Mike Zani

Daniel and I put some in, but we've used our investors in the search fund that got us going in 2004.

And we've gone back to them through every subsequent deal and just sort of passed the hat.

It was a great price.

So actually, the way a search fund works is,

is you pass, you sort of approach 10 or so high net worth individuals and ask them sort of for permission to search on their behalf.

You're looking for a single target company to buy and

they help fund your search.

So, you know, they keep the lights on, help you do some financial due diligence and fly around the country and look for companies to buy.

Wait, keep the lights on for what?

Is this just you?

Just Daniel and I, Daniel and I searching for companies to buy.

Just two people, two people in a, in a shared workspace, um, looking for companies to buy.

And the only thing we had to our name was debt.

We just got out of our MBA programs and

And it was an opportunity.

People who invest in search funds are looking for these small market to mid-market investments where they don't have to pay a lot of, say, private equity or venture capital carried interest, where they invest directly.

After we get the company under letter of intent, everyone comes in as common.

And in our first opportunity, we didn't put any equity in.

We just earned sweat equity.

But we did well with the first company, and we've taken some of our proceeds and bought other companies, and we've been able to put more and more equity into our subsequent investments.