ETA@MIT

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Red Shirt Ventures, an investment vehicle designed to acquire and operate one great company. My goal is to find one exceptional, high potential business that can be led to even greater heights. If you know a business owner considering retirement, or looking for a career shift, please let me know! I am immensely grateful for the mentorship and guidance that has enabled me to embark on this new journey. I’m also thrilled to be working with an incredible group of investors, operators, and mentors: Sandro MinaClement LucasXimena Alvarado TrespalaciosDave DodsonJason JacksonSusan Pohlmeyer, CFASamuel SparMichael Aubrey Jeff Smith Jeffrey Smart Richard AugustynTiffany Clay AugustynLawrence J. Dunn III CPAAlfonso BlohmBlake MacleodTomas BergstrandRene LajousPaul (Lew) Davies IIIStephen Goddard Brad BrownWill ThorndikeAndrew FreimanRavi J. MallikMark AndereggBrandon KuchtaFelipe Corcuera HabsburgAntonio Elosua CantuGermán Canale Segovia If you or someone you know is exploring selling their small to medium-sized business, please reach out to me at [email protected] or visit redshirtventures.co to learn more.?

I'm thrilled to announce the launch of Sun Harbor Capital, an investment vehicle I founded to acquire and operate one exceptional business. Named after my grandmother Sonny (pronounced “Sunny”), Sun Harbor Capital strives to embody Sonny’s warmth and resilience while providing a safe harbor for a company to thrive and flourish. I am excited to begin my entrepreneurial journey and partner with business owners! I am honored to be backed and supported by an incredible team of investors, operators, and mentors: M-K O'Connell, Shaun Rader, Nicholas Qiu, Andy Love, B.A. Cullum, Brad Buser, Michael Schmitz, Badge Stone, Macon Carroll, Adeline Epstein, Michael Aubrey, Shore Capital Partners, Richard Augustyn, Tiffany Clay Augustyn, Lawrence J. Dunn III CPA, Tomas Bergstrand, Alfonso Blohm, Blake Macleod, Rob Cherun, Andrew Saltoun, Ian Cahn-Fuller, Will Bressman, G.J. King, Tom Jackson, Clayton Sachs, Jason Vahn, Max Francois-Poncet, Raymond Fan If you or someone you know is exploring selling their small to medium-sized business, please reach out to me at [email protected] or visit www.sunharborcapital.com

Andrea Chiang?and?Dave Dodson?had a great and informative session with the?ETA@MIT?group, getting deep into the meat of what makes an effective leader. #EntrepreneurTraining?#FutureLeaders?#TheManagerHandbook #GettingStuffDone?#ETA?#MIT

How can conferences support the mental health and relational-side of entrepreneurship? Here's a lesson from MIT Sloan School of Management ↓ In February, I had the honor of working with ETA@MIT to host one of the first "Partner Match" events for the search fund community. Here's how we did it: 1?? "What Makes a Good (and Bad) Partner": We kicked off with a closed-doors panel where I hosted a deep conversation with Patricia Riopel and?Emilio Ruiz Padilla about their unique experiences running a partnered search. 2???Speed-Dating: We followed it up with a structured "Speed Networking Partner Match" event -- matching folks in the community seeking partners to those with complementary skillsets to meet 5 new people in one hour. 3?? Searcher Directory: We concluded the event with a private database of searchers for each participant to take with them to continue the conversations! All in all, it was a huge success - big thank you to?Pedro Russell,?Juan José Guzmán, and the ETA team for making this a reality?and bringing the under-discussed topics of healthy team dynamics and what makes a good partner to the forefront ??

I had a fantastic time at the MIT Sloan School of Management #ETA Conference over the weekend. AJ Wasserstein was the closing keynote and, as always, provided some fantastic insights about the future of our industry. Here's what he's expecting over the next few years: 1) Racial and gender diversity will grow but will still fall short of representation - recent data shows that only 11% of searchers are women and only 6% of searchers are Black. Communities are doing a great job bringing new people into our space. 2) Expect returns will go down - everyone is chasing the same deals, laws of economic gravity (as more people enter a space, the top participants are a smaller percentage of the total), investor competition will lessen due diligence, and new investors will accept lower returns. 3) Expect more investors and more pooled/organized investment funds - agent investors using LP capital as opposed to ex-searchers using their own capital; investors will be more transactional rather than mission-or-asset-oriented. 4) Investors will have to write larger checks and will develop industry niches as generalist money becomes more competitive within top deals. The majority of searchers will get worse terms. 5) Our culture will evolve as more people join the space - as communities grow, degrees of separation between members increase, but pockets of community become stronger. This is exacerbated by a trend where more entrepreneurs want to invest vs operate. 6) CEOs can still win: owning and growing a small business is a fantastic life. People can do well by embracing change. There is plenty of opportunity for people able and willing to seize it! Hope this was helpful! For more future-looking insights, check out our Private Market Labs Insights episode, live tomorrow with Jeff Driskel at 3:00 CT!

The leadership team of the ETA@MIT club would like to extend their gratitude to all who attended our conference this past weekend. We are immensely proud of the overwhelming success of this year's edition! This event would not have been possible without the participation of our esteemed guests and sponsors. Each panel showcased in-depth industry knowledge and a diverse array of perspectives. Students from numerous major universities attended our event. Some notable statistics include: - Approximately 500 attendees, with tickets sold out more than a week in advance. - 68 distinguished speakers. - 14 generous sponsors. At MIT, we continuously strive to push boundaries. In curating the panels, we set two key objectives. Firstly, we aimed to elevate MIT's prominence in the ETA space, and we're delighted to announce that we featured at least one MIT alum on every panel. Secondly, we aimed to push for diversity and inclusion, ensuring at least one female speaker on each panel and introducing specialized discussions on these vital topics. We're thrilled to have received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the panel content, particularly on our commitment to exploring non-traditional subjects vital to search fund success. Hence the topic of our conference: NEW FRONTIERS IN SMB ACQUISITIONS. Finally, our heartfelt appreciation goes out to our sponsors for their invaluable contribution in making this event possible. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Kamylon, Boulay, BakerHostetler, Shore Capital Partners, Sidley Austin LLP, Symphony Risk Solutions, Baker Newman Noyes, Live Oak Bank, Broadtree Partners, LLC, M2O Search, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust, Miles & Stockbridge P.C., Martell Capital Partners We sincerely hope that everyone found the event as enriching as we did, and we eagerly anticipate welcoming you all again next year for yet another outstanding edition! Thank you from the ETA@MIT leadership team! Dan Giambrone, CFA, Pedro Russell, Amaury De Bock, Connor Fox, Sanjay Pitchai, Rebeca Pinheiro, Juan José Guzmán, Moises Enoc Navas, CAIO BARBOSA

Guest lecturing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about #entrepreneurship through acquisition and #searchfunds for a few dreamlike days. Grateful and lucky!

Dear ETA Community, We are excited to announce the “ETA to Reduce the Racial Wealth Gap" conference panel! This critical conversation will focus on the transformative potential of search funds and other entrepreneurial acquisitions in addressing racial wealth disparities. Our panelists will shed light on how their work can serve as powerful models for economic equity. We are honored to have Archie L. Jones, leading this panel alongside our distinguished panelists Jason Jackson, Allegra Stennett, Kanayo Oweazim, Julien Ham-Ying & Reggie Carter. Join us for an insightful exploration of actionable strategies to foster equitable wealth redistribution through entrepreneurship. Looking forward to seeing you at the conference!

?? ETA@MIT Conference is officially SOLD OUT! ?? 425 atendees (+35 on the waitlist) 67 Speaker 15 Volunteers 11 Panels 9 Event Organizers And only 4 days to go!!! A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved - your support and interest have turned this event into a landmark occasion before it has even begun. Stay tuned for updates, insights, and highlights from the conference. Here's to making it an unforgettable experience for all! ETA@MIT

Dear ETA Community, We are thrilled to present our next panel, "Searching Outside of the US". This panel will discuss the current state of searching outside the US and what challenges/opportunities are present for international searchers. We are delighted to have?José Stella moderating this panel alongside an amazing team of panelists:?Esteban Kallay, Patricia Riopel, Joachim de Belgique and Jaime A. Looking forward to seeing you all there. For more details, visit our website:??https://lnkd.in/eCrZJ79K ETA@MIT Club