Brothers Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Yale School of Management. (Access the full report here: https://som.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/How%20are%20Search%20Fund%20Investors%20Really%20Faring.pdf)

Among the topics of discussion:

Theories as to why some 58% of ETA investment outcomes are below a 1.9 multiple of invested capital (MOIC)

Why a broader pool of ETA investments does not necessarily lead to better returns

Why "high-status" ETA investors enjoy advantages in a hyper-competitive market

Why realizing at least one investment "gryphon" - defined as a MOIC of more than 10x - is so important to portfolio outperformance

Why dishonest sellers may be a cause of weak returns

Why ETA remains a major opportunity for entrepreneurially minded MBA graduates

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An in-depth conversation with good friends Casey Schuler and Hutson Prioleau who, in late 2019, acquired PalCare, a healthcare technology company that powers nurse-call systems for assisted living and memory care communities. That's when the real pain began.

What began as an exemplary Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) investment quickly turned into a crisis when COVID-19 disrupted senior living facilities across the country. Within three months of the close of its acquisition, 80% of PalCare’s projects came to a halt as care facilities locked down.

However, the duo's complementary strengths—Schuler’s operational rigor and Prioleau's sales chops—helped them prove PalCare's resilience. Working (and commuting) side by side, Casey and Hutson stabilized the business, cut costs, and automated their systems. Today, the company stands as a preeminent healthcare technology platform in senior care.

In conversation with Search Party host David Snow, joined by Dustin Sellers, Managing Partner of Next Coast Legacy and August Felker, Founder of Oberle Risk Strategies, Schuler and Prioleau reflects on their journey from MBA classmates to stress-tested CEOs—and the lessons learned along their ETA journey.

Some takeaways:

Partnership is power. Schuler and Prioleau's experience confirmed the power of two. As Sellers notes, “When partnered searches work, one plus one equals four.” The duo’s trust in one another and delegated strengths proved decisive when “the worst-case scenario” hit.

Operator-market fit matters more than margins. Early in their search, the pair passed on seemingly lucrative opportunities in industries they couldn’t see themselves running. “What’s your life going to look like for the next half decade?” Prioleau says, and “does this business need the skillset that you have?”

Resilience beats timing. COVID put their company to the ultimate test, but it also proved the value of Palcare. "Even if everything goes to hell, people are not going to rip out their emergency nurse call systems," notes Schuler.

Now, with a new COO and CRO in place, the founders are shifting from survival to scale—spending more time on culture, vision, and how AI might redefine senior care technology. “Let's keep growing a great business,” Schuler says. “Exit will take care of itself.”

Follow Search Party on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/search-party-channel/

Search Party Lead Sponsor: Next Coast Legacy https://lnkd.in/eSAuRW5p

Search Party Sponsors: Avidbank https://www.avidbank.com/ Boulay – Contact Boulay's Search Fund Team: https://lnkd.in/eFF88SVf Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/ Plexus Capital, LLC Capital https://plexuscap.com/

In the middle of COVID, when parking-garage volume was down 80%, Diego Cuenca, the first-time CEO of a parking garage tech platform called TickeTech, was feeling beat up.

Having acquired TicketTech just months earlier as part of an Entrepreneurship-Through-Acquisition (ETA) search-fund investment group, Cuenca was beginning to have visions of himself as leading “one of the worst search-fund outcomes in history,” he tells Search Party.

Fortunately, Cuenca had a background in both entrepreneurial and fighter perseverance. In his darkest moment - while hand-delivering tickets to empty garage clients - Cuenca, a former wrestler and mixed-martial arts (MMA) athlete, remembered advice from his coach: Just score the next point.

The TickeTech investment ended up becoming a success notable enough that Columbia Business School now has a case study on it. In this Search Party episode, Cuenca, now a second-time ETA searcher looking to acquire a business with high-quality revenue, shares his TicketTech story with Katie Walker, Principal at Plexus Capital, Tatiana Gaspar, a Director at Next Coast Legacy and host David Snow.

Among the key takeaways of this fascinating conversation:

Revenue quality beats everything. After guiding Ticketech through crisis and exit, Cuenca says his next search fund is centered on one principle: “The biggest lesson from TickeTech is revenue quality.” His fixation on recurring, durable cash flow reflects his realization in the wake of TickeTech turnaround that the company was saved by high-quality revenue.

Understanding the business before the balance sheet. Before ever studying accounting, while living in the Philippines as a child, Cuenca says he learned about cash flow from his Filipina mother businesswoman, who made him tag along to collect rent. “I think I understood yield very early,” he recalls. That grounding in practical economics later gave him a unique feel for operational risk and opportunity—skills that proved invaluable as a CEO.

Don’t chase someone else’s thesis. Early in his search career, Cuenca admits he “chased after the winds of the past,” following sectors that had already yielded investment successes, rather than overlooked sectors primed for growth. He now believes true advantage comes from differentiated focus: “It gives you a distinct advantage coming in as a new CEO.”

Follow Search Party on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/search-party-channel/

Search Party Lead Sponsor:

Next Coast Legacy https://lnkd.in/eSAuRW5p

Search Party Sponsors:

Avidbank https://www.avidbank.com/

Boulay – Contact Boulay's Search Fund Team: https://lnkd.in/eFF88SVf

Mayer Brown https://lnkd.in/gU7sPPSg

Oberle Risk Strategies https://oberle-risk.com/

Plexus Capital, LLC Capital https://plexuscap.com/