Hello everyone! I'm the lead technical designer at a scenic fabrication shop based in the NYC/NJ area, with a second shop in Miami and work nationwide. We do sets, digital fabrication, experiential marketing, special events, branded environments, bajillion-dollar weddings, and more. Sometimes months of engineering and building for a ten-minute fashion show or a three-day pop-up. Started there knowing nothing about the trade and it grew from there. Two partners and I are now working through a deal to buy out the founders - two years of negotiating and counting. Buying a business from people you work with every day is a different kind of negotiation. Glad to be here. Looking to talk deal structure, and what comes after closing: org structure, management, how to grow the thing once it's yours. If anyone's done an inside buyout or taken over an owner-run business, I'd genuinely like to hear how it went. Happy to answer anything on fabrication, events or design in return!

Tell us three things: Tell me: 1. Search method (self-funded, traditional, sponsor, etc) 2. Your buy box (be specific so I can refer you stuff I see!) 3. Your biggest pain point in searching. What’s the one thing I (and this group) can help you fix I'll respond to every single one. And read each other's intros too because the person who's stuck on the same problem as you might already be in this thread. I'll go first. 🔹 I'm Jed; an independent sponsor at Sunset Coast Partners focused exclusively on government contracting firms. 🔹 My buy box includes companies with a minimum 35% government contracted revenue (federal or state & local), $2M - $10M EBITDA, and preferably in aerospace, defense, precision manufacturing, or IT/cyber software. 🔹 My biggest pain point is raising capital in a GovCon environment where SBA affiliation rules prevent traditional capital. Simply put, the majority of acquisition money needs to come from me personally or a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) fund. That's it. It's simple and gives you data on who's joining, what they're searching for, and keeps the feed clear for content that retains people past week one.