# NextGen Growth Partners CEO-in-residence search investing. A Chicago private investment firm founded in 2016 running the CEO-in-residence model, a role it renamed from entrepreneur-in-residence in 2025. CIRs 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. - Category: Capital & Investors - Pricing model: Custom Pricing - Where it fits: Learn & Choose Your Path - Website: https://nextgengp.com ## At a Glance 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. - Track Record: Founded in 2016; the CEO-in-residence model, renamed from entrepreneur-in-residence in 2025, and it says every CEO-in-Residence who partnered with it in Fund I went on to acquire a business. Fund I closed above $50M in 2018, Fund II above $100M in 2022 and Fund III at a $165M hard cap in 2024. Its portfolio page lists thirteen companies and four realized, with two exits announced in 2024 and 2025, and its team page seven CEOs-in-residence. - Lane: Employed - Funds: The search phase and the deal - Based: Chicago and Austin. - Invests: Businesses headquartered in the United States, by its intermediaries page. - Buys: Founder- or family-owned mission-critical B2B services businesses at $5M to $50M of revenue and $2M to $8M+ of EBITDA on its home page, in facilities services, niche contracting, professional and technical services, and business process services. Its intermediaries page puts the platform floor at $1.5M of EBITDA and lists twelve current industries from managed IT services to commercial cleaning. - Before A First Call: Two or three industries you intend to search, each with a visible link to your own career, provided as part of the application. Then a screening call, an interview, a case study, a personality assessment, an evaluation by its advisory board and a reference check, in its FAQ's order. - First-Time Operators: Its criteria say experience is everything and that candidates must have a track record of achievement and leadership, which reads like a gate and is not one: a bar on achievement, not on having owned a profit and loss. - 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: Up to 25% of the equity by vesting, which it calls identical economics to a traditional search fund, plus the option to put up to 10% into your own search. No page states whether the seat pays a salary. - After The Close: Gives a new CEO a board, a director of portfolio operations, formal onboarding, regular check-ins and a career coach after the acquisition. ## What It Costs 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 For Aspiring [owner-operators](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/owner-operator) who want the searching experience with [committed capital](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/committed-capital) and infrastructure behind them, and who accept firm economics in exchange; whether the seat pays a salary is not stated on its site ## Pros and Cons - Pro: Removes the fundraising and personal-runway burden entirely; capital is committed before you start - Pro: Institutional sourcing, diligence, and operating support around the CIR, and three funds closed, the third at a $165M hard cap - Pro: A credible path for operators without the network or savings a self-funded or traditional search demands - Con: You are an employee-entrepreneur inside the firm's economics, not the owner of your own search vehicle - Con: Equity outcomes are structurally smaller than a successful self-funded purchase and different from traditional-search vesting; compare the three paths on paper - Con: Thesis and deal selection are shared decisions with the firm ## What Searchers Say Frequently listed among the [employed-searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/employed-search) and accelerator-style models in community roundups, and named on another backer's roster as a search entity with one of its residents beside it. Sentiment is generally positive on the experience and honest about the trade: less risk, less ownership. ## Compared With - Which salaried-search program fits how you work? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/brydon-group-vs-nextgen-growth-partners.md) ## Sources - https://nextgengp.com/entrepreneurs/ - https://nextgengp.com/about/ - https://nextgengp.com/portfolio/ - https://nextgengp.com/team/ - https://nextgengp.com/2026-annual-letter/ - https://www.joinleland.com/library/a/search-fund-accelerators Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/capital.md Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/nextgen-growth-partners Last checked: 2026-09-23 Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt