LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Search Funded: The ETA Podcast.
Saumil Jariwala, founder of Feta Fund, explains why he built a specialist search-fund investor focused on the hardest part of the journey: the search phase. He traces his path from Wharton and Bain to Trilogy Search Partners, then lays out why his work centers on helping searchers source, diligence, and close businesses while supporting the people who run them. The episode also ties ETA to the broader succession problem facing U.S. small businesses as baby boomers retire.
Aspiring searchers, ETA investors, and operators who want a practical view of how specialist capital can support the hardest phase of a search.
Specialist search investors can add more value by spending time in the search, diligence, and early post-close period than by trying to be a one-stop shop for every need.
A good search-fund investor is often judged by searchers as much as by returns, because founders will recommend the people who actually helped them through a difficult process.
The most painful part of ETA is usually the pre-close phase, when searchers are isolated, under-resourced, and responsible for sourcing and diligence before they have operating cash flow.
Seller diligence matters as much as business diligence because the seller often still shapes employees, customers, and the transition even after stepping back.
Buying quality support is worth the cost in ETA because a missed red flag can be catastrophic for the searcher’s career, not just expensive for the fund.
The best search fund investors can narrow their focus to a specific slice of the journey, such as search-stage sourcing and diligence, rather than trying to cover every operational problem after close.
Search is a lifestyle commitment, not a short-term job search, and many participants mentally sign up for a decade-long life change when they start.
ETA can meaningfully address the U.S. small-business succession problem by pairing retiring owners with young operators who are motivated to preserve jobs and grow the business.
A search-fund investor can deliberately focus on one phase of the ETA journey rather than acting as a broad generalist. In Saumil Jariwala’s version, Feta Fund concentrates on the search period and the early days around closing, where time and hands-on support matter most.
When to use: Useful when building an ETA capital strategy or deciding what role a non-lead investor should play on the cap table.
Saumil Jariwala graduated from Wharton in 2014 and launched Feta Fund in 2022.
He uses his career timeline to show how quickly he moved from undergraduate exposure to search investing to founding his own fund.
He says the search-fund market grew roughly 7x from about 10 searchers in 2012 to about 70 in 2021.
He cites this growth to explain why more specialized investors became viable.
The average company he works with is doubling its equity value every 2.5 years.
He uses this as the practical version of the Stanford study’s return profile.
Traditional searchers can raise about $600,000 from roughly 12 sophisticated investors.
He uses that example to show that successful searchers are highly capable even before they acquire a company.
He describes the search window as roughly 600 days, from about 30 days before the initial capital call through about 30 days after acquisition.
This is the time horizon he says Feta Fund is designed to support.
He says the typical searcher is about 32 years old.
He uses that age to illustrate how search can represent a decade-long commitment very early in a career.
The silver tsunami discussion includes the claim that two thirds of U.S. jobs created over the last 25 years came from American small businesses.
He uses this statistic to connect ETA to broader employment creation and ownership transition.
He says 50% of American small businesses are owned by baby boomers and the youngest baby boomer is 60.
He cites these numbers to argue that owner succession is becoming a major national issue.
He notes that in one assisted-living search example, patient count increased 50% over 18 months after the acquisition.
He uses the case to show how ETA can improve service quality and employee experience at the same time.
He says Ethos Risk cost about $700 at the time of recording.
He recommends paying for a high-quality background check on sellers immediately after signing an LOI.
Sign a seller background check immediately after the LOI is signed.
Why: A serious red flag in the seller’s history can make the deal unworkable even if the economics look attractive.
Pay for higher-quality diligence tools instead of choosing the cheapest option.
Why: A missed issue can be career-threatening for a searcher, so the cost of quality is justified.
Spend meaningful time getting to know the seller during diligence.
Why: The seller’s influence on employees and customers can remain substantial even after they appear to be stepping back.
Build a specialized value proposition rather than trying to be a generic capital provider.
Why: Searchers already have many capital sources; differentiation comes from solving the most painful part of their journey.
Use social media as a steady, snackable reminder of why search matters.
Why: Regular short-form content helps prospective searchers stay oriented during a long and emotionally demanding process.
Block out dedicated weekly time to write and schedule content.
Why: Focused batch creation produces higher-quality posts than trying to write reactively during the week.
A searcher acquired the largest provider in the Pacific Northwest after regulatory changes allowed nurse practitioners to serve as primary care providers in more settings. The company had room to grow, so the buyer brought in growth capital, avoided debt, and focused on systems, hiring, and expansion.
Lesson: ETA can unlock growth by pairing a motivated operator with capital and process discipline at exactly the moment a small business is constrained by bandwidth.
In the assisted-living case, the prior owner was a nurse practitioner who had created the business to serve patients, but she was not energized by the work of scaling it. After acquisition, a younger CEO took over the growth role while the seller’s original mission was preserved and expanded.
Lesson: The best acquisitions often separate the founder’s original purpose from the need for a different operator to professionalize and grow the company.