Sleeping Giant Capital
At a Glance
The employed lane's regional option: a narrower map traded for training and a committed local backer; compare against the national cohorts before choosing either.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Employment economics, not fees: a salary during the search and equity at close; terms are not published.
- Best For
- Mid-career operators committed to West Michigan who want the employed path with training built in rather than a national cohort
- Track Record
- Seven operating companies and 70 trained future owner-operators, on a second fund it puts over $100M.
- Lane
- Employed
- Funds
- The search phase and the deal
- Based
- West Michigan.
- Invests
- No investing scope on the pages this review read, so ask whether it will look at a search where you are.
- Buys
- Closely held businesses with a succession need. No size band of any kind is published.
- Before A First Call
- Its own Acquire Program first, in its own words: every CEO-in-Residence must begin there. Enrollment is rolling and it advises applying three to six months before you are ready to make the move.
- First-Time Operators
- States a bar that a first-time operator has to clear, usually having owned a profit and loss.
- How Long The Search Runs
- A residency lasting 18 to 24 months.
- 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
- Six figure compensation for a CEO-in-Residence over an eighteen to twenty-four month residency, in its own words, with the equity described only as meaningful and never given a percentage.
- Roadmap Stages
- 1. Learn & Choose Your Path3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The salary-plus-committed-capital structure is stated plainly on its own site
- A training program in front of the search filters both sides before either commits
- Place-based focus means the firm knows the local owner and lender network
Cons
- Geographic concentration in West Michigan narrows the deal universe to one region
- Equity percentages and salary figures are not published
- The two-stage structure (train, then search) adds time before you are actually looking
What Searchers Say
The visible example of the place-based employed model; its founder's academic base and operator-training pipeline are what practitioners cite.
How to Approach
Firms do not publish a term sheet you can prepare against, so this is how employed searcher (salary model) capital comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- A recruiting process more than a fundraise: you are applying to a program.
- A case or deal exercise and a panel with the partners who would back you.
- A salary and committed capital, in exchange for most of the equity.
What It Weighs
- Whether you can operate, since the firm is hiring a CEO.
- Fit with the firm's playbook and the cadence its portfolio runs at.
- Why you would trade ownership for a salary and a built-in backer.
How to Prepare
- Know the firm's thesis and portfolio cold. Investors
- Weigh salary and equity against owning outright. Path Economics
- Bring a real deal, underwritten end to end. Underwrite a Deal