A Primer on Search Funds: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs Embarking on a Search Fund (2026 edition)
Peter Kelly, Dom Ng, Kim Latypov, Julie Makinen. (2026)
Stanford GSB Case E-958, 69 pp
Current edition; the preface says it updates "the 2021 Primer" and "focuses on the core search fund model", and "does not attempt to catalog all model permutations" (p3). Structured in parts covering personal fit, fundraising, economics, industry and company criteria, the search, evaluating and closing an acquisition, boards, and transition; exhibits include legal templates from Goodwin Procter, Holland & Knight and Baker Hostetler; "Elad Benjamin created the original version" (p4). Repeats the 2024 study figures: "a historical average of 35.1 percent internal rate of return (IRR) and 4.5x multiple of investment as of 2023" (p4). Internal inconsistency worth noting: p4 says "roughly one in three search funds failed to acquire a company" while p11 says "Approximately two in five search funds end the search without acquiring a company". The landing page https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/about/centers-institutes/ces/research/search-funds/primer asks for registration, but the catalogue page above offers a free download.