LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Acquisitions Anonymous.
Michael Arrieta explains how he went from a sales-driven childhood and a decade in tech to founding Garden City Companies, an evergreen holdco that buys and holds small-to-mid-sized family businesses. The conversation focuses on storytelling, relationship-building, and how he structured and funded the firm around mission-aligned investors and long-term ownership rather than quick flips.
Aspiring searchers, holdco founders, and ETA investors who want a practical view of how a permanent-capital buy-and-hold firm gets raised and sourced.
A compelling origin story can be a fundraising asset when it is specific, vulnerable, and tied to a clear investing mission.
Relational capital built over years at high-trust companies can matter more than a formal fundraising process when launching a new acquisition vehicle.
An evergreen holdco can be positioned around holding companies for the long run rather than selling businesses after a short investment cycle.
Mission alignment is a filter for LPs: Garden City sought investors who cared about service workers, dignity, and long-term business stewardship.
Proprietary outreach to owners can generate lots of conversations but not necessarily transactions when the owner was not already ready to sell.
Intermediary relationships became more productive once the firm focused on brokers and advisors serving businesses already in sale mode.
The firm’s model is to use investor capital to buy platforms, return capital through cash flow first, and then layer in ownership economics after investors are paid back.
A disciplined sourcing strategy requires staying top of mind with intermediaries through repeated, low-pressure follow-up rather than one-off pitches.
Arrieta frames firm-building as starting with purpose, not mechanics: articulate the mission, the people you want to serve, and the type of businesses you want to own before worrying about structures or tactics.
When to use: Useful when launching a fund, holdco, or acquisition search and trying to attract aligned capital and deal flow.
He describes Garden City’s investor base as a collective of people who buy into the same purpose, not just a set of passive LPs seeking returns.
When to use: Useful for evergreen or long-duration vehicles that rely on trust, referrals, and repeated collaboration.
Garden City Companies had five portfolio companies after about three years.
Arrieta gives the firm’s operating scale while describing the evolution from launch to portfolio building.
The initial close for Garden City was about $25 million at the end of February 2020.
He explains how he raised capital before having a deal in hand.
The firm ultimately raised a little over $50 million.
He describes the holding company structure and investor ownership.
He had a roster of 55 investors, including governors, senators, professional athletes, and Fortune 50 CEOs.
He uses the investor mix to illustrate the mission-driven, relationship-based nature of the platform.
He spent over a decade building relational capital across Dell and DocuSign before launching Garden City.
He attributes the speed of his fundraising to long-running relationships rather than cold outreach.
His team focuses on blue- and white-collar service companies in the Southeast, stretching from Texas to Florida.
He describes the geographic and industry focus of the sourcing effort.
The firm targets businesses with EBITDA between roughly $2 million and $7 million, and is willing to look up to around $10 million or more in enterprise value.
He outlines the deal-size range that fits the holdco’s search.
Garden City pays a $100,000 finder’s fee for business referrals and donates $25,000 to the referrer’s chosen charity.
He offers a concrete incentive for listeners to send opportunities.
Lead with a purpose-driven narrative when raising capital or building a buyer brand.
Why: Aligned investors and intermediaries respond more strongly to a clear why than to generic return talk.
Invest heavily in long-term relationships before you need capital or deals.
Why: Arrieta’s earliest backers already knew him from years of work at Dell and DocuSign, which reduced friction when he launched.
Focus owner outreach on businesses where the seller is already contemplating a sale rather than trying to create motivation from scratch.
Why: Proprietary outreach produced many conversations but few deals until the firm shifted to motivated sellers through intermediaries.
Stay in touch with brokers and intermediaries on a recurring basis rather than relying on one introduction.
Why: Repeated reminders help keep the buyer’s mandate top of mind when a fitting deal appears.
Target the specific intermediary who is closest to the deal, not necessarily the managing director.
Why: The person actively working a transaction is more likely to remember and circulate your criteria.
Use a low-pressure ask when networking: ask for introductions or referrals only after demonstrating credibility.
Why: Removing transaction pressure makes people more willing to help and refer others.
He knew in 2018 that he wanted to start Garden City, but the fast-rising DocuSign stock kept him in place until a deep sense of calling pushed him to leave in February 2020. The story shows how golden handcuffs can delay an otherwise clear career move.
Lesson: Clear conviction often matters more than perfect timing, but equity gains can make it hard to act on that conviction.
The firm spent significant time and money emailing owners directly in target industries and got lots of responses, financials, and meetings. But many of those owners were not truly ready to sell, so the effort produced activity without closing deals.
Lesson: Interest is not the same as sale readiness; source from motivated sellers, not just curious owners.
Arrieta invited high-profile leaders like Bill Haslam by tying the invitation to a mission about caring for workers and building durable businesses. The approach worked because the ask was aligned with the audience’s values rather than transactional celebrity chasing.
Lesson: Mission framing can unlock access to people and speakers that a generic networking request cannot.