Blue Frame Capital Partners
At a Glance
The most useful exclusion list here, and it frames its own objective in terms of what the searcher earns.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Investment terms, not fees. No fee is charged to a searcher; what the firm publishes about its own side is noted in the row.
- Best For
- A searcher in Canada, the United States or Mexico who wants a backer that has said which industries it will refuse before the first conversation.
- Track Record
- Fourteen acquired operating companies by its own tile, against a grid of fifteen named with no person, year or status; twenty-eight investor networks and twenty-plus schools, by its own tiles. The hundred-plus years beside those figures is the team's combined careers and the page says so.
- Lane
- Traditional
- Funds
- The search phase and the deal
- Based
- No address published anywhere on its site, only an email address.
- Invests
- North American transactions, primarily Canada and the United States, and it will also consider opportunities in Mexico.
- Buys
- An exclusion list rather than an inclusion one: everything except retail, natural resources and real estate, subject to predictable revenue, low customer concentration, industry growth and solid unit economics.
- Before A First Call
- An email address and nothing else, published under an invitation to work together. No form, no application, no cohort and no condition on who may write. The nearest thing to a filter is its own list of industries it will not buy, which is about the company rather than the sender.
- First-Time Operators
- A two-way profile, unusually: it names passion, optimism, coachability, critical thinking, a record of high achievement and humble confidence, and then says it aspires to demonstrate those traits itself. Not a bar.
- How Long The Search Runs
- No length on the search and nothing about what happens if it ends without a deal, on the pages this review read. Ask what the clock is before you sign anything.
- Published Terms
- No check size, stake or fee on the pages this review read. Most firms on this shelf publish none, so ask early rather than late.
- What A Searcher Gets
- Not published on the pages this review read. It is the figure a searcher most wants and most of this shelf does not print it, so ask before the first call rather than after.
- After The Close
- Nothing about the years after closing on the pages this review read, whether a hold period, a first-year plan or a board role. Ask how long it expects to own the company before you sign.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Publishes an exclusion list, which tells a searcher more in one sentence than most inclusion lists do
- Names Mexico as somewhere it will consider, alongside Canada and the United States
- States its aim as maximising the searcher's carry, which is the most searcher-side sentence here
Cons
- No address of any kind published on any page, only an email address
- Its only description of search-phase help sits inside a testimonial written by two portfolio chief executives rather than by the firm
- The carry language is a stated policy rather than a number, so no searcher-side term can be read from it
What Searchers Say
Named as a backer on the rosters of six separate searchers. Its partners are both former searchers, and its strategic partners are named individuals rather than firms. Read whole: the site is one page, last published in January, with a grid of fifteen portfolio companies as live links and no person, year or status, eleven of them rows on the acquisitions record here, and a testimonial carousel of which only one slide renders without a script.
How to Approach
Firms do not publish a term sheet you can prepare against, so this is how traditional (investor-backed) search capital comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- A first conversation on your background and why search, before any deal.
- A deep dive on your plan: industries, criteria, and how you will source.
- Backing for the search itself, then a fresh underwrite when you bring a live deal.
- A board seat and governance once you close.
What It Weighs
- Whether you will finish a two-year search, not only start one.
- The quality of your thesis and target criteria.
- How you will behave on a cap table over a long hold.
How to Prepare
- Bring a sourcing thesis, not a blank slate. Buyer Profile Builder
- Know which firms lead versus follow, and on what terms. Investors
- Make your operator case on one page. Buyer Profile Builder