The Cambria Group
At a Glance
Worth a call precisely because it is structure-flexible: if your path shifts between search fund and independent sponsor, this desk has seen both.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Investment terms, not fees: search-fund and acquisition economics negotiated per the model's conventions.
- Best For
- Searchers and deal-by-deal buyers who want an investor comfortable across structures rather than committed to one model
- Track Record
- 300-plus platform investments plus hundreds of add-ons; on the search side its principals name 200-plus traditional search funds backed, 110-plus acquired businesses, and 35 to 45 active searchers at any one time.
- Lane
- Traditional, Self-Funded
- Funds
- The search phase and the deal
- In the Round
- Says it will either lead or join, depending on the deal.
- Based
- Menlo Park, California.
- Invests
- Across 40-plus states.
- Buys
- Businesses earning at least $1M of operating profit, in transactions worth up to $25M.
- Before A First Call
- A criteria page entirely about the company and the transaction, down to equity of up to $5M and operating earnings of at least $1M. Its search funds page counts the searchers it works with at any one time and names no condition on becoming one of them.
- First-Time Operators
- Criteria entirely about the company and the transaction, and a search funds page counting how many searchers it works with at a time. Nothing about who those searchers are.
- 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
- Writes up to $5M of its own equity into a deal.
- What A Searcher Gets
- It publishes the equity it writes into a deal and nothing about search capital or the equity a searcher earns.
- Roadmap Stages
- 1. Learn & Choose Your Path3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Flexibility across structures: leads deals, backs searchers, supports independent sponsors
- Over 300 platforms of small-business pattern recognition, among the deepest anywhere
- Established-operating-history focus matches the businesses searchers actually buy
Cons
- Not a search-only investor, so the search fund practice is one lane among several
- Terms, check sizes, and criteria are not published
- Breadth means the fit conversation does more work than a category label would
What Searchers Say
A quiet fixture of the small-business acquisition world for decades; less visible in searcher social media than the dedicated funds, which says nothing about the capital.
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