LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Search Funded: The ETA Podcast.
Bakari Akil Graves traces his path from Morehouse and auditing Cornel West and Tim Bovard’s classes to buying companies and building Graves Hall Capital. He explains how he sourced deals, why one acquisition looked like a government services business on the surface but hid a higher-multiple edtech asset, and how he now balances ownership, teaching, and travel through outsourcing and delegation.
Aspiring acquisition entrepreneurs, especially people from nontraditional backgrounds who want practical ideas on entering ETA, sourcing deals, and building credibility without a conventional finance pedigree.
A nontraditional background can still work in ETA if the buyer is willing to do years of preparation and accept a slower path to closing.
The simplest way to learn ETA may be to search for the acronym and then follow the trail to books, professors, and classroom access.
A person does not need to start with a formal search fund raise; investors may still back a specific acquisition once a real company is identified.
Sourcing can be built from three channels at once: brokers and bankers, direct owner outreach, and a recurring in-person network like a meetup group.
A business that looks unattractive in one category can hide a more valuable asset inside it, which can change the acquisition thesis and the financing story.
Owning assets that produce more cash than monthly expenses creates a practical defense against poverty and career volatility.
Delegation is what makes a multi-country lifestyle compatible with ownership, board service, teaching, and writing.
Bakari’s approach was to buy a company no matter what, even if that meant abandoning the classic path of raising a search fund first. The model centers on commitment to ownership rather than commitment to a specific fundraising sequence.
When to use: Use this mindset when a conventional search-fund raise is not available but the buyer still intends to close an acquisition.
Bakari said he wanted to raise $400,000 for a traditional search fund before shifting to deal-by-deal capital.
He described his original plan when entering ETA.
He said his meetup-based Alternative Investments Club of New York has about 5,000 members on Meetup.com.
He used the club as a deal-sourcing and networking channel.
The club hosted events for roughly six years at the 4040 Club in New York.
He described the history of the meetup community.
The educational technology acquisition had government contracting revenue as the majority of revenue but technology as the majority of EBITDA.
He explained why the business was misclassified on a cursory review.
He said a government services business might trade around 4x while an edtech business could trade around 8x.
He used the valuation difference to explain the appeal of the deal.
Audit classes or attend public talks from people you want to learn from instead of waiting for a formal introduction.
Why: Direct exposure can create relationships and reveal opportunities that are not visible from afar.
Build a sourcing engine that includes brokers, direct outreach, and community events rather than relying on one channel.
Why: Multiple channels increase deal flow and reduce dependence on any single source.
Look beyond the surface category of a business and investigate where revenue and EBITDA actually come from.
Why: The highest-value asset inside a company may not be the part most people notice first.
Focus on closing one real acquisition if fundraising for a full search fund is not coming together.
Why: A completed deal can create credibility that opens future financing and career options.
Use outsourcing aggressively for logistics, content production, and routine management tasks.
Why: Delegation frees time for ownership, teaching, travel, and higher-value decision-making.
Bakari audited Cornel West’s class while trying to finish college and asked for a recommendation letter to support a scholarship request at Morehouse. The letter was enthusiastic, but its timing collided with campus politics around Barack Obama visiting commencement, so it had no practical effect.
Lesson: Even powerful advocacy can fail when timing and institutional incentives work against it.
Bakari initially thought he was buying a government services business, but a visit to the company revealed that the real earnings driver was an educational technology business embedded inside it. That discovery let him justify a lower entry multiple than the edtech piece would normally command.
Lesson: Operational diligence can uncover a more valuable asset than the headline industry label suggests.