Pacific Lake Partners

Pacific Lake operates as a dedicated search fund investor, backing individual entrepreneurs who raise a small pool of capital to find, acquire, and run a single private company. Unlike a traditional private equity firm that buys companies itself, Pacific Lake supplies the committed search capital and acquisition equity, then steps into a supporting role while the entrepreneur serves as CEO. This programmatic structure allows the firm to run a continuous pipeline of concurrent searchers rather than cycling through discrete fund vintages.

Deal flow originates through the firm's network of active searchers who each spend months or years identifying a suitable acquisition target in the lower middle market. Pacific Lake evaluates potential investments at two stages — first when selecting the searcher, and again when the searcher presents a signed letter of intent for a specific company. The dual-screen process means the firm sees hundreds of potential acquisitions annually, filtered by operators who have concentrated, single-asset focus.

Pacific Lake invests solely through the search fund structure, which is a form of direct deal — the firm commits capital to a searcher's acquisition vehicle that buys 100% of a target company. The firm does not make fund commitments to third-party general partners or participate in secondary transactions. Each investment is tied to a specific operating company and a named CEO-in-place.

Investment decisions are made by the firm's partnership group, which includes co-founders Coley Andrews and Jim Southern alongside senior team members such as Lindsey Gray, Keith Gross, and Chris Hendriksen. The group evaluates both the searcher — assessing operational aptitude and industry fit — and the target company's financial and market characteristics before committing capital.

Target companies are typically profitable, lower-middle-market businesses with $1 million to $10 million in EBITDA, operating in fragmented industries such as B2B software, tech-enabled services, and niche manufacturing. The searcher is expected to run the business as CEO for the long term — often five to ten years or more — rather than prepare it for a rapid resale, aligning the investment horizon with managerial tenure.