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Brydon Group vs NextGen Growth Partners

Side by Side

AttributeBrydon GroupNextGen Growth Partners
What It IsThe largest cohort-model employed-search program: recruits CEOs-in-residence into annual cohorts (36 CIRs across five cohorts since 2022, 46 acquisitions in software, business, and healthcare services), pays a salary during the search, and targets $30M-plus of equity behind each platform the CIR then runs.A Chicago private investment firm founded in 2016 running the entrepreneur-in-residence model. EIRs join the firm full time, source and acquire a business with the firm's committed capital, and step in as its leader: an employed path into operating rather than a fund backing your own search.
CategoryCapital & InvestorsCapital & Investors
Pricing ModelCustom PricingCustom Pricing
What It CostsEmployment economics, not fees: salary during the search plus equity in the acquired platform; specific splits are not published.Not a fee or a fund investment in your entity: EIRs are brought into the firm's structure with compensation and equity terms set by the firm; understand exactly what you would own before comparing it to running your own search.
Best ForExperienced operators and executives who want the employed path with cohort structure, committed capital, and bigger-than-usual platform ambitionsAspiring owner-operators who want the searching experience with a salary, committed capital, and infrastructure, and who accept firm economics in exchange
Where It FitsChoose Your Path, Set Up & Fund the SearchChoose Your Path
Our VerdictThe employed lane's scale option: if you would search on salary, the cohort with 46 closed deals is the bench strength to compare everyone else against.A legitimate third path between self-funded and traditional; take it for the platform and the risk transfer, not the equity math, and model all three paths before choosing.
Pros & Cons
  • A salary during the search removes the personal burn that ends many searches early
  • 46 acquisitions across five cohorts is a real, recent track record for a young program
  • $30M-plus of committed equity per platform aims higher than most first acquisitions
  • Equity splits and salary figures are not published, so the trade against a traditional search is hard to price from outside
  • An annual application window (decisions by late March) sets the calendar for you
  • The thesis is shaped with the firm, so you trade some of the searcher's autonomy
  • Removes the fundraising and personal-runway burden entirely; capital is committed before you start
  • Institutional sourcing, diligence, and operating support around the EIR
  • A credible path for operators without the network or savings a self-funded or traditional search demands
  • You are an employee-entrepreneur inside the firm's economics, not the owner of your own search vehicle
  • Equity outcomes are structurally smaller than a successful self-funded purchase and different from traditional-search vesting; compare the three paths on paper
  • Thesis and deal selection are shared decisions with the firm

Our take

Choose Brydon for scale and structure: an annual cohort alongside dozens of peers, 46 acquisitions of track record, and $30M-plus of equity aimed behind each platform you would run.

Choose NextGen to search inside a firm as an entrepreneur-in-residence: a smaller bench, a Chicago base, and a model where you lead the deal you find rather than joining a platform thesis.

Put It to Work

Whichever side wins for you, Investor Match filters the verified investors by your path.