Give Me 40 Minutes and I'll Explain How to Buy a Business With a Search Fund | Jackson Allan

If you have bought a business, and are open to sharing your story on the show, please email [email protected] you want to sell your business, I'm buying. Please email [email protected] with Jackson Allan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonallan1/Most people assume you need to be rich, or technical, or both, to buy a business. Jackson Allan is neither. After 15+ years in B2B commercial leadership across Australia and the US, he founded the search fund Touchstone Point in 2024 and — 30 days before this conversation — closed on Passmark Software, a 27-year-old company built by a computer scientist that operates at the deep technical interface of hardware and software, with customers like Apple, Boeing and Milwaukee Tools. There's a nice symmetry to it: the deal traces right back to his own roots rebuilding computers as a kid. He did it through the search fund model — raising capital from investors first, then hunting for the right business to step into as CEO, without signing a personal guarantee or putting his own assets on the line.In this episode Jackson pulls back the curtain on the entire search fund model — where it came from, why a first-time buyer would choose it over going it alone, and exactly how the economics work for the searcher (the salary haircut during the hunt, the equity upside after). He's refreshingly concrete about the grind: 2,500 cold outreaches narrowed to 400 replies, 100 conversations, 20 serious looks, and one deal. He breaks down staging due diligence on a cross-border, multi-jurisdictional deal to limit broken-deal costs, the very real "deal fatigue" that sets in after six months, and what the chaotic first 30 days of ownership actually involve.If you're an operator drawn to acquisition but stuck on "I don't have the capital" or "I'm not technical enough," this is the operator-to-operator playbook for a path most people in Australia and NZ have never heard of. (Note: the deal is under NDA, so Jackson keeps specific figures off the table — the value here is the model and the process.)TIMESTAMPS:00:00 — Intro / thank-you 00:18 — First 30 days and early context 01:59 — Sales background and how it started 03:54 — What Passmark does 07:48 — How you got here from sales 14:09 — Search fund model and investor conversations 23:44 — Founding the business 26:47 — Deal process and due diligence 30:26 — Completing the deal and reflections 32:01 — Looking back after making it through the process Deals Down Under is the podcast about buying, selling, and growing businesses in Australia and New Zealand. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.