9 learnings from his journey becoming a search fund founder.
Phillip Weinstein always focuses on the long-term vision.
The son of Jewish Uzbek and Azeri immigrants who run a medical business together, Phillip had an entrepreneurial spirit instilled at a young age. Running his own laundry business while a student at Wake Forest, he began his career at Vanderbilt University’s endowment, where he built a solid foundation of the investing landscape.
A person who thoughtfully remembers important details, Phillip always lights up the room and makes others feel welcome.
Most recently, after earning his MBA from Wharton, he set up Atropates Capital, a search fund seeking to partner with an outstanding existing business.
Below are 9 key learnings Phillip picked up on his journey so far.
Wake Wash | Wake Forest University, student-run laundry service at leading university
Co-Owner | BA in Economics and Russian
Winston-Salem, NC
2012 – 2016
Lesson 1: Understand your customer.
“You always have to be scrappy and continue to tinker with things because you never know where the big unlock is. We assumed at the beginning we’re going to sell to students. But we figured out that actually the parents are the ones who have the money to pay. They’re the ones that really care that students are dressed for success. That was big in unlocking our growth to 300 customers.”
Lesson 2: Be vigilant about data.
“We paid the laundromat by the price per pound and we got a discounted rate since we had a high volume. Unfortunately, we found out that the laundromat was stealing some money from us. We figured that out by actually weighing all of the bags in our dormitory on a scale in the bathroom.”
University of Virginia, top-ranked university
MS in Commerce
Charlottesville, VA
2016 – 2017
Vanderbilt Endowment Office of Investments, endowment of top-ranked university
Private Markets Investment Analyst
Nashville, TN
2017 – 2020
Lesson 3: Endowments give a great foundation to the investing landscape.
“It allowed me to see the whole landscape of finance. Being an LP means that funds – whether it’s venture growth, private equity, real assets like real estate or energy-related groups – all come because they’re raising funds or co-investment opportunities.
I was on a call where Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital was speaking. Another with Joe Montana who was raising a fund. I would never have that type of access or ability to be in a room with those people if I was in banking or consulting as a junior person. By my third year, I was going to annual meetings by myself. I would run some meetings in person that maybe were lower level probability of us investing in, so they gave me a lot of responsibility.”
Lesson 4: Endowments expose you to new business models.
“One of the very first groups we invested in out of Charlotte bought a search fund business. So that’s how I learned about them. What do you mean these guys didn’t start this business, but they’re not a private equity firm? This is not a venture backed business, and they’re not related to the founder in any way? My boss said to read the 2016 Stanford Primer and go to business school because that’s where a lot of people end up doing search. It reminded me a lot of Wake Wash at a bigger scale, so I was infatuated.
Turn/River Capital, software-focused growth equity firm focused on B2B SaaS
Investment Analyst
San Francisco, CA
2020 – 2021
Lesson 5: Data-driven approaches to go-to-market strategies are good.
“It was founded by two guys who bought BookFresh, grew it, and then sold it. The team is very granular in terms of go-to market. So we had people that did marketing, sales, customer success, and really going with these companies and thinking about, why did the salesperson not hit these certain pain points, or how do we increase the top-of-funnel, and that way we can make sure that the demos completed were higher, so we can actually see an uptick in the actual bottom line of the business.”
Ankura, business consulting firm
Senior Associate
Nashville, TN
2021 – 2022
Lesson 6: If possible, try different career paths.
“It was good just to see what consulting life was like. So many people in the MBA either had done consulting or want to do consulting, so it was a nice opportunity to check out that field.
I had never worked at a large company before (more than 50 people). What’s it like to be a cog in the wheel? What’s it like to do consulting or work on a wide variety of projects across industries? And while there are a lot of positives, and I really liked the team there, I knew after that experience that I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial, smaller scale where I can really get my hands dirty.”
The Wharton School and The Lauder Institute, leading dual-degree program at a top business school
MBA and MA in International Studies
Philadelphia, PA
2022 – 2024
Lesson 7: Business school teaches you so many new ideas.
“The Lauder program is really nice in the sense that you have a lot of people with a wide variety of backgrounds, but we all have this commonality around eagerness to learn about the world, curiosity about different cultures and languages. That was really exciting.
It also opened my eyes to different types of opportunities and investor base through the ETA club where I was a board member, and the ability to bounce ideas off of people that had different career paths as me.”
Atropates Capital, entrepreneur-led investment firm focused on acquiring, operating, and growing a single business ($3 – 10 million in revenue, profitable, 90% gross retention)
Managing Partner
Philadelphia, PA
2024 – present
Lesson 8: Search funds take a lot of dedication, but are worth it.
“I’m betting my career moving to where the business is, eating glass alongside the founder. Help grow this business and take it to the next level. I have no dreams of grandeur where this is going to IPO and be a multi billion dollar business, but let’s take it from $4-6 million ARR to $10-20.”
Lesson 9: Building long-term relationships is crucial.
“Primarily I’m focused on software given my expertise. Profitable, 90% gross retention businesses where the owner wants to step back but doesn’t necessarily want to sell to traditional private equity because they really care about their business, employees and legacy or want to stay on in some capacity.
A lot of founders are very open about talking to me about their business. As long as you’re humble and make it clear, ‘I’m never gonna know as much about your business as you, but perhaps I have a little bit of experience in an area that you need help in.’ There’s ways to collaborate.
You want to build a relationship with someone. You want to show them your value-add, help them out even if you don’t expect something in return. Even if it’s not a good fit or maybe it’s not the right time, maybe they have a friend who is a good fit, or maybe they’ll think about you when it is time to sell their business.”
All photos courtesy of Phillip Weinstein.