The Relay Roadmap
There is no ordinary day on the path to succeeding as a searcher, but we’ll be by your side through the highs and lows. Through decades of problem solving and pattern recognition, we’ve developed resources and systems to help our search partners navigate each step of their journey.
Preparing to launch
From thesis formation through launch, we're committed to helping our search partners avoid common but unnecessary hurdles, so they can focus their attention on hitting the ground running.
Pre-fundraising support:
Prospective searchers often have many questions prior to their fundraise. We value the opportunity to be resources as these individuals choose whether search is the right path for them. We do this through conducting lunch and learns at schools, speaking at conferences, organizing coffee chats, and introducing prospective searchers to relevant individuals in the ecosystem to help build their network. Once an individual makes the decision to search, we often assist by helping them formulate theses, reviewing drafts of their PPM, and making introductions to other investors in the space.
Building your investor group:
Upon committing to support your fund, we’ll aim to help you assemble the right team. We make thoughtful recommendations of investors and advisors to engage based on your individual strengths, skill gaps, and target industries.
Search Fund Setup:
Through a systematic approach, we’ve assisted hundreds of search partners in setting up their funds efficiently and without error. We’ll help you avoid common roadblocks so you can focus your attention on hitting the ground running.
Searching at scale
Whether through mentorship calls, our Search Fund Starter Pack, the Relay Search Forum, or our proprietary tech partnerships, we’ll be by your side as you work to expand and optimize your outreach efforts.
Relay Searcher Starter Pack:
Each week of your search equates to ~1% of your overall budget, making time management a top priority. We developed the Searcher Starter Pack to institutionalize our learnings and provide you with a head start in the race. Through it, you’ll receive access to exclusive tech deals along with numerous resources to help you design sourcing strategies, negotiate LOIs, conduct diligence, and close your deal.
One-on-One Mentorship:
We take pride in developing close working relationships with our search partners. In doing so, we’re given the opportunity to learn about your evolving ideas throughout the process. While we schedule monthly calls with our search partners, each also has access to our team’s calendars to schedule impromptu meetings as needed.
Through these interactions, we act as your personal confidant and advisor, helping you throughout all stages of the search process. This involves assisting you with your sourcing efforts, giving efficient feedback on opportunities, and helping you dive into diligence and deal construction when ready.
Through these interactions, we act as your personal confidant and advisor, helping you throughout all stages of the search process. This involves assisting you with your sourcing efforts, giving efficient feedback on opportunities, and helping you dive into diligence and deal construction when ready.
Deal construction and diligence
With former searchers, private equity professionals, investment bankers, consultants, and entrepreneurs on our team, we have the background and skills necessary to help you diligence opportunities and construct mutually beneficial deals with sellers.
Diversity of backgrounds:
Our team is comprised of former searchers, operators, investments bankers, private equity investors, marketers, and human resource professionals. The diversity of our experience gives us the wherewithal to provide valuable perspectives as you consider deal opportunities. We’ll leverage our collective backgrounds to help you identify promising companies and structure effective offers.
Decades of deal experience:
Upon signing an LOI, we immediately engage, taking a lead role in helping you analyze the business and perform comprehensive diligence. As a major investor in your fund, we often pre-review and provide feedback on materials prior to their distribution to the larger group. Additionally, we’re frequently called in to have discussions with sellers, helping you establish credibility and validate the opportunity. Our team has diligenced hundreds of deals and has developed the skills and processes to help you identify and close on the right opportunity.
Building a successful enterprise
After acquisition, your success as an operator becomes our #1 priority. The capital we provide is just the start. We’ll be your partners as you go through the process of identifying industry experts, constructing a board, taking over the reins, and growing your firm into a successful enterprise.
Expert advisors and board support:
We are committed to helping our search partners succeed as operators’ post-acquisition. We’re fortunate to have a deep roster of operating partners with specialized industry experience across domains to complement our own team’s operating experience. We’ll surround you with experts to help shorten your learning curve and navigate the transition into the CEO role. In addition, we actively assist our search partners in board construction and will even sit on boards when invited to do so. Our ultimate goal is to help you connect with the mentors and advisors necessary to ensure your success.
Follow on capital:
Our investment philosophy prioritizes patience and maintains a steadfast long-term perspective. We’ll often participate in additional rounds of funding for promising firms that are engaging in M&A or other initiatives to accelerate growth. Our capital remains available and flexible, ready to meet your evolving needs.
A team you can count on
Searchers often come to us with many questions throughout their journey. We're fortunate to provide efficient answers informed by hundreds of repetitions. Thanks to the strong trust built with our entrepreneurs, they've honored us with an NPS score of 74.
Interested in partnering with Relay for your search?
We'd love to hear from you and learn about your story.
