My time at Ellery Partners has come to an end. I wanted to thank Jalen Ross and Orlando Remak for all the assistance and guidance along the way. This has been a great opportunity that has exposed me to a side of finance that I didn’t know much about before the program began. The search fund process is a long journey that takes a lot of time and effort to reach the end goal of eventually acquiring a company.

Throughout my time at Ellery I was exposed to as much of the process as possible. The process all starts with outreach and relationship building, which really helped hone my communication skills. From there we started receiving responses and getting brokers involved. This is the stage when we started to focus more on the valuation process. During this time we received CIM review and modeling training to get us involved as quickly as possible.

One of the more unique ways this program has allowed me to grow, was through team building. I have never been a part of a work group that has become so comfortable with each other, so quickly. A team driven environment is becoming more and more important as we start to see a shift toward remote work. Ellery, a Chicago based firm, had recruited from all over the country for this program. Even though everyone was on different time zones, we were still able to come together and effectively communicate throughout the process. Any hurdles in our way, we addressed as a team, and we brainstormed ways to overcome those hurdles.

Overall, the experience at Ellery was different than any I have ever had. Even though the work was all remote, I felt close to the team and I learned so many new things that will help me grow and contribute to my career in finance moving forward.