American Operator vs CapitalPad
Side by Side
| Attribute | American Operator | CapitalPad |
|---|---|---|
| What It Is | Formerly the Mainshares marketplace where self-funded searchers raised acquisition equity from 1,300+ accredited investors. It rebranded to American Operator in December 2025 and pivoted to buying $2-7M businesses outright with its own cash, installing vetted operators as salaried CEOs with 10% day-one equity and a buy-up path to majority ownership. All mainshares.com pages now redirect to americanoperator.com, and the old equity-raising service is no longer offered to new searchers. | Deal-by-deal co-investment platform that pools accredited investors into a single SPV to fill the equity gap in SMB acquisitions led by self-funded searchers and independent sponsors. Searchers with a deal under LOI (roughly $1M+ EBITDA, US/Canada) apply; approved deals are shown to CapitalPad's investor network, which typically writes a combined $500K–$2.5M equity check delivered as one subscription, one wire, and one cap-table entry. Its investor pages state the shape of what a searcher's backers sign up for: a $25,000 minimum, one SPV per deal, quarterly reporting, an annual K-1, and a typical hold of three to seven years. |
| Category | Capital & Investors | Capital & Investors |
| Pricing Model | Custom Pricing | Success Fee |
| What It Costs | Pricing not published. Vendor-published economics: American Operator funds the acquisition all-cash from its balance sheet and holds 90% at close; the operator receives 10% ownership on day one plus "full salary and benefits" (no figures disclosed) and earns/buys toward majority over an unpublished timeline; board advisors must invest a minimum of $25K for common equity. Acquisition box: $2-7M enterprise value, $3-10M+ revenue, roughly $950K+ adjusted EBITDA. FAQs titled "Is an upfront investment required?" and "Do I sign a personal guarantee?" exist on the become-an-owner page but their answers are not in the public page text. | Free for searchers/sponsors: "Sponsors pay nothing at any stage: your closing fee, management fee, and promote stay yours", no placement, advisory, success, closing, or participation fees, including if the deal dies (per capitalpad.com/raise/ and /self-funded-search/). CapitalPad is paid from the investor side: investors pay a one-time 1.5% administration fee at funding (no annual management fee) plus 20% carried interest, charged only after investors receive their full capital back. Investor minimum $25,000 per deal (accredited only); institutional direct positions $750K+. Indirect cost to searchers: investors expect market-standard terms (preferred return commonly ~10–12%, possible step-up/carry), so this is priced equity, not cheap money. |
| Best For | Experienced industry operators (5+ years hands-on plus 5+ years P&L ownership; veterans favored) who want to run a $2-7M home-services, B2B-services, distribution, or light-manufacturing business with a salary and day-one equity, earning into majority without raising their own SBA debt or investor equity. Self-funded searchers seeking gap equity for a deal they control should look elsewhere; that Mainshares product was retired with the rebrand. | Self-funded searchers already under LOI on a larger deal, roughly $1M+ EBITDA / $5M–$30M enterprise value, who need to raise a six-to-seven-figure SBA equity injection without personally herding 15 individual angel checks. Not for searchers buying sub-$1M EBITDA businesses (below CapitalPad's stated mandate floor, which excludes much of the $500K–$5M purchase-price market) or anyone still searching with no signed LOI. |
| Where It Fits | Learn & Choose Your Path, Set Up & Fund the Search, Diligence & Close the Deal | Set Up & Fund the Search, Diligence & Close the Deal |
| Our Verdict | Worth a call if you would trade deal control for a funded, salaried path into eventual majority ownership of a $2-7M business, but if you came for Mainshares' investor network to plug the equity gap in your own SBA deal, that product no longer exists. | If you're under LOI on a $1M+ EBITDA business and short on your equity injection, CapitalPad is a credible way to raise it through one SPV at no fee to you. Most sub-$2M SBA deals fall below its bar, though, and its investor capital costs real preferred-return economics. |
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Our take
Choose American Operator if you would trade control for a funded path: it buys the business all-cash from its own balance sheet, holds 90% at close, and installs you as the salaried operator with 10% on day one and a route to majority. Two things decide it. The split, the salary and the timeline to majority are its terms and you negotiate inside them rather than setting them. And the product searchers knew this firm for, raising gap equity from its investor network for a deal you control, was discontinued with the rebrand, so it is not an answer to that question any more.
Choose CapitalPad when the deal is already yours and the gap is the only thing missing: accredited investors co-invest deal by deal through a single vehicle, so you take one wire from one party, and sponsors pay nothing at any stage, no closing fee, no management fee and no promote to the platform. What you accept is that every raise is its own pitch to that room rather than a draw on a committed fund, so the timing runs on their appetite for your specific deal.