WAD Capital: CEO-in-Residence Cohort
The Position
Search on Salary. SME succession on published terms: a monthly fee, full acquisition funding, and equity on the day it closes.
Cycle: Cohorts its FAQ sizes at 10 to 20 and its releases count at seven, eight and ten, with six more due in November 2026; the firm's own page is recruiting for the 2026 cohort.
Applications are open.
Window: Applications open for the 2026 cohort, by its own navigation, through a form on its join page.
At a Glance
- Location
- Europe, for European SME succession with a Benelux focus; its FAQ asks for regular presence within 300 km of Brussels.
- Pay
- Salaried
- Compensation
- A monthly management fee during the search, invoiced by the resident's own management company rather than paid as salary, full acquisition funding, and up to 20% of the equity in the company bought, vesting in thirds from the close.
- What You Do
- About two months of thesis research and six of outreach to find a company of roughly one to five million euros in EBITDA, then run it. The program runs up to 24 months, and at 18 to 24 months without a close the firm reevaluates with you whether to continue or conclude the search.
- What You Must Bring
- No personal capital, which its FAQ states outright while welcoming co-investment; English is required, and candidates from outside the EU need authorization to work in the region.
- Recruits On
- It weighs operating experience: time running something, rather than a degree.
- Who Can Apply
- Proven executives ready to take over from a retiring owner.
The Company
WAD Capital is reviewed in full in the directory, with its model, pricing, and the searcher case for and against it. It also backs searches, so the same page carries its fit as a backer and how to approach it. Read the WAD Capital review.
Interview Prep
These programs do not publish their interview scripts, so this is the shape a search on salary program hires on, what it is really weighing, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- A written application and resume screen, weighing operating exposure as much as deal exposure.
- A case or deal exercise: a target to assess, or a plan for one of the firm's portfolio companies.
- A panel with the partners who would back and govern you.
- Reference and background checks before an offer.
What It Is Assessing
- Whether you can operate, not only analyze: the firm is hiring a CEO, not an associate.
- Deal judgment: telling a good acquisition from a merely plausible one.
- Fit with the firm's stated playbook and the cadence its portfolio runs at.
How to Prepare
- Know the firm's thesis and portfolio cold before the first call. Investors
- Bring a real deal you would pursue, underwritten end to end. Underwrite a Deal
- Have an answer to why you would operate on salary rather than own outright. Path Economics
- Make the operator case on one page, not a resume. Buyer Profile Builder
More on the Board
A salaried seat is a form of capital: the employed lane on Investors weighs these programs beside the funds, and the Path Economics Comparer prices it against searching on your own money.