The Broadtree ETA Program

Broadtree Partners is an alternative to the traditional partnered search. The Broadtree business model is the culmination of David Slenzak’s reflection on his own search process, his desire to remain a part of the search community, and an entrepreneurial spirit of continuous improvement. During the 2008 recession, Dave searched out of the Southeast under Long Leaf Partners, and unofficially partnered with several self-funded searchers in the area to pool information, resources, and share ideas. All members of the group acquired companies. In 2016, Dave had a successful exit and wanted to support searches again, but with institutional quality resources to provide searchers with higher chances of success.

Alongside fellow Darden grad Jason Hull, Dave founded Broadtree in 2016 with the first cohort starting in 2017. From the beginning, Broadtree was a virtual operation, with searchers and Managing Partners connecting daily to discuss origination strategies and traveling together to visit companies and close deals. Broadtree and the searchers split equity like they would in a traditional partnered search, and each searcher shares in the cumulative success of the organization through a shared equity pool that allowed each searcher to participate in each other’s deals.

Over the years, Broadtree has grown to an organization of eleven corporate staff members providing support to both CEOs across the portfolio and to active searchers. Broadtree’s spirit remains tied to the entrepreneurial roots of search, with the goal to maximize each searcher’s chance of acquiring a great business, running it well, and exiting successfully.