Search fund statistics: where the numbers come from and how to read them

Where do search fund statistics come from?

Most search fund statistics are traced to recurring academic studies, notably those published by Stanford Graduate School of Business (largely US and Canadian investor-backed searches) and IESE Business School (largely searches elsewhere); confirm each study's scope in its own methodology section. Both rely largely on data that searchers and their investors share, so each edition describes a defined sample rather than every search ever run.

Before quoting any figure, open the latest edition and note three things: which searches it includes (traditionally funded, self-funded or both), the period it covers, and whether it reports medians, averages or pooled results. This page does not reproduce the studies' figures. It explains how to read them and sets them beside private equity benchmarks that come with their own sources.

What each search fund metric measures

Two caveats apply to almost every figure. The studies cover searchers who share data, which leans toward established investor networks. And pooled returns can be driven by a small number of large outcomes, so medians and distributions tell an individual investor more than a headline number.

Private equity holding period benchmarks, with sources

Search fund investors often compare holds with private equity. The figures below are sourced, but they measure different things, so never mix them.

The first row counts companies still held; the other rows describe exits or the age of current portfolios. A search fund's time to exit should be compared only with exit-based measures, and always with its period.

Why so many small businesses need buyers

The case for search funds rests on succession. Fortune's coverage of McKinsey's ownership-transfer report reported in February 2026 that 92% of small-business market exits occur through closure, 5% through sale and 3% through transfer to new owners. A closure usually takes the company's records with it, which is one reason a search acquisition can preserve value that would otherwise disappear.

Why hold periods matter for an exclusive data license

A company acquired through a search fund can license its historical operating records through SourceX for a one-time payment and keep ownership of them. Such licenses usually grant the buyer AI-training exclusivity for a set term, so hold-period thinking applies directly.

• Line the term up with the exit plan. If you expect to sell within the term, the next owner inherits the exclusivity commitment. Agree the term with the likely exit window in mind.
• Disclose it in any sale. Put the license in the data room and the disclosure schedules; buyers will ask which assets are licensed and on what terms.
• Treat the payment as one-time. Payment normally lands within about 60 days of invoicing, after the buyer has chosen its data, and it should not be presented as recurring earnings.
• Take it to the board. An exclusive, unusual contract is a natural board item; see what goes to a search fund board.

Preserve the history before anything changes. Retiring the previous owner's systems without exports is one of the first-year mistakes search fund CEOs make, and it can end a licensing opportunity before anyone checks for one.

What this means for search fund investors as referral partners

Search fund investors sit on several boards and see far more companies than they fund. Each acquired company, and each company a searcher passes on, is a possible SourceX introduction if it meets the baseline: a US company with 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), several years of documented operations, records spread over a range of business systems, clear licensing rights and an authorized sponsor open to an exclusive license.

The introduction itself takes little of your time:

1. Register as a partner and share your referral link with the CEO or owner, or submit the company through the referral form.
2. SourceX screens size, history, data breadth and rights with the company.
3. The company inventories its systems, years of history and export options.
4. Price and terms are agreed with the company before any buyer reviews the opportunity.
5. The deal closes, data is delivered under agreed redaction rules and the company is paid.
6. Your reward follows once SourceX receives its fee: 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX collects, capped at $100,000 per referred company. No reward is guaranteed.

Investors who also back holding companies can pass this to the group finance lead; the holdco CFO's annual records check is built for that role, and starting a holding company covers the structure itself.

Limits and open questions

• Search fund studies are largely self-reported and cover a defined sample, not every search.
• Self-funded searches, holdcos and international variants follow different economics, so their outcomes may not match the headline studies.
• The private equity benchmarks above describe larger, institutionally backed companies. Use them as context, not as targets.
• Market conditions at the time of each study shape its exits and returns.

Next step

Find the acquired and passed-on companies in your network that clear the baseline with the network opportunity finder, check them against who qualifies, then register as a partner and make the introductions.