Season 3 Episode 1: From JP Morgan to business owner with Linh Van Deibel

Send us Fan MailWelcome back to a brand new season of The Found & Funded Podcast.In this first episode of season 3, we welcome Linh Van Deibel, Director of Infrastructure Design Solutions, a B2B telecom services provider. From her roots in Vietnam to the high-stakes worlds of JP Morgan and private equity, Linh eventually moved into business operations, where she led five major acquisitions for a fintech scale-up - taking them from 50 to 1,500 employees.Now, as the co-founder of Acacia Partners, she shares the raw reality of the self-funded search fund model, the mechanics of acquiring a B2B telecom services provider in 2025, and the challenges of being a female searcher in a male-dominated industry.In this episode, we discuss:Moving from investing to operations and why an MBA changed Linh’s trajectory.Being advised to bring an "older, strong male figure" to meetings.Using interns to build a deal pipeline.The heartbreak of a deal falling through.🕒 Key Chapters00:00 Introduction00:25 Linh’s Background: From Vietnam to the US and the UK03:41 Hearing About Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition08:39 Getting Buy-In From Your Spouse13:01 Why Self-Funded Search Over Other Models?18:04 The Challenge Of Being Female In A Male-Dominated Industry23:45 Using Interns For Proprietary Outreach26:52 The Role Of AI In Outreach27:32 Proprietary Sourced & Brokered Pipeline30:47 Running Two Acquisition Deals In Parallel36:15 Raising Equity41:02 Advice For Other Female Searchers46:30 What Is Linh’s Dream?LinkedInInstagramWebsite