SMBash
At a Glance
Worth it in the year you are actively raising or closing, when the room converts to term sheets and partners; early-stage browsers get most of the content value from the recordings without the airfare.
- Pricing
- One-Time, 2026 general admission ran $1,895 per ticket at the two-plus-ticket rate (smbash.com, July 2026); 2027 ticket tiers were not yet published at review time. Tickets include meals and session recordings, with refunds until 30 days before the event.
- Best For
- Searchers far enough along to convert hallway conversations into lenders, investors, and diligence partners, which is where a four-figure ticket earns itself back
- Roadmap Stages
- 1. Learn & Choose Your Path3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- One of the few national events centered on the self-funded searcher rather than the funded search-fund track
- Concentrates lenders, investors, operators, and service providers into two days of in-person access
- Session recordings are included, and the published refund policy is unusually clean for events
Cons
- Real cost is the ticket plus travel and lodging, easily a multi-thousand-dollar line item
- Once a year in one city; miss the window and the next access point is twelve months out
- The content is recorded, so the marginal value is networking, which depends entirely on the effort you bring
What Searchers Say
Has become a recurring fixture on the ETA calendar with visible community chatter each spring. Attendee sentiment in public threads skews positive on networking density; weigh that against the travel math for your situation.