In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Feras Moussa and Casey Minshew welcome special guest Jon Staenberg, a veteran investor and expert in the search fund space. The conversation explores the growing role of search funds in the transition of small businesses across America and why now is a pivotal moment for aspiring entrepreneurs and investors alike.
Jon shares his journey, from growing up in a small town to traveling the world, and how those experiences shaped his perspective on entrepreneurship. He discusses the grit and passion required to buy and operate a business, and dives into his personal ventures—including owning a winery in Argentina. With a strong belief in mentorship and community, Jon highlights the need to train the next generation of business leaders to take over the nearly 12 million small businesses facing transition.
The conversation covers the evolution of the search fund model, global trends, integrating philanthropy, and the increasing role of technology and AI in the M&A space. Whether you’re an investor looking to get into search funds or an entrepreneur exploring alternative ways to acquire a business, this episode is packed with insights and actionable takeaways.
In this episode:
- The rise of the search fund asset class
- Why small business transitions matter now more than ever
- How mentorship and community fuel entrepreneurial success
- The economics and models behind search funds
- Why grit and passion are critical traits in operators
- The role of AI and technology in business acquisitions
- Personal stories of taking risks and building a life through entrepreneurship
You can connect with Jon Staenberg via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonstaenberg/
Additional Resources:
- Sponsored by O’Connell Advisory Group – Work with a trusted Quality of Earnings and Financial Diligence partner who focuses solely on business acquisitions.
Schedule a discovery call with Patrick of O’Connell Advisory Group—your dynamic Quality of Earnings partner.
Visit: www.oconnelladvisorygroup.com - Attend the M&A Launchpad Conference on May 3rd in Houston — a premier event for entrepreneurs, investors, and dealmakers in the lower-middle market. Tickets and details at malaunchpad.com
- Access our archive of video interviews on YouTube
- Get in touch with show hosts Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa at – info@equitylaunchpad.com
- Looking to invest in M&A opportunities or partner with an advisor to acquire, scale, or sell your business? Visit www.Equity-Launchpad.com
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Transcript
00:00 hey are you thinking about buying or
00:02 selling a business join us May 3rd for
00:05 the m&a Launchpad conference this is the
00:07 Premier conference for entrepreneurs
00:09 investors navigating mergers and
00:11 Acquisitions in the lower Middle Market
00:13 you’re going to connect with top
00:14 dealmakers gain Insight strategies to
00:17 take your business search and your
00:18 business Acquisitions to the next level
00:20 so get your tickets now at M
00:23 launchpad.com and use the code launch
00:26 for $200 off your ticket we’re looking
00:28 forward to seeing you on today’s episode
00:30 we interviewed John stanberg where we
00:32 talked about his fun to funds agot Hound
00:34 fund and more importantly we did a deep
00:36 dive into really what is a search fund
00:39 what does a search fund Community look
00:41 like and what are some of the pros and
00:43 cons and some of the experiences he’s
00:44 faced you know along the way getting
00:45 there so Casey what some of your big
00:47 takeways yeah you know John’s a friend
00:49 we’ve met him you know multiple times at
00:50 the Harvard ETA conference um you know
00:53 I’ve heard his vision before he even
00:54 launched eggit Hound fund uh it’s it’s a
00:57 pretty cool concept but here’s the thing
00:59 there’s not just one to do things and
01:01 that’s what’s powerful about this space
01:03 right there’s people that are going to
01:04 do search and they get so much value out
01:07 of search because of all the mentorship
01:08 and the opportunities and the growth uh
01:11 it’s a phenomenal space it’s a space
01:12 that I’m going to invest in in my times
01:15 um and it’s making a big impact of this
01:17 transition in America we’re small
01:19 business right we’ve got to we’ve got to
01:20 replace a lot of baby boomer businesses
01:23 to keep this country cranking away so
01:24 just an powerful and Powerful uh podcast
01:28 and yeah in addition to that I mean John
01:29 has been around search since the since
01:31 the beginning right he knows the ins and
01:33 outs and you know his passion is
01:35 infectious and you get a lot of that
01:36 from this podcast and so it was really
01:38 insightful just to learn more about you
01:40 know some of the history and what Casey
01:41 and I experienced as we kind of went out
01:43 some of these conferences so lots of
01:45 nuggets in this
01:50 one hey guys go ahead and just pause the
01:53 podcast for a second when you’re buying
01:54 a business you need to ensure the
01:56 financial health of the company the
01:57 quality of earnings is Mission critical
01:59 it doesn’t matter what business you’re
02:00 buying Patrick oconnell Advisory Group
02:03 they’re dynamic they do a great job
02:04 they’re going to look over your shoulder
02:05 they’re going to make sure that you’re
02:06 doing the right thing and this guys’s
02:08 done over 200 buyers successfully just
02:10 like you so reach out to them and it’s
02:12 oconnell advisory group.com click the
02:15 link in our show notes can’t live
02:16 without this hey John welcome to the
02:18 show uh great to be here John it’s so
02:21 good to see you I know we’ve uh you were
02:23 the first person three years ago when I
02:25 went to the Harvard ETA conference uh
02:28 they do the little uh happy hour before
02:30 the the meeting before the meeting
02:31 before the meeting and you were the
02:33 first guy bumped into and uh man it was
02:36 just enjoyable you’re you know and we’ve
02:38 stayed in contact and it’s very nice I’m
02:40 so happy you could be here on our
02:41 podcast today well it just shows you
02:44 never know when you go to a conference
02:46 with a thousand people what it’s going
02:48 to lead to and and I remember very
02:52 distinctly meeting you and it was early
02:55 we were both early birds at the thing
02:57 and looking around like who are we going
02:59 to talk to
03:00 and from that initial conversation three
03:03 years later and now we’re even planning
03:05 things in the future so I love it thanks
03:08 for uh well it’s exciting to hear your
03:10 path too and it’s cool what you’re doing
03:12 on the podcast and thanks for having me
03:15 thank you and and it’s the power of
03:17 networking right and I you know because
03:18 my my my wife will ask me she’s like
03:20 aren’t you like tired of learning things
03:22 at the conference I’m like it’s not what
03:24 happens in the room it’s actually what
03:25 happens before after and outside of the
03:27 room and the people you you meet because
03:29 that turns into to you know real unique
03:33 learning opportunities Partnerships
03:35 relationships JVS all of the things that
03:37 happen out of that and so that’s that’s
03:39 the power of going to conferences and
03:40 getting out there it’s funny yesterday
03:43 to to your point yesterday I spoke to a
03:46 guy who had an exit and clearly could
03:50 retire he said and the best thing is I
03:53 never have to network again and I
03:56 laughed but I thought that’s never going
03:58 to be me just enjoy you know I grew up I
04:02 grew up uh as an editor on my high
04:05 school
04:06 newspaper and what that taught me was to
04:09 ask questions I am innately curious
04:13 about people’s
04:14 stories and so I go to these conferences
04:18 and there is not a person in the room
04:20 that doesn’t have something interesting
04:22 to say or to teach
04:24 me and you know doesn’t always lead to a
04:27 podcast later but there’s always an
04:29 interesting story so I’m like you guys I
04:32 love it yeah and you know talking about
04:34 an interesting story you’ve got a great
04:35 you’ve got a great story I know you have
04:37 a you have a Vineyard you’re in the
04:39 search fund world you’re an entrepreneur
04:41 so in the tech space yeah why why don’t
04:44 you tell us your story um and then where
04:46 you’re at right now and and and I know
04:48 you’re helping the search search
04:49 Community I think it’s phenomenal what
04:51 you’re doing yeah I’m really I’m as
04:54 invigorated in my business career as I
04:58 have ever been and maybe more than
05:01 ever and you know I’m at a point in my
05:04 life where I have a daughter still in
05:06 high school I’m going to set the example
05:09 of what hard work
05:11 means I can’t imagine what I would do
05:14 I’m not a golfer I don’t have second
05:16 homes or second you know boats and I you
05:20 know so what this for me is
05:23 fun and Charlie and Warren are my
05:26 heroes and I will never you know Charlie
05:30 99 when he passed still working every
05:33 day I’ll be in Omaha for the Berkshire
05:36 meeting this year what’s Warren’s
05:38 94 it’s phenomenal right it is
05:41 phenomenal so for me search funds is a
05:45 culmination of a lot of things I’ve done
05:48 but you know let me the backstory I
05:51 won’t I won’t go into too much depth but
05:53 the backstory is I’m very lucky I grew
05:57 up in Mayberry RFD I grip where we
06:01 didn’t lock our doors we didn’t lock we
06:04 kept the keys in the ignition if people
06:07 can believe that when we parked it at a
06:09 grocery store we would ride our bikes
06:12 and the parents would say be home at 6
06:15 and we’re just out
06:17 playing and uh I think that allowed me
06:21 the independence and the freedom and the
06:23 ability to explore the world on my
06:26 terms and I’ve carried that through
06:30 uh up until
06:32 today I never you know I was never going
06:36 to be the guy it feels like so many kids
06:39 today feel like they’re gaming the
06:41 system if I do a b c and d I’ll get e
06:46 and that’s just never been my Approach
06:48 and it always struck me that if if ABC d
06:52 and e is the formula and everybody knows
06:54 that that seems like the wrong way to do
06:56 it because then you’re just competing
06:59 with everybody else on that
07:00 formula and so gosh I have done I
07:06 remember and again I credit my parents
07:09 when I was 12 years old so this is in
07:12 the early
07:13 70s when I was 12 years
07:16 old they put me and my friend Kevin from
07:21 Omaha at 12 on a train from Omaha by
07:25 ourselves to New York City oh my
07:28 goodness like you guys want to go to New
07:30 York here we’re going to have someone
07:32 meet you in Chicago just to make your
07:34 safe no no cell phones
07:37 right and someone at the end will pick
07:40 you up go and again I mean that’s kind
07:45 of a small thing but it’s not because it
07:47 gave me the confidence that I could
07:49 navigate the world on my
07:51 terms absolutely so and then when I was
07:55 16 years
07:57 old I went to Israel
08:01 and laid irrigation pipe starting at
08:04 3:30 in the morning because it got it
08:06 was so hot by 11: or 12 you had to
08:08 actually be done with the day and again
08:12 saw the world
08:14 differently and then I graduated and
08:17 then before I graduated I went on a boat
08:21 called semester at
08:22 Sea and I went and took a semester of
08:25 courses going literally around the
08:28 world VIs 16 different
08:32 countries again seeing the world
08:36 differently and then and I won’t I won’t
08:39 go through everything here but and
08:42 then at graduating from college it was
08:46 always important for me to give back in
08:48 some way so I thought I’d go to a Peace
08:51 Corp like program and I ended up in
08:54 Taiwan and I loved it but again very
08:59 different
09:00 and I loved it so much that I went back
09:02 to
09:03 Stanford and got my degree in
09:06 Chinese because I wanted to learn the
09:09 language and even this morning I was
09:12 doing just because I want to keep up
09:14 with it my duo lingo I’m on day
09:18 975 of practicing my Chinese do you have
09:21 man down pretty good it’s coming back I
09:25 mean I could certainly go there and get
09:28 by fine
09:30 I don’t know if I could explain search
09:32 funds in Chinese right now but I yeah I
09:35 bet you you can find an AI bot to help
09:37 you with that one so we’ll get to that a
09:38 little bit later we’ll talk about that
09:40 for sure I love that
09:43 idea um and so you know sorry to regil
09:47 you with all these weird little side
09:50 trips I’ve done uh
09:53 today uh it’s current and I just had
09:56 this call my friend Vlad said could we
09:60 fly you to
10:02 Transylvania in Romania for you to speak
10:04 about search funds and I said hell yes
10:08 let’s do that because there’s no reason
10:10 why search funds should only be in the
10:13 US they’re actually someone reached out
10:17 from India Australia Japan and Poland in
10:20 the last couple months and they’re doing
10:23 search funds I know we haven’t really
10:24 talked what search funds are but but
10:26 anyway so I’m excited that I’m doing
10:29 these things that are not obvious or
10:32 maybe haven’t been put out broadly in
10:35 the world yet and yeah a lot of that
10:38 comes from comes from my early
10:40 experience of let’s go out and see the
10:42 world no I mean and I tell people it’s
10:44 not a right and wrong way to do things
10:46 right and that’s what kind of leads you
10:47 to the unique person that you are and
10:49 you know in regards to search funds too
10:51 right it’s you know our belief is that
10:54 this is a ecosystem that’s just ripe to
10:57 grow I mean it’s just getting started
10:59 that we saw it happen in real estate
11:00 that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing
11:02 right we think there’s going to be a lot
11:03 of momentum in here and so that means
11:05 bunch of different things that means
11:06 more people that want to get out there
11:08 Network that means more opportunities to
11:10 partner that means you know more
11:11 competition too a little bit of
11:13 everything right and so that’s what
11:15 attracts us to the space and I think
11:16 most of our listeners know what a search
11:18 fund is but maybe you know John you want
11:20 to give people a really high level kind
11:22 of what one is and let me just even say
11:24 like when John and I first met you know
11:25 you had not launched your fund just yet
11:27 so year one you had not launched but you
11:29 had told me you were going to be the
11:31 mutual fund for search funds so I was
11:34 still new connecting dots but now I’m
11:36 like man that’s absolutely brilliant so
11:39 yeah let’s hear more about the fund
11:42 thanks I appreciate it yeah let’s let
11:44 you know it’s funny
11:46 I every single day multiple times a day
11:51 am evangelizing and explaining what a
11:53 search fund is and at the highest level
11:57 as you guys know a search fund is
11:59 basically
12:01 buying a small company kind of under the
12:04 radar hopefully and growing it to a
12:08 point where it’s big enough to have exit
12:11 possibilities probably a private Equity
12:14 it’s not it’s not as you know an IPO but
12:18 I went to Stanford Business School as
12:19 well and it was invented the model of
12:24 search funds that we focus on and I’m
12:26 going to call it the Harvard Stanford
12:28 traditional search fund model which is a
12:31 mouthful very much focuses on taking MBA
12:36 graduates from the top Business Schools
12:38 right out of business school and yes
12:40 that’s right they’ve probably not run a
12:42 company before happy to talk about that
12:45 and surrounds them with a Playbook and
12:48 with a set of really smart
12:52 intentional investors with deep deep
12:56 experience doing exactly what that
12:59 search is doing and the results as you
13:03 guys know have been beyond amazing I
13:05 mean again Warren Buffett over his
13:08 career has averaged 20% net
13:11 returns that as you know compounded is
13:14 pretty magical it’s why he’s one of the
13:17 richest people in the world search funds
13:21 I don’t think there’s a higher number
13:23 over the last 40 years have averaged 35%
13:25 net returns for 40 years now to be clear
13:30 Warren’s doing it with lots of money
13:33 search funds are a really small asset
13:35 class that’s one of the beautiful things
13:37 about it in my opinion and so it’s not
13:41 comparing Apples to Apples it is
13:43 comparing Apples to Apples but though on
13:45 a return and
13:47 so I am so excited to be part of it it’s
13:51 funny six years
13:53 ago I started dipping a toe into it and
13:58 I was there at the beginning of search
13:59 funds the original Searchers were some
14:01 of my classmates the guy who invented
14:04 search funds IR grck was my
14:08 professor oh wow I was there but it
14:11 wasn’t search funds in it was a couple
14:13 of students saying hey we should go buy
14:15 a company it’s evolved into this thing
14:18 called search funds got
14:20 institutionalized but and how how did
14:22 you and how did you start get exposed to
14:24 it was it just by being in the classes
14:25 or how’ you get into or is it something
14:27 that you got into later having heard it
14:30 then later in life kind of moved into it
14:33 absolutely I had a couple classmates
14:34 that did it and were very successful
14:37 again it was not called search funds
14:39 there weren’t classes on search funds as
14:41 you guys know now there’s 25 Business
14:43 Schools or more teaching ETA
14:46 entrepreneurship through acquisition
14:48 back then it was uh there was a class on
14:52 small business but it wasn’t formalized
14:55 around how do you go do this particular
14:58 thing that Happ happened later and so I
15:02 always knew being in paloalto being near
15:05 Silicon Valley that I wanted to do
15:07 venture capital and to me Venture
15:10 Capital then is in some ways similar to
15:15 what search funds are
15:18 today it’s I think we’re about to have
15:21 the golden moment of search funds and
15:23 for the people who have been doing it
15:25 forever that’s probably not great news
15:27 because they’ve had a great run
15:30 and it means some changes are
15:32 coming but it also means that we’re
15:35 going to get America great again if
15:37 you’ll pardon the expression by making
15:39 sure these small businesses continue to
15:43 exist and Thrive and are being passed on
15:46 to very capable people to make sure that
15:49 our Middle America middle class people
15:52 who own these businesses continue to do
15:55 extraordinary things yeah you hit the
15:57 nail on the head on on what I’m excited
15:59 about in this in this space is we’re
16:01 we’re part of that transition and it’s a
16:02 massive transition it’s it’s the biggest
16:05 transition in the history of the world
16:08 the baby boomer it’s very simple look at
16:10 the
16:11 demographics there’s never been a moment
16:14 like this where this much wealth is
16:15 getting transferred and it’s a it’s an
16:18 unusual time because 50 years ago the
16:21 kids said I’ll take it over dad right
16:24 that doesn’t happen anymore it’s a
16:26 different mindset today so we’re
16:29 training through the search fund classes
16:32 we’re training the Future Leaders of
16:34 these
16:35 businesses and they’re going to be
16:38 better they’re they they have the most
16:40 current management techniques and
16:43 learnings they’re gonna have training
16:46 specifically on how to do this when you
16:49 pick people from some of the best
16:51 Business Schools you’re picking some of
16:52 the hungriest brightest
16:56 most grittiest people you can imagine I
16:59 I love the fact I get to work with
17:02 military people who love the Playbook
17:05 who will climb that mountain first
17:07 generation immigrants who know what it
17:10 means what a privilege it is to be in
17:12 this country and to say gosh I can get
17:15 ahead if I work my tail off yes I mean
17:18 that’s what I get excited about and
17:22 people who aren’t saying well I can only
17:24 live in San Francisco or nothing or New
17:27 York or Miami no I’ll go to Omaha I’ll
17:30 go to Topeka I’ll go to
17:33 Birmingham wherever right because
17:36 there’s great opportunities there
17:38 too anyway sorry you got me on my it’s
17:41 huge because you’re on you’re on a whole
17:42 thing so at our last conference one of
17:45 the things I said is like this
17:46 transition right America people don’t
17:48 realize that small business is America
17:51 we are small even the the lower Middle
17:54 Market is such a critical critical pace
17:56 and there’s just not enough of people
17:58 like myself self and fairs that want to
18:00 take these companies and transition them
18:02 there’s just not enough and so we’ve it
18:05 it is an opportune time for people that
18:08 are searching especially if you’re going
18:10 through an NBA program and you’re saying
18:12 hey what am i g to do my God if you can
18:14 get with a group and buy a company there
18:16 you go now John you wouldn’t have
18:18 sponsored me because there was my NBA
18:20 was called uh hard
18:23 KN you know but but it doesn’t matter
18:26 like like you said when I went up to
18:28 that first Harvard you and I mean we
18:29 were first that first one there was at
18:32 least 10 or 15 uh West Point graduates
18:35 that were had served and had 10 years of
18:38 track record and they were there getting
18:40 their NBA at Harvard like I was so
18:43 impressed with I talked to every single
18:44 one of them and they had real life
18:46 experience they’d been shot at whatever
18:48 it is and they were gritty and I I could
18:51 definitely see that that that wow you
18:53 know that was a big part of it
18:55 impressive yeah you know it’s what you
18:57 just said I there’s like 10 thoughts
18:59 have one of which is you would never
19:03 have been at that conference 10 years
19:04 ago you wouldn’t have known about it
19:06 Outsiders weren’t part of it right how
19:10 cool Casey was giving us the play byplay
19:12 he’s just like there’s this he’s like
19:13 there’s this whole ecosystem here that
19:15 we didn’t even we didn’t even know the
19:16 term Searcher at the time so and we were
19:19 in this space quote unquote right now
19:22 there’s podcasts in books and literally
19:25 if anybody sends me and I’m sure you
19:27 guys have them too but if anybody sends
19:28 me a note after after this I’ll send you
19:31 uh 20
19:32 links on YouTube videos and resources to
19:37 get you up to speed if people ask me
19:40 tell me about search funds I’m like here
19:43 please take an hour or more and just
19:46 spend some time on this if you haven’t
19:47 read the Stanford primer or the Stanford
19:49 search fund study let’s talk after that
19:53 because it’s it’s simple and it’s
19:57 not right by the way
19:59 it is hard to do a search it is hard to
20:04 buy a company and be
20:05 successful and it’s not for everybody
20:09 and that’s perfectly fine right but for
20:13 those people who want to be
20:15 entrepreneurial and run something and be
20:17 the boss and not have a glass
20:20 ceiling this is an incredible thing and
20:23 we were talking about America well
20:26 here’s my thing there are countries
20:29 whose demographics are similar people
20:32 are aging out but who don’t know about
20:35 this program who don’t know about how to
20:38 train right and they’re going to suffer
20:42 those small businesses are just going to
20:44 go away they’re going to close their
20:45 door they’re going to shutter and those
20:48 communities will
20:50 suffer and I feel so lucky to be at a
20:53 country where we’re not going to do that
20:55 no we’re super entrepreneurial so big
20:58 time John where’s the entrepreneurial
20:60 spirit in you I think you should create
21:01 a fund to go basically capture those
21:03 businesses in these other countries and
21:05 all problems are solved so uh oh what a
21:07 good idea I think I’ll do that all right
21:10 so for for the listeners let me kind of
21:12 break it down so John that so people
21:15 could go okay so I’m a I graduated from
21:18 Harvard or it doesn’t matter what
21:19 business school I graduated from a
21:21 business school I studied the
21:22 entrepreneurial track and now I’m going
21:24 to go do a search so that means I’m
21:27 gonna go first I’m gonna create a thesis
21:30 and I’m gonna call John and I’m gonna
21:32 say hey John this is my background this
21:34 is my track record I’m gonna buy a
21:35 company and it looks like this and there
21:37 and there’s a there’s a box that says
21:39 hey these are the type companies that
21:40 fit the search model correct now I’ve
21:44 got to go raise all the money right to
21:47 buy that company I’ll probably leverage
21:49 about 40% right I’m not going to
21:51 leverage a lot but I’m going to try to
21:53 not have a personal guarantee so I’ve
21:55 got to raise at least 60% down to get
21:57 the bank to trigger 40% that’s usually
22:00 the trade and then for you as an
22:02 investor right you guys get first you’ll
22:06 put in the money for me to search for
22:08 that first two years and then once I
22:11 find the business you get the first
22:12 right to buy into that business right so
22:16 you may shell out a 100 Grand and then I
22:19 find a company that’s $10 million and
22:21 I’ve got to raise six and John says yeah
22:24 I’ll write the half a million dollar
22:25 check I like the I like the thesis
22:28 correct
22:30 correct just to be clear that’s a
22:31 traditional search fund right John is
22:33 even one layer above that yeah but I’m
22:34 gonna get to that I’m gonna get to that
22:35 so that’s the that’s an important point
22:38 so there are many ways to do lowend PE
22:42 or this this lbo for small companies we
22:46 do at agot Hound fund that model you
22:49 just described the Stanford Harvard
22:51 traditional search fund model but
22:52 there’s other ways very successful ways
22:55 to do it as well so go keep keep going
22:57 please this is the recipe this is your
22:59 recipe of what you do so what you
23:00 realize okay is like hey so Casey’s got
23:04 to go over to search fund a there’s
23:06 there’s 20 there’s there’s a hundred of
23:08 these guys that are sourcing thousands
23:10 and thousands of deals talking to
23:12 entrepreneurs and those guys are they’re
23:15 choosing the ones they want to get in
23:16 and these are funds not just Guys these
23:18 are funds that participate so what you
23:20 say because you’ve got this other way
23:22 you look at things is like hey what type
23:25 of an investor I Casey had an exit in
23:27 his company he’s got some money he want
23:29 to participate what is he going to do go
23:31 research all these funds and try to
23:33 figure out which is the best one is it
23:35 Harvard is it Stanford is it this is it
23:37 that so what your fund says is hey Casey
23:39 put your money with me I’ve already
23:42 taken care of how we’re going to
23:43 diversify this through all the different
23:45 search funds so you really get this
23:47 mutual fund of search funds I love it
23:51 yes it’s it’s you said mutual fund index
23:54 fund ETF it is it is a small American
23:59 Business fund run by top mbas with this
24:04 incredible track record and Playbook
24:07 Diversified across hundreds of small
24:10 businesses across over a hundred
24:13 Industries across North
24:16 America got it love it and and and
24:19 really quick John because actually I
24:20 don’t know the history is that is that
24:23 the first way you started doing search
24:25 funds or did you do the traditional one
24:26 first no it’s a great question no so I
24:30 thought here I come I’m here I’m ready
24:32 to
24:33 invest it’s a really small asset class
24:36 and it’s a bit of an Insider asset class
24:40 and one of the strengths of the
24:42 traditional search fund model are the
24:45 people in it are many of the same people
24:48 who have been in it from the
24:50 beginning so those people have Decades
24:54 of experience and they all know each
24:56 other and work together it has weaned
24:59 out any people that don’t add value it
25:02 has weaned out people whose values may
25:05 not sync up with the search fund
25:09 ecosystem is weaned out people that
25:11 aren’t pulling their weight and so the
25:14 people who do it yeah they’re in it to
25:17 make money but they’re also people who
25:20 love giving back who are Mentor coachers
25:23 trainers
25:24 teachers and so that YPO like Forum
25:29 group that is surrounding that
25:32 35-year-old coming out of one of these
25:34 Business Schools is a huge piece of the
25:39 success
25:41 because as I said running buying and
25:44 running a small business is hard you get
25:48 you will ever on a regular basis have
25:51 things thrown at you you never expect it
25:54 and if you have a group of people who
25:55 have seen it all that you can say hey
25:58 hey help what’s this that is powerful
26:04 yeah it’s it’s tremendous and uh and it
26:08 gives somebody that ability to have that
26:10 resource to get through the really
26:12 difficult times because it is it is a
26:14 because there will be difficult times
26:16 you’re gonna have them and it seems like
26:18 they’re that they they come in threes um
26:21 so you need those people to be there to
26:22 be like hey man you’re GNA be all right
26:24 just pick yourself back up get off get
26:27 going again
26:29 yeah no it’s it is so fun agot Hound so
26:33 I I tried I tried to invest directly I
26:36 was politely shown the door I’m I’m
26:39 kidding but basically if if if I was
26:43 seeing a deal it meant that the 25
26:45 people who have been doing this forever
26:47 and who are amazing somehow
26:50 passed right and so the adverse
26:52 selection problem was real and I had to
26:55 build the trust and I had to show that I
26:57 could add value and if first I was like
26:59 wait a minute what’s going on here and
27:01 now I
27:02 appreciate and I don’t I’m not done like
27:05 I’ve got to keep showing up like yes I’m
27:09 a fund of funds but I’m doing things
27:12 like thinking how can these companies
27:15 use AI to help them grow faster be more
27:19 efficient improve their
27:21 iida like I I come from the tech world I
27:24 should be able to help the community
27:26 around things like that I’m I’m
27:28 suggesting to people how about we start
27:32 to create a more formal commitment to
27:36 philanthropy so I’ve got people talking
27:38 about something called Founders pledge
27:41 agin Hound our fund has committed on
27:45 exit a percentage to give away because
27:48 we think that’s important and we’re
27:50 showing and and and demonstrating that
27:52 to the community and trying to get
27:54 others involved with that I’m creating
27:57 an AI for search Tech Council which is a
28:02 is a bunch of really smart people that
28:04 will be resources for the
28:06 community I do dinners and events to
28:09 bring the community together so these
28:11 are all things look I know I have owned
28:14 companies I’ve run companies I had car
28:17 washes I’ve had a t-shirt company I’ve I
28:20 have have a winery I had a restaurant
28:22 I’ve done it and the truth of the matter
28:25 is I I I know some of the pain I can can
28:28 have compassion and empathy but I’ve
28:30 never gone out and done the search
28:32 bought a company and exited in the
28:35 program and so I’m not as good as many
28:38 of the established players so I got to
28:41 think again how can I in a
28:43 differentiated way be part of the
28:45 community add value because I know at
28:48 the end of the day if I do that I’ll
28:50 continue to be part of something that’s
28:54 so exciting and serve my investors who
28:57 invest with me
28:59 because I’ll be in the best funds and
29:00 the best deals if that makes sense no I
29:03 love it so real quick give me a give me
29:05 kind of an economics someone someone
29:07 says hey John I want to participate in
29:09 the index of of the search funds yeah
29:11 what are your minimums and then what is
29:13 the typical hold period how does it give
29:16 me the kind of flow through and on that
29:17 same vein too how do you answer the
29:18 question that people are going to have
29:19 right I think you explained it to us too
29:21 which is hey but isn’t there you know
29:22 essentially two waterfalls right and how
29:25 is that you’re asking you know what ask
29:28 this question because it’s on everyone’s
29:30 mind yep always oh absolutely yeah so so
29:34 you know let’s remember and I’m going to
29:36 answer the question what I’m providing
29:39 is the broadest
29:41 set of
29:43 diversification into a very specific
29:46 successful asset class and providing the
29:49 access to funds that would be otherwise
29:52 almost impossible to get into so that’s
29:54 what you’re
29:56 getting yes the underlying funds we
29:59 invest in are 2 and 20 now remember
30:01 we’re starting above
30:04 30% yes we’re one in
30:07 10
30:09 1% management fee and we’re raising
30:12 about 20 25 million or we will by the
30:15 way this is not a solicitation we’re not
30:18 raising right now I want to be really
30:20 clear about that we have raised fund one
30:24 if someone is interested in fund two yes
30:26 we plan to raise it but that is not
30:28 solicitation it would be super clear but
30:31 let’s pretend we did a fun two down the
30:33 road and it was you know 25 million will
30:36 never be a 100 million it’s too small
30:39 and too narrow of a thesis got it but
30:42 you know 1% on a 2025 million
30:46 fund that’s not going to change my life
30:50 I care about the carry and even that is
30:53 pretty skinny a tent so we put in a 10%
30:57 hurdle
30:59 we are so sure and
31:01 confident that we don’t get anything on
31:04 a carry unless people at least get 10
31:07 back that’s unusual
31:10 secondly I am the largest investor in my
31:13 own funds again alignment alignment
31:16 alignment I mean I did this six years
31:19 ago seven years ago because I wanted to
31:22 personally have exposure to this
31:24 non-correlated asset class I mean we
31:27 live in crazy times who knows what
31:30 tariff or not tariff there’s going to be
31:32 tomorrow who knows what departments will
31:35 or won’t be there tomorrow who knows
31:37 what interest rates and inflation are G
31:39 my point is is the market going to go up
31:42 or down I have no idea is crypto gonna
31:44 go up or down is Tech you know if you’re
31:46 in Venture right now you have funds that
31:49 are going to have 20 to 25 year lives
31:52 because they can’t get out no liquidity
31:55 that does not happen with search you
31:58 have over a trillion dollars of dry
32:01 powder from private Equity waiting to
32:04 buy so they need us they need those guys
32:08 no yeah because their area is so
32:11 competitive so so we’re one in 10 I want
32:14 to get back to this question so we model
32:17 and we can do some things like recycle a
32:19 little bit we take less fees than most
32:22 funds our size because we want it
32:24 invested so we model and again it’s a
32:27 model uh 20 plus% net
32:32 returns and even with the fees and if
32:35 you look at the history of fun of funds
32:37 they got a bad name and the reason they
32:40 got a bad name is because in the old
32:42 days in hedge funds and Venture when
32:45 things were going great you’re like yeah
32:48 and then they weren’t going great and so
32:52 fees on fees on a bad asset class is
32:55 really bad on a good asset class when
32:58 you’re starting at a number that so
33:01 outperforms this ends up being a really
33:04 great way in a diversified way to be
33:07 asset allocating to
33:09 it I love it and I’ll tell you knowing
33:13 about that that that model so I was in
33:15 the oil and gas industry we were raising
33:17 money for for for drilling projects
33:19 right and uh so we syndicated through a
33:21 company called Energy funders sold in
33:24 2019 but in that business right the the
33:27 number one thing I got from people that
33:28 invested in oiling gas they’re like if
33:30 they’re coming to your platform they’re
33:33 not good deals and I’m like why is that
33:35 and they’re like because the good deals
33:37 are already funded they they don’t need
33:39 money and I think what you’re saying is
33:41 kind of that same philosophy right the
33:44 the the search funds the guy you know
33:46 the right ones the ones that pop it’s
33:48 going to the guys that been doing this a
33:49 long time they get first right well in
33:53 Casey you’re a thousand per right look
33:56 if your teacher is teaching the class on
33:60 how to do search funds and they have a
34:02 fund which they do in many cases aren’t
34:05 you going to make sure they’re part of
34:07 your cap table not me right so the the
34:12 unique sourcing advantage that these
34:15 funds have is unlike any I’ve ever seen
34:19 anywhere and I was never gonna when you
34:21 decide you raise your hand at Stanford
34:24 or Harvard booth and you say I’m gonna
34:26 raise a search fund you are handed a
34:28 piece of paper that says here are the 40
34:32 investors that you should go talk to wow
34:37 so I mean it is that
34:39 codified and so the Searcher goes I’m
34:42 not gonna talk to anyone else these guys
34:44 have done it they’ve been vetted John
34:46 why is your name not on that
34:48 list because I never did the the great
34:52 thing is the people on the list have all
34:54 done it so I mean they truly are
34:58 unbelievably good at pattern recognition
35:00 and have seen and been in the trenches
35:03 so that’s who you want I think it’s
35:06 brilliant it is I agreed no it’s it’s
35:09 like that uh one so at at Harvard that
35:12 ETA conference there’s that one guy that
35:14 always ends he’s the teacher of all the
35:17 teachers right um he was a search he he
35:20 Not only was he a teacher he he did
35:23 three or four searches Jim Sharp yes and
35:26 he and he laid out that he even went
35:28 through each of his searches so it was
35:30 like the second search he did he made
35:32 his money the first one he didn’t do
35:35 great his third one he didn’t do great
35:37 his fourth one he didn’t do great but
35:38 that one and he went through his whole
35:40 thing and you know even has a picture of
35:42 him as a as a dad with his son on his
35:45 you know isn’t he the one that bought
35:46 the the printing company yeah yes and he
35:49 went through his whole thing but he
35:50 teaches and so every one of those
35:52 Searchers that were up there that are
35:54 successful and have acquired a business
35:55 they all thank him they’re like he is
35:57 the Great greatest teacher of all times
35:60 yeah I mean it’s it’s funny it’s a it’s
36:03 almost like it’s a lot of I don’t want
36:05 to say this in any way but positively a
36:08 bunch of Warren buffets who are in this
36:10 asset class meaning they’re authentic
36:13 they’re wise they they they treat people
36:17 with respect and they’re they’re
36:19 coaching you and it’s it’s just unlike
36:23 it’s so different from Venture is what I
36:26 want to say but I also want to say Casey
36:28 something
36:29 important if you’re whether you’re
36:32 inventure or search funds and you want
36:34 to have exposure to the asset class and
36:37 you’re an angel investor let’s say you
36:41 would never do three
36:43 four Angel deals and think you’re gonna
36:47 have a success because most fail yeah
36:50 you you everybody I know when I’ve asked
36:53 this question I’ve asked it a lot so
36:55 tell me at this point you know which
36:57 ones when you invest you’re the ones
36:59 that are for sure going to succeed no
37:01 they never know they’re surprises all
37:04 the time and so to me having a broad
37:11 portfolio at least feels really good
37:13 about capturing the majority with
37:17 limiting your downside because you’ve
37:19 got the
37:20 portfolio now for our listeners I I want
37:23 you to know so John’s talking about the
37:25 NBA the traditional search not that
37:28 someone that has an NBA is better than
37:29 somebody else it’s just this is the
37:31 model now I sat at Harvard with a search
37:35 company a guy that had been ra a fund
37:37 and he he had said hey he was like we’ve
37:39 been around for 30 something years and
37:41 we did a research study and I was like
37:44 and he was like we did a research study
37:45 on Military um Harvard uh West Point
37:49 like they went through everything he
37:50 said we we did all this massive research
37:53 on all of our successful successful
37:55 businesses and we came to the point
37:58 was this the only one characteristic
38:01 that came out was
38:03 grit that was the only characteristic it
38:06 wasn’t that he went to Harvard and West
38:08 Point and no it was the the entrepreneur
38:12 that was gritty enough to get in and
38:15 continue to push forward and I thought
38:17 that was pretty inspirational because I
38:19 was talking to the guy thinking like man
38:20 I I I went to Southwest Texas Texas
38:22 state now no no NBA or anything I’m like
38:25 you know you you start to Discount
38:27 yourself and and he’s like man it’s
38:29 that’s just not the data he like but
38:31 this is just how the search funds work
38:32 because we work in this community you
38:35 know to that
38:36 point the world is becoming aware of
38:40 this asset class broadly speaking right
38:44 and a lot of people are raising their
38:45 hand say yeah that sounds interesting I
38:47 think I’ll go buy a
38:49 company good
38:50 luck right not everybody should buy a
38:53 company and operate a company it’s tough
38:56 period if you aren’t waking up in the
38:58 morning and saying yes I need to go I
39:01 need to go do this don’t do it because
39:06 it’s
39:07 hard right if you’re doing this because
39:09 you couldn’t get a job in Tech or you
39:12 got laid off you got to ask yourself
39:14 really hard questions it is lonely it is
39:19 hard just be sure you know these people
39:22 that are doing it on the weekends I
39:23 think I’ll find something on the weekend
39:25 this is not shopping for a house
39:30 you know but but for those people that
39:32 have the grit Casey like you’re saying
39:34 this is incredible opportunity yeah no
39:37 matter where you went to school no I
39:40 love it I love the fact and and there is
39:42 there is truly a incredible opportunity
39:45 over the next five six seven years of
39:47 just finding these great opportunities
39:49 great businesses people that just have
39:50 not transitioned they’ve not had an
39:52 opportunity I’m talking to them every
39:54 day and they’re just like hey I need a I
39:57 need somebody to come in here and help
39:59 me transition my business because this
40:01 is my family this is my live this is my
40:03 lifeblood I’ve put my heart and soul
40:05 into this and I’m disappointed that my
40:08 kids don’t want it right I am
40:09 disappointed but I need to transition it
40:11 because I don’t want it to just go to
40:13 nothing that’s a conversation happening
40:15 every day that’s correct and we need to
40:18 be there and we need to change because
40:20 we’ve got to feed the economy so John
40:21 what you’re doing is huge because you’re
40:23 bringing a whole another level of
40:25 investor to the search world right
40:28 you’re bringing somebody and introducing
40:29 them and then you’re giving them an
40:31 opportunity to kind of be spread out
40:33 with the best of the best and yes are
40:36 you gonna get a second promote are you
40:37 gonna get a little bit of this good luck
40:39 getting in the door good luck seeing
40:41 that deal without that thanks thanks for
40:44 saying that that’s absolutely right and
40:47 one thing we do is we have incredible I
40:50 have 42 or so limited partners who are
40:54 incredible in their own right and so I
40:57 plug them in to some of these companies
40:59 I make them available you know I’m older
41:02 than you guys I don’t I’m I’m not ready
41:06 to not be contributing a lot of my
41:08 friends are like we’ve got wisdom we
41:11 know a thing or two we’ve seen a thing
41:13 or two let us let us Mentor coach sit on
41:16 a board be an advisor so that part of it
41:19 really fun too oh that’s the fun part I
41:21 mean you said earlier my my retirement
41:23 is not going to be me sitting on a beach
41:24 it’s going to be me you know being a VC
41:27 being a fund I mean something in that
41:29 space where you’re kind of investing in
41:30 the Next Generation and coaching them
41:32 and kind of seeing it grow and getting
41:34 the upside of that too yeah absolutely
41:38 John on a side note before we jump to
41:39 the questions I need to hear tell the
41:41 story of the winery because not many
41:44 people get to say that they they’ve
41:46 owned a
41:47 winery I should bring so hand of
41:51 God uh is my Winery in menosa
41:55 Argentina and eight
41:58 years ago can’t believe it I try and go
42:02 to a a different country at least one
42:04 new country every year as an American
42:08 we’re often criticized about not knowing
42:10 the world and and being uneducated about
42:16 different countries so I always try and
42:17 pick one country and as you could tell
42:19 from my beginning talk I love traveling
42:21 so that year was
42:23 Argentina and I was in Buenos are and
42:27 friend emailed me and said you know we
42:30 have a classmate from Stanford Business
42:32 School in
42:34 mendosa and I know you like wine you
42:37 should go go out there I’m like okay
42:40 well mendosa is not exactly close
42:42 actually it’s a big
42:44 country uh but I got on a plane I flew
42:47 out there I called
42:49 Santiago I said could I just try your
42:52 wines and meet you and that was at 10 in
42:54 the morning 18 years ago
42:58 five hours
42:59 later five bottles
43:02 later a barbecue later I said Santiago
43:07 your wine is
43:08 literally the best wine I’ve ever had in
43:10 my life your
43:13 wine changed how I think about
43:16 wine now not everybody’s had the Good
43:18 Fortune we all have had good wine but
43:21 this wine was revelatory it was oh my
43:25 God so this is what good wine really is
43:27 is it it it literally changed my life
43:31 and when I had it I said if you can make
43:33 this if I bought land would you be
43:38 willing to make the wine he said yeah
43:41 that sounds fun and hand of God was born
43:44 hand of God um there’s so many stories
43:47 that is for another time but hand of God
43:51 refers to I wanted a wine that
43:55 represented the place and Argentina
43:59 first of all when I walked in the
44:00 vineyard that I ended up buying I don’t
44:03 know if you guys have ever had this
44:04 moment I got chills I it was something I
44:08 don’t know if I was there in a previous
44:09 I don’t know but it was a different
44:13 feeling that’s of God just to walk on
44:15 your to walk on your
44:18 Vineyard and and and but hand of God
44:21 just for soccer fans also refers to the
44:24 most famous World Cup soccer moment when
44:28 Argentina won the World Cup when Diego
44:31 midona hit a ball off his hand and it
44:34 wasn’t called of course it was because
44:36 the ref was blocked and everybody but
44:40 the ref saw it and they went on to win
44:41 the World Cup and later when they asked
44:44 him they said did that go off your hand
44:46 he said no that went off the hand of God
44:48 and so and so that famous expression
44:52 every everyone who knows a little bit
44:55 about soccer and who sees it’s from
44:57 Argentina and sees the name smiles and
45:00 that makes me happy and I did it you
45:02 know this is agot Hound fund but when I
45:05 don’t want to go into what search funds
45:07 are people go what’s AHF I say it’s
45:09 always have fun a that’s kind of my
45:12 philos that’s kind of My Philosophy
45:14 whether it’s hand of God or search funds
45:16 or talking to you guys uh so that’s the
45:19 story awesome love it incredible story
45:21 thanks for sharing all right so now
45:23 we’re going to jump into three questions
45:26 are rocket round where we Our Guest
45:28 three same three questions same three
45:30 questions all right so first question
45:31 John what do you like to do in your free
45:33 time besides search
45:36 funds besides being a dad that’s an
45:39 important piece of my life sure but no I
45:42 I’m I’m uh my heroin is travel I’m
45:45 addicted I love it I want to visit I’ve
45:48 been into a hundred countries uh I’ve
45:51 skied a few times I’m I’m a I’m a
45:54 learner I listen to podcast read books I
45:58 listen to books I just went through the
46:01 10 movies before the Academy Awards
46:03 because I wanted to I I wanted to have
46:05 my opinion oh that’s awesome I I I I I
46:09 feel like our time is so limited on this
46:11 Earth that I’m gonna eat it up so yeah
46:15 man when I met you you’re it’s
46:17 infectious man you got you’re having fun
46:19 I love it about you man it’s pry awesome
46:21 what I want to be when I grow up all
46:22 right that’s it yes all right next
46:24 question most memorable moment in your
46:26 business Journey so I’m going to give
46:28 you an answer that is not probably what
46:30 you expect or what most people would say
46:33 when I was 12 years
46:35 old my dad I was a I was a competitive
46:38 tennis
46:40 player and it it it’s always meant a lot
46:43 to me and when I was
46:46 12 I was like the regional champ for 12
46:49 and under my my dad says to me hey you
46:52 know Bill Cosby is coming to Omaha
46:56 Nebraska and he he’s an athlete he went
46:59 to Temple you should see if he wants to
47:01 play tennis and I’m like what and I grew
47:04 up listening The Bill Cosby records oh
47:07 yeah laughing over and over you know and
47:10 he goes no in fact he’s at the Sans
47:13 hotel right now in Vegas just
47:16 call like what so I get on the phone I
47:20 call the Sans Hotel I said I’d like to
47:22 speak to Mr Cosby they said one second
47:26 ring
47:28 ring hello Mr Cosby you don’t know me my
47:32 name is John stanberg I live in Omaha
47:34 Nebraska I hear you’re coming would you
47:36 like to play
47:37 tennis he paused and said sure I’ll have
47:41 my secretary call you
47:44 oh that he came to
47:47 Omaha it ended up on the front page of
47:49 the Omaha World
47:52 Herald we played he was
47:55 hilarious and that taught me to face
47:58 something that seemed really I was
48:01 afraid to do it I’m not going to lie I
48:03 thought that was the craziest idea ever
48:06 and that was a great moment for me in
48:10 understanding business understanding
48:13 Taking
48:14 Chances understanding if you don’t ask
48:16 you don’t
48:17 get that’s it incredible lesson who won
48:20 the who won the game he won 76 in a
48:23 tiebreaker oh he he went around
48:28 that is the truth but you played tennis
48:30 with Bill Cosby that’s insane what a
48:33 insane and he would make pudding jokes
48:35 you remember you’re probably not thank
48:39 allal oh I remember all of that yeah man
48:44 awesome all right is it are you asking
48:46 the last question all right I’ll ask it
48:48 last question what is your favorite tool
48:49 or
48:50 resource you guys know the answer to
48:52 that I know the answer we got let’s go
48:54 to share a it’s AI I’m I’m so excited
48:58 right now ai is transformational I am
49:01 using it every single day um I’ve
49:05 created an avatar if anybody wants to
49:08 ask me questions even when I’m sleeping
49:11 24 by7
49:12 365 I don’t know if we can share my
49:15 avatar put in the show put in the show
49:17 notes it’s pretty amazing yeah um look
49:20 at that but in all seriousness like it’s
49:24 going to change everything it’s going to
49:26 change your sales it’s it’s going to
49:27 change your
49:28 marketing it’s going to change your
49:30 communication it’s going to change how
49:31 you do spreadsheets it’s going to change
49:33 your analysis of your financials it’s
49:36 going to change how you look at contract
49:37 I mean what is not going to be touched
49:40 here and what I love about it is people
49:42 say to me uh well I guess you don’t have
49:46 an AI you’re not you’re not going to
49:48 invest in Venture and a I said I’m
49:49 investing in AI in a better
49:52 way because I’m investing in the 34 35
49:56 year olds who are going to transform
49:58 overnight their
49:60 businesses and whose competition
50:03 is because it’s some 65 year old guy
50:06 with a couple of boats isn’t even
50:08 thinking about this stuff right he’s
50:10 playing golf and you come in and you
50:13 transform I mean the next five years for
50:17 this stuff is going to be
50:20 great and so I I never want to say that
50:23 our returns are going to be better than
50:25 the historic returns but they might be
50:29 so anyway I’m trying to learn it I’m
50:30 trying to be a resource every single day
50:33 I use it yeah and and and I got I got a
50:36 link for you John since you’re the the
50:37 eventual learner there’s a a fantastic
50:39 YouTube video that made the rounds about
50:41 three weeks ago and I’m about two-thirds
50:43 of the way through but it talks about
50:44 more technically at a more technical
50:46 level what is AI actually doing right
50:49 and all the different mechanics of it
50:50 and and it’s the the guy that doing the
50:53 video is really really good he’s former
50:55 CTO for several companies and he just
50:57 it’s he simplifies it and dumbs it down
50:59 for people and you know and I’m I mean
50:60 I’m a developer I know the ins and outs
51:01 and I just thought it was a fantastic
51:03 video but I’ll get that to you after
51:05 we’ll trade that we’ll trade that after
51:07 I we’ll that the show Notes too yeah no
51:09 I’m I’m kind of compiling a list of
51:12 tools for people and it’s changing fast
51:14 so you kind of got to be up on it but
51:16 it’s an it’s an incredible time it’s so
51:20 exciting uh I’ve been doing as you know
51:23 Venture tech for
51:25 decades this this is the moment folks it
51:29 really is going to be interesting next
51:32 10
51:32 years awesome and John maybe last
51:35 question how can people get a hold of
51:37 you uh it’s really really easy uh go to
51:40 agot hound. fund agot is a rock it’s
51:45 actually the state rock of Nebraska
51:48 which is why did it okay Hound a rock
51:51 hound is a person who goes to find gems
51:54 and agots a gem a Hound we used to raise
51:57 Irish wolf hounds in Nebraska so that’s
52:01 why and a.com was taken aound and thenf
52:05 fund or John Steinberg s aen b RG I’m
52:10 I’m on LinkedIn or whatever but um or
52:12 they can reach out to you as well of
52:14 course but thank you guys this is so
52:16 much fun yeah we’re gonna drop all that
52:17 in the show notes but John man I am so
52:20 glad that we have just we connected man
52:23 and I it just we’ll keep it going your
52:25 your spirit your excitement I love it it
52:27 and we’ll keep seeing you man and we’re
52:29 well we’ll see you at an ETA conference
52:31 absolutely seea conference we’ll see you
52:33 down here in May oh yeah let’s go I’d
52:35 love to learn more about that so i’ love
52:36 to I hear there’s some pretty good food
52:38 and drink in Houston I’ll bring a bottle
52:39 of hand of God there’s a ton of it I
52:41 will give you a list so we’ll exchange
52:42 those notes all right thanks again for
52:45 being here thank you very
52:46 much cool thank you thank you for
52:50 listening to the &a Launchpad podcast if
52:52 you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast and would
52:54 like to support us please leave us a
52:55 rating and a review after you listen I’m
52:57 Casey menu and I look forward to talking
52:58 with you next week
