Family Offices for Searchers: A Primer | James Bohannon Interview
Open on YouTube ↗This episode is an educational primer on family offices and their relevance to searchers and small-business operators, featuring James Bohannon, Senior VP at Bellsburg & Co. (a family office). Bohannon, who has a background in public equity research, entrepreneurship (he founded and sold a shoe brand, Del Toro Shoes), and advisory finance, explains what family offices are, how they are structured, why they have historically been opaque, and why their capital can be a better fit for family-held businesses than traditional private equity. He argues that family office capital is flexible, long-term oriented, and free from the fund-cycle pressure to exit in 3-7 years, making it especially attractive for searchers who have grown a business and want a patient recapitalization or exit partner rather than a PE buyout. The episode covers how to approach family offices (relationship-first, one contact at a time), the importance of the family office network and co-investment culture, how check sizes and deal sizes vary widely, and the emerging trend of family offices moving from passive LP investing into direct and independent-sponsor deals. There is no specific acquisition deal discussed; the content is advisory and educational.
Deal facts
- notes
- No deal discussed. Guest sold his own shoe business (Del Toro Shoes) to what he now recognizes as a small family office (~$200-300M) in Miami around 2016, but this is mentioned only as background context, not as the episode's subject.
Notable quotes
It's my belief that family office capital can be the best capital for family held businesses.
Once you've met one family office, you met one family office — like they're so different because they were created for the specific needs of an individual or a family.
The best way to sort of get into the world is to develop a relationship with a single family office first, right? Because it's all about like building trust with sort of one and have a champion.
If you build a great business that sort of you own, you can go to family office capital or you know family offices and say look buy a stake in my business. Have a longer duration, be more flexible as the family office — like we'll be there when you need us.
You have to build your network in the family office world one at a time. And it's, you know, one strong contact to another.