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INSEAD Centre for Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition & Search Funds Hub - INSEAD Centre for Entrepreneurship

Our Mission

Ivana Naumovska Photo
Ivana Naumovska

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family EnterpriseAcademic Director, ETA & Search Funds Hub

The INSEAD Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) and Search Funds Hub is designed to empower students, alumni, and the broader business community as entrepreneurs, investors, advisors, and board members.

 

ETA and Search Funds offer a unique pathway for entrepreneurial individuals to acquire, manage, and grow businesses, addressing the succession challenges faced by many SMEs. This model enables aspiring entrepreneurs—often recent MBA graduates or mid-career professionals—to secure funding, acquire a company, take on the role of CEO, and gain a significant equity stake in the business.

 

The Hub’s Goals:

  1. Empower aspiring entrepreneurs by connecting them with investors, advisors, and providing cutting-edge knowledge to explore and succeed in ETA opportunities.
  2. Support investors to get access to ETA and search funds, an exceptional asset class with a average ROI >4X.
  3. Promote global awareness, research, and education on ETA, leveraging INSEAD...
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Ivana Naumovska

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family EnterpriseAcademic Director, ETA & Search Funds Hub

Value Proposition

As the global succession crisis intensifies, millions of SMEs are facing uncertainty due to retiring owners. ETA and Search Funds offer a sustainable solution by...Read more

For Entrepreneurs: A Rewarding Career Path

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) offers a rewarding and relatively lower-risk path to business ownership. Entrepreneurs acquire established companies, gain equity, and leverage a robust network of investors and advisors. This approach not only provides financial rewards but also enables entrepreneurs to preserve the legacy of businesses that might otherwise face closure.

Search funds are a popular vehicle within the ETA model. Entrepreneurs raise capital from investors to finance their search for an established company to acquire and operate. These entrepreneurs - often MBA graduates or mid-career professionals - typically target businesses with EBITDA of €1–3 million and secure 20–30% equity. The ETA and search fund models rely on a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship between entrepreneurs and investors, with investors offering support during both the search process and the entrepreneur's executive tenure.

More than 100 search funds and other ETA vehicles have been launched by INSEAD students and alumni in recent years, with INSEADers often pioneering the first search funds in new geographies.

Are you an aspiring or current entrepreneur through acquisition? Join our ETA & Search Funds Hub and become part of the growing community.  

Contact us

For Investors: A High-performing Asset Class

ETA and Search Funds consistently outperform traditional investment alternatives like Venture Capital and Private Equity. With many businesses needing succession in the next decade, ETA presents a unique opportunity for investors to support entrepreneurs in acquiring and scaling these companies.

  • Stanford’s 2024 study shows that Search Funds have achieved an impressive mean internal rate of return (IRR) of 35.1% and an average return on investment (ROI) of 4.5x.

  • Outside the U.S. and Canada, search funds are gaining traction, with a growing number of entrepreneurs pursuing this career path and increasing investor interest in the asset class.

Are you an aspiring or current investor in ETA including Search Funds? Join our ETA & Search Funds Hub and become part of the growing community.

Contact us

For Business Owners: A Solution to Succession

Succession planning is a critical challenge for many business owners. With over 2.4 million SMEs globally owned by individuals nearing retirement - and more than half lacking a formal succession plan - this issue threatens the continuity of countless businesses.

ETA and Search Funds offer unique and tailored solutions by connecting business owners with entrepreneurial, highly motivated buyers who are committed to preserving the business's legacy while driving growth and innovation. These buyers bring fresh energy, strategic insights, and a long-term vision, ensuring not only the survival but also the continued success of the business. With ETA, business owners can secure their company's future while entrusting it to leaders who value its heritage and have the ambition, skill and support from knowledgeable investors and advisors to take it to the next level.

Are you looking to sell your business? Join our ETA & Search Funds Hub and become part of the growing community. Contact us

stack of wooden blocks representing growth

Join Our ETA & Search Funds Hub

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Community

Are you a current or aspiring entrepreneur, investor, or someone with a business for sale? Join our growing community and learn about exciting opportunities!

Entrepreneurs

Investors

Business Sellers

Degree Programme Electives

Realizing Entrepreneurial Potential/Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

MBA/GEMBA/TIEMBA

MBA – P4
GEMBA/TIEMBA – July module 

You would like to be an entrepreneur but don’t have a brilliant idea for a start-up? This course focuses on how to realize entrepreneurial potential without having an idea for launching a company from scratch, but through acquiring a business as a direct route to entrepreneurship. If you have strong managerial skills and entrepreneurial affinities, you can acquire an existing business, grow it, cut costs and increase profitability, maybe make a couple of add-on acquisitions, and build it into a larger successful company.

Buying a business is entrepreneurship too, though you may not have thought about it that way. In fact, buying a business is far less risky than starting one. While some of you may decide to pursue this avenue immediately after INSEAD, others may do so in three or five years, or even later. A common starting point is to organize a search for a potential acquisition, or you might simply buy the company you are managing. Some may create a search fund1 and raise capital to finance their search; others may decide to do a self-financed search. Whatever approach you take, this is what Realizing Entrepreneurial Potential (REP) is all about: entrepreneurship through acquisition.

If you want to be an entrepreneur and buy a company for yourself someday, REP was designed for you! You can buy a healthy business, or a distressed business that needs a turnaround – in REP we will discuss both options. If you want to be part of a smaller venture, and achieve growth through REP can give you a new perspective on building your business organically and through acquisitions. If you want to sell your family business, REP will help you understand and deal with the buyer.

In REP you will apply many of the learnings from your core courses, but also gain practical knowledge related to small and medium entreprises. REP is complementary to the following electives: New Business Ventures, Private Equity, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Family & Private Business, Leverage Buyouts, and Managing Corporate Turnarounds.

REP participants will also have the opportunity to do an ISP in P5 which will involve finding a company to buy, analyse and value it, develop an action plan, create an 

Through a series of case studies and discussions we bring to life the strategies and tactics for successful entrepreneurial acquisitions both from the perspective of entrepreneurs and investors. We examine the process of entrepreneurial acquisitions in a very detailed manner, learning from the successes and failures of the case protagonists.
We will cover the following topics:

  • Understanding the different routes to entrepreneurial acquisitions.
  • Creating and using a search fund to launch your entrepreneurial career.
  • Building the search process: screening, assessing and selecting targets.
  • Due diligence, valuations, and managing transactions.
  • Post-acquisition issues of taking the reins and running the business.
  • Exit, i.e., sell the business.

By the end of the course participants should be fully aware of entrepreneurship through acquisition as a career option, have a firm grasp of what is involved in this area of entrepreneurship, and most importantly, be able to assess their own comfort level with it. REP is ideal for careers in: entrepreneurship, private equity, and growth of SMEs.

MiM

MiM -  P4

Search Funds

Do you aspire to be an entrepreneur but lack a groundbreaking start-up idea? Search Funds offers a unique introduction to entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA), focusing specifically on the search fund model—a proven path for aspiring entrepreneurs to acquire and lead a business. This course is your gateway to understanding how to embark on this entrepreneurial journey or explore search funds as an exciting and growing asset class.

Search funds are specialized investment vehicles that empower entrepreneurs to find, acquire, and manage privately held companies with the backing of experienced investors. For those with strong managerial skills and entrepreneurial ambitions, this course provides an actionable framework for building your future as a business leader through this structured approach.

Through case studies, discussions, and practical insights, this course will introduce you to the strategies, challenges, and opportunities in the world of search funds. Whether you are interested in pursuing this route as an entrepreneur or understanding it from an investment perspective, the course provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals.

By the end of the course, you will:

  • Have an understanding of search funds as a pathway within ETA.
  • Learn the key steps in the search fund lifecycle, from raising a fund to acquiring and managing a business.
  • Gain insights into business evaluation, due diligence, and acquisition financing.
  • Understand the roles of investors in the search fund ecosystem.
  • Assess your own interest and readiness for pursuing search funds as a career path.

This course is ideal for students interested in entrepreneurship, private equity, and SME growth. Whether you aim to pursue a search fund after you gain some professional experience or want to learn about this fast-growing asset class, Search Funds will provide foundational knowledge and practical tools to get started.