Introduction & welcome
Welcome to Maverick - a newsletter publishing engaging, concise resources for aspiring and newly minted entrepreneurs in the world of ETA.
My inspiration
The idea of being an entrepreneur has been on my mind ever since I was a kid. I used to believe I was cursed or something was a bit messed up with my personality since I have never been one to take direction well. I learned countless lessons from hardship early on in life, which taught me that so much of what I was told to be considered “true” was quite the opposite.
When I was younger, I expected I needed to do everything myself, and asking for help was a sign of weakness. During my days in undergrad, I was fortunate enough to receive some much-needed mentorship that redirected my career onto the right path. I learned how important it was to seek the help of others, especially those who have been in my shoes.
Finding a career path with autonomy and mentorship was a primary factor in leaving Apple and getting my MBA. It was there that I fully discovered search funds and entrepreneurship through acquisition (“ETA”) more broadly. As I go down this journey of being a search fund entrepreneur, I hope to be a resource for those pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors with a candid, first-hand take on my experience.
Maverick’s objective
My overarching goal with launching Maverick is to provide informative yet digestible insights into the world of ETA. When educating myself on ETA, I discovered countless free resources that were extremely helpful in validating my decision to pursue search. For me, though, much of the information was dense and duplicative as I tried to learn more.
Maybe you’re asking, what are you trying to achieve with Maverick? It comes down to the four following objectives:
Become known as the central location for digestible content on ETA and links to further resources
Share practical, real-world lessons from being a searcher
Bring entrepreneurial and investing frameworks to more people
Create a community that welcomes all interested in entrepreneurship, leadership, investing, and everything in-between
Expectations
To put it bluntly, I don’t know anything compared to those who have built and been in the ETA community much longer than me. Countless entrepreneurs, advisors, river guides, investors, professors, and others have paved the way in providing such a close-knit, knowledgeable community, and in no way do I intend to take away from that.
I hope to focus on the perspectives throughout my entrepreneurial journey, share snippets of the great work done already, and be a resource to direct you if you want to learn more.
I’ll work sequentially through my experiences but begin with context setting to inform those of you who are new to ETA and want to learn more. I’ll do my best to avoid the “curse of knowledge,” a concept I learned in my entrepreneurial selling course that describes individuals’ cognitive bias to assume the other person knows what you’re talking about.
I don’t expect you to agree with everything I say, but I encourage you to hear me out. I have a unique set of experiences that I hope you will find helpful as you consider or navigate entrepreneurship.
Expect to see Maverick every other Tuesday. I hope to see you follow along by subscribing to this newsletter below.
Background
Maverick is written by me, David LaMore. I'm a search fund entrepreneur based in Chicago and lead White Cedar Company, an entrepreneurial investment firm providing a comprehensive leadership, governance, and capital solution to one American business. In other words, we aim to acquire and operate one small business with an intense focus on growth and longevity.
I spent 5+ years as an operator/analyst at Apple and a PM at Gap. These experiences taught me vast amounts of functional knowledge ranging from finance and operations to merchandising and marketing, but I always knew that eventually, I’d pursue my entrepreneurial dreams.
I’m a former D1 basketball player, avid golfer, nonfiction reader, and lover of architectural design. Though I’m highly data-driven with my decision-making, I attempt to leverage my creativity and intuition into everyday life.