Disclaimer: Unless noted otherwise, views and analysis expressed here are the author's own and based on public sources. The article is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional for investment decisions.

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The hottest new trend in the European Lower Mid-Market? In-house Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programmes. Designed to nurture rollups from the ground-up, these proto-accelerators have gained prominence in the last decade after successfully driving capital deployment (and returns) for mercurial Private Equity firms like Northrim and Alpine. 

As Ramsey Sahyoun, a co-founder of Evergreen, an Alpine-backed, $1.5B revenue IT services colossus, explained to me, “Alpine is one of the first PE firms to hire people directly out of university and to train them up. There was always this ethos around empowering people earlier in their career, giving them the tools to be successful. After learning the Alpine Playbook, we felt it could be applied to a certain category of businesses, on a long-term horizon”.

Anecdotally, EIR programmes are taking market share from search funds, both by being more flexible around talent selection and by catering to the needs of programmatic acquirers in ways that most search investors cannot (repeat capital calls, larger check sizes etc). If you’ve recently spent time on the European ETA circuit, it’s possible that you have bumped into Strada Partners. 

Strada is a Belgian Private Equity firm on their second fund. In early 2024, Strada launched an EIR programme called LV8 with the intention of backing ambitious entrepreneurs capable of reaching €100M+ in revenue over 5-7 years.  

So far, the programme has yielded 10 platforms across 4 countries with 50 add-ons completed:

Included in these 10 platforms is Numeris, a French accountancy group which grew from 0 to $30M in pro forma revenue in less than a 1 year: The Rollup of Tomorrow Vol.15: What’s up with folks buying accounting firms? Vlad Komnenović from Numeris opens up the books

Investors love to pontificate on what it takes to succeed as a searcher / rollup founder. But what is Strada’s Right To Win in Europe’s increasingly competitive Lower Mid-Market? What does the talent screening process look like at LV8? And what is the value-add for fledgling rollup builders? Recently, I sat down with Bart Wouters, a Founding Partner at Strada, to discuss these very questions. 

Before we kick off, have you got your ticket for the Milan 🇮🇹 Serial Acquirer Summit on June 18th? Whether you’re looking for an investor, a co-founder, or just inspiration to start building. Speaking of which - I'm pleased to be moderating a panel called “Rollup War Stories” with Carlo Pajusco from Sunrise Capital; and Michele Corradi and Andrea Allegrini from Lindbergh S.p.A. Some background:

For those who don't know Carlo, he’s a b-school classmate of mine who left a high-paying corporate job 3 years ago to start a search fund. It “only” took 3 years and A LOT of twists and turns along the way, but in the end Carlo prevailed and pulled off a 4-way merger to create a €20M+ revenue niche champion. How’s that?

Equally adventurous is the Lindbergh story, which spun up Italy’s fastest growing HVAC rollup out of a business failure. I interviewed Andrea last year and I cannot wait to hear how things have progressed since: The Rollup of Tomorrow Vol. 4. Lindbergh: The Italian HVAC rollup that wants to cool your villa!

So: see you in Milan in 2 weeks’ time? 

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Alex: Bart, why don't we kick off with an introduction to Strada and to yourself!

Bart: I'm Belgian born and raised. Engineer by training. I started my career in consulting at Bain & Company, followed by 13 years in private equity. First at Bain Capital and later at Core Equity Holdings, which is a long term concentrated PE fund doing lots of buy and build. That's where I got the appetite for both the Buy and Build and the small-cap world. 4 years ago, together with Matthias Vandepitte we founded Strada.

We had one core insight. Of course, the sector you invest in is important. The deal you do is important. However, what really makes a difference in returns are the people that lead the platform - and the team that they recruit for that.

And that's why we built Strada: to be a partner for people who start from scratch ambitious Buy and Builds. We do that across Europe. We're currently active in Benelux, France, the UK and Italy, in business services, healthcare, and software.

Alex: Let’s talk about the thesis. Strada is not a novice. You recently raised Fund II, €350M. Have advances in AI changed the way you think about rollups? Has it changed your excitement about industries like software and business services? 

Bart: I do think that the impact of AI on our businesses will be fundamental. Exactly how that plays out in terms of magnitude of change it's still unpredictable besides the obvious - which is software. That industry has changed quite a bit in terms of barriers to entry and unit economics. Whereas services have become a lot more attractive since you now can use AI in a meaningful way.

There are 3 things to mention here. 

One, people are even more important. In a world with more and more AI, having the right people is key. We look for people who embrace AI as they build their firm. 

Two, if I compare to how we would have done this 5 years ago, today even in a “boring business” one of the first hires is a technical profile. Not to build things from scratch, but really to evaluate technology choices and stitch things together. 

For example - at Bloom, our radiology partnership, we have already hired a CTO and similarly at Numeris, our accounting platform. We wouldn’t have done this a few years ago.

And three, experience sharing. We have 10 LV8 platforms in the portfolio. People in our portfolio regularly get together to discuss what everybody is doing around AI. 

Alex: You mentioned that the bulk of Strada’s deal flow comes from LV8 - your internal rollup accelerator. How does that compare with other programmes in the market, like search funds and US-style EIRs? What does LV8 offer that others don't? 

Bart: It’s “right horses for the right courses”. What we offer fits people that aspire to create  €100M+ revenue platforms from scratch, through Buy and Build. We are alongside you for the entire journey. We are your first euro in, even before an acquisition has been completed. We can follow through on the capital all the way up to €50M of capital. Even more if needed. That's one of our unique characteristics. 

Secondly, we have structured ourselves to be more than just capital. While every rollup is unique, there are things that are similar. How do you actually set up a sourcing engine? How do you get to your first LOI? What do you need to watch out for? What does your Day 1 reporting look like? Who are your key hires? 

The other thing, which initially I didn't realize, is credibility. Being associated with Strada brings credibility. It’s quite daunting when you start out and need to convince a seller not just to sell to you, but also to accept a vendor loan or an earnout. You need to convince a bank to lend you money. You need to convince new hires. 

And finally, we are creating a community. Today, 10 LV8 teams are live. Furthermore, we have a network of 20+ people who have done something similar before. We bring those people together formally as well as informally, because people can learn not just from us but also from each other. 

Alex: Next, I want to talk about the deal funnel. There’s so much emphasis on the downstream. How many LOIs have you sent? How many of those have been accepted? How many of your leads culminate in a deal? 

Instead, can we talk about the upstream: the stats from the LV8 funnel. How many applications have you received since starting the programme? How many interviews? How many teams accepted? And ultimately, what is the conversion rate for live platforms? What % actually end up not completing any acquisitions and have to fold? 

Bart: I’ll caveat my response by saying that the data we have is unique to us. It might differ from one program to another. 

Approximately 500 people have applied to the programme over its 2.5 year existence. That 500 quickly trimmed down to fewer than 100.

Filter #1 is we only partner with people who have crossed the bridge. Meaning that people have either quit their job or have handed in their resignation and have been working on something. We are not a great partner for someone who says “I'll search on the side” or “Can we develop a thesis together”? Still, we keep in touch with the others because whoever is not ready today can be ready in a few years’ time. 

Then, out of the 100 we ended up investing in slightly over 10%. Two main reasons why we'd reject someone in the second stage would be:

Finally, the hardest part in getting started is sending out LOIs and starting negotiations with people when you have not a lot to show for. So that is an important filter as well - you are a great team, with a good thesis, but do you have traction?

For the people we've admitted to LV8 the conversion rate (defined as signing their first deal) is high - upwards of 80%. Time kills deals. You can jump on every deal. Or you can kill every deal if you put the bar too high. Therefore you need to decide: which risks are you willing to take and then ultimately take the plunge? 

Alex: Based on your experience, if someone's new to an industry, just building up the pipeline, how long does it take from joining LV8 to signing, and closing Deal #1? And what's the most difficult part that forces people to step away from LV8?

Bart: From leaving your current job - assuming you haven't done any prep beforehand - to  closing your first deal, you need 12-18 months. We typically get involved 3-6 months after the individual has quite their job. Some people have a well-defined thesis because they've worked in the sector. If that sector works out, they have a network. They can grow quickly. More often than not people iterate on a couple of industries. This takes 3-4 months.

Then, you need to build a pipeline. The hard part is figuring out which deal is actionable and desirable. Actionable means the owner is willing to sell and is willing to be the first deal in a platform. That's a nuance that's a lot less relevant for deal 3, 4, 5. For the seller, your first platform requires a leap of faith. You also want a deal that is desirable -  that signals to the market “We are a platform that others want to join”. And then the hardest part is converting that first deal into a signed and closed LOI.

Alex: Since this episode is being published the same week that we're launching Cohort 2 of our Rollup Bootcamp, I cannot help but plug the Bootcamp. We're very fortunate to have Strada teach a module on deal origination. I know the topic is very close to your heart. You talked about this at our Munich conference in April 2026. Any advice that you have for the searchers?