LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Search Funded: The ETA Podcast.
Brenden Van Buren traces how his family’s operating-business background led first to a search, then to the acquisition of ProMax Fence Systems, and eventually to building Generational Transfer Entrepreneurs as a traditional search investor. He emphasizes practical search execution, relationship-driven acquisition selection, and the operational challenges of running a blue-collar business after closing. The episode also gives a clear view into how GTE supports searchers with a playbook, pipeline, and capital participation.
Aspiring searchers and ETA investors who want a practical view of how a search investor thinks about sourcing, relationship-building, and post-close operating risk.
High-volume outreach only works when it is paired with a repeatable system for list building, messaging, and follow-up.
A searcher’s first useful advantage is removing the intimidation factor of cold outreach by practicing it early and often.
The best early conversations with sellers start with the origin story of the business and the owner, not with valuation.
A buyer can pass on a financially attractive company if the relationship with the owner does not feel natural enough to survive negotiation friction.
Blue-collar operating businesses can create fast learning on HR, but they also expose the operator to more immediate people-management complexity.
Search investors often evaluate a searcher’s management potential during the search itself, using family conversations and other real-life interactions as signals.
Traditional search timelines make speed to competence important because every month spent learning the basics reduces the effective search runway.
GTE’s niche is not just capital; it is a playbook built from having managed multiple searchers and seeing which outreach and negotiation habits actually close deals.
A negotiation approach in which the buyer changes the mix of seller note, earnout, and other deal terms so the seller’s economic expectations still fit the buyer’s affordability. It is less about winning on headline price and more about reshaping the structure until the numbers work for both sides.
When to use: Use it when a target business is good but the seller’s price expectation needs to be made compatible with the buyer’s financing capacity.
Brenden’s father bought a precast concrete manufacturer before the family knew search funds existed.
He uses this as the origin point for the family’s eventual involvement in ETA.
Brenden says GTE managed eight searchers over a four-year period before pivoting to traditional search investing.
He cites that operating experience as the reason GTE developed a search playbook.
Traditional search gives a buyer about 24 months to find a company.
He uses this timeline to explain why ramp-up speed matters so much.
Brenden set a target of 300 to 500 letters or emails per week during his search.
He says advice from other searchers pushed him toward very high outreach volume.
He first spoke with Russ about five months into his search, after starting in May and receiving a response in October.
That timeline came from the Promax sourcing story.
Brenden says it took about eight months from the first in-person meeting to closing the Promax acquisition.
He dates the first face-to-face meeting to early November and the closing to June 22, 2018.
Promax has about 86 employees after the acquisition.
He mentions the headcount while discussing the difficulty of managing people.
Start outreach before you feel fully ready, because repeated contact with searchers and owners quickly removes the fear of cold communication.
Why: He learned the mechanics of search by doing it, not by waiting until he had a perfect process.
Use the first call to understand why the owner started the business and how they got into the industry before discussing valuation.
Why: That sequence reveals fit much faster than jumping straight to price.
Send enough outbound messages that you can gather real response data instead of relying on intuition about which channel works best.
Why: Brenden only developed confidence in letters, emails, and cold outreach after testing them at scale.
Build deal terms around downside protection if the target has cyclicality instead of assuming a stable multiple will solve the risk.
Why: He says price structure must account for bad downturns in more cyclical businesses.
Screen for genuine enthusiasm and real-life management judgment, not just polished search-fund answers.
Why: He believes scripted responses hide how a person will actually behave as an operator.
Brenden sent Promax a typed letter in a handwritten envelope after building very broad industry lists from transportation websites and NAICS data. The owner, Russ, responded months later, and an in-person meeting that was supposed to last an hour or two turned into a five-hour conversation because the two had shared interests and an easy rapport. The deal still took months of diligence and negotiation, but the relationship made it possible to resolve the final asset-purchase disagreements.
Lesson: Fit with the owner can matter as much as business quality because trust helps the deal survive the messy parts of closing.