Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 8, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 15 financial perspective on those deals. Ross Porter and his partner Alex de Pfyffer had a different approach. Porter and Pfyffer saved up the money and searched for a business without an investor once they graduated Harvard Business School in 2015. Porter and de Pfyffer bought their first company in 2016, and over the last 10 years, have acquired around 40 business- es across 10 different industries through their Boston-based small business investment firm Heritage Holding. Porter said he and de Pfyffer have been involved in the search fund community, setting up a small fund to become investors for searchers and going back to Harvard to talk to business students. The growing popularity Aer minimal growth in 2021 and 2022, there was a significant increase in the number of new search funds in 2023, according to the Stanford Business School 2024 Study. No single factor drove this; however, increased education about the model and growing amounts of investor capital may have attracted more entrepreneurs to search, the study said. Porter said search funds are growing in popularity since it is a lucrative ca- reer: It gives flexibility in one's life, and if successful, financially provides more money than a career in a big corporate setting or a consulting path would. "e more people that succeed in this, the more potential searchers go out and learn that this path might not be as risky as it seems," Porter said. Searchers are looking for a good busi- ness to jump in and run, which is the biggest difference between a searcher and a private equity firm, DeLeo said. e ideal situation for a searcher is to find a business that someone has been running their whole life and who can provide institutional knowledge about the industry before the searcher takes over and grows it. "Growing a business is a fascinat- ing journey, and it provides a lot of opportunity and challenges," DeLeo said. "at's what excites a lot of these searches, which is the opportunity not just to acquire the business and monitor its success, but to actually be an integral part of day-to-day management." Not just college graduates e median age of a typical searcher was 31 in 2022 and 2023, according to the Search Fund Study by Stanford. While more universities are growing search fund incubators, older people like Stimpson go into search too. Stimpson went into searching with having a family and a mortgage, which he said was a big leap for him. Instead LAW & ACCOUNTING F O C U S Search funds, by the numbers Averages for search funds in 2022-2023 Length of search before a search fund makes an acquisition: 20 months Acquisition price: $14.4 million Company revenues at time of ac- quisition: $6.7 million Company employees at time of acquisition: 34 First-year CEO base compensation: $200,000 Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2024 Search Fund Study of creating a business from scratch, he chose to go down the search path due to financial need to support his family. "I needed to make sure that I had all my ducks in a row," Stimpson said. "is was my chance to take the train- ing wheels off and see if I can do this on my own." Stimpson had many people who supported and helped him throughout his journey, like DeLeo and Porter, and now he is trying to give back to others who are starting their search. "I am always trying to pay it forward and help other people that are in the same boat," Stimpson said. Mitten Fluidpower has merged with a Holyoke firm. PHOTOS | COURTESY OF MITTEN FLUIDPOWER W Mitten Fluidpower specializes in hydraulic equipment.

• Cover