For senior industrial executives
Own the value you create.
Acquire a $5M to $30M revenue industrial business with a path to $100M. You lead the company. Acorn works beside you, starting with the investment thesis.
Acorn is not a consultant and not a course. We do the work with you.
From executive to owner
A window that will not stay open
As baby boomer owners retire, hundreds of thousands of profitable companies are coming to market at the same time. Qualified buyers are far fewer. That gap is the opportunity for an experienced executive.
Four steps to closing
Each step ends with a gate. You move forward only when the work is ready, so your commitment grows as the risk comes down.
Build your thesis
Define the sector where your experience gives you an edge over other buyers.
Gate: Pitch Day. You present your thesis to Acorn's investor group.
Find the business
Source and screen targets with the Acorn team and your cohort.
Gate: Deal Committee signs off on the LOI.
Close the deal
Diligence and the purchase agreement, with Acorn's legal and accounting partners.
Gate: purchase agreement signed.
Raise the capital
Debt and equity structured alongside the close. Investors who heard your thesis at Pitch Day are first in line to back your deal.
Runs in parallel with step 03.
It is your company, and you lead it. Acorn stays at your side on growth: the strategy, new markets, the hard calls.
Your commitment
Make the commitment. It comes back to you at closing.
Acorn's reward comes when your deal closes.
We choose each other
Acorn partners with a small number of executives. Before anyone commits, we spend time together to confirm the fit: the skills to lead and grow the company, the ambition to build systems that scale, and the chemistry for a partnership that lasts years.
Start your thesis
Once we agree to work together, you make a commitment and we begin your investment thesis. When you acquire a business with Acorn as sponsor, it is returned in full at closing.
Keep your job
Plan on a few focused hours each week while you are still employed. Most executives leave their role once the LOI is signed.
Add sourcing if you want it
Acorn's sourcing team runs outreach to owners on your behalf in sprints of about 12 weeks, priced per sprint. You stay focused on the thesis and on meeting the owners who respond.
Own what you build
From day one, you hold equity in the company you acquire, and it grows as you create value. Full terms are in the executive summary.
Alan Freeman
Founder and Managing Partner
Built on a proven method
Alan spent decades turning the startup journey into a disciplined process, at accelerators, venture funds and universities. As co-founder of MOA Ventures he applied that method at scale. Acorn brings the same rigor to buying and building industrial companies.
Portfolio companies include Vammo, which raised a $45M Series B, and award winners CorSync, Neokohm and UBIVIS.
Two examples of the work
A written-off brand, rebuilt
In Brazil, sales had fallen to zero. The rebuild created local manufacturing from nothing and a logistics network that reaches 98% of households.
An overlooked market, opened
Middle income families could not buy homes. A new mortgage structure negotiated with Banco do Brasil and standardized modular designs opened the segment.
"Alan helped Neokohm identify new market extensions that drove a tenfold increase in recurring revenue in just 12 months."
Start with the executive summary
Two pages on the opportunity, the process and the economics. Every submission is kept confidential.