Entrepreneurial Capital
At a Glance
Worth the call before the LOI as well as after it, which is more than most of this shelf offers.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Searcher side: '$300k - $2m of capital + real operational experience, from LOI through close and beyond', against targets of 'Earnings of $750k+' and 'Under 5x Multiple'. Investor side, published separately: an '8% - 12% Preferred Return', a $100,000 minimum, a stated 2x to 2.5x step-up, and a ten-year fund life.
- Best For
- A self-funded searcher who wants a capital partner reading the CIM before there is an LOI to fund
- Track Record
- Publishes a full set of fund terms on the investor side and no deal count on either.
- Lane
- Self-Funded
- Funds
- The deal only
- Based
- Chicago, Illinois. No geography rule is published for the deals it will back.
- Invests
- Businesses earning $750k or more, bought under a 5x multiple, with low customer concentration and low capital intensity.
- Published Terms
- $300k to $2m into a deal from the letter of intent onward. Its investors are quoted an 8% to 12% preferred return, a $100,000 minimum, and a 2x to 2.5x step-up.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Publishes a searcher check range and a full set of investor terms, which is unusual transparency in either direction
- Publishes an earnings floor and a multiple ceiling, so a searcher can self-qualify before making contact
- Its Preferred Searcher Program gives pre-LOI searchers a described relationship rather than silence
- Discloses the step-up, which is the term searchers most often meet late
Cons
- No geography rule published at all, so a searcher outside the Midwest cannot tell whether they are in scope
- No deal count and no founding year, so the firm cannot be sized from its own pages
- The multiple ceiling reads as under 5x in one place and 3x to 5x in another, and the site never reconciles them
What Searchers Say
Searcher check range, earnings floor and the investor term stack all read from its own pages.
How to Approach
Firms do not publish a term sheet you can prepare against, so this is how self-funded search capital comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- No conversation until you have a deal: gap capital comes in at the LOI, not before.
- A fast read on the specific target and your underwrite.
- An equity check to close the gap the loan and your own injection leave.
What It Weighs
- The deal itself: is the business financeable and fairly priced.
- Your underwrite, since there is no search track record to lean on.
- How much of the equity gap actually remains after the loan and your own cash.
How to Prepare
- Underwrite the specific deal end to end before you call. Underwrite a Deal
- Size the gap: sources and uses against what a lender and seller accept. Sources & Uses Builder
- Know your own number first. SBA Acquisition Calculator