Program Detail
Program Overview
Full detail on the Thesis Capital talent programs. Two distinct tracks; the Operator Track and the Investment Management Track. with four total paths for exceptional people to build, lead, and invest alongside us.
Two Tracks
Operator Track vs. Investment Management Track
Operator Track
For people who want to run a company
Three programs, CEO in Residence, Executive in Residence, and Searcher in Residence; for operators at different stages matching different deal sizes and different starting positions.
Investment Management Track
For people who want to build a career as a sponsor
One program; the Investment Professional Program; for people who believe they’re best suited to work in an investment environment and want a real path to becoming a sponsor.
Operator Track
Lead, build, or acquire
CEO in Residence
A collaborative partnership for proven CEOs
The CIR program is for experienced CEOs who already know how to run a business. We don’t teach you that, we amplify you. You bring the operator’s eye and the conviction. We bring the team, the tooling, the network, and the campaigns to turn your thesis into a set of real opportunities to evaluate.
This is a genuine “work with you” partnership. You get unlimited access to our proprietary deal-sourcing platforms, analytical support from the full Thesis team, and the ability to run targeted outreach campaigns against the specific kinds of businesses you want to acquire or grow.
CIRs often already own or operate a platform they want to scale through M&A. Others use the program to find their next business to acquire and run. Either path works, the common thread is a proven CEO who wants serious infrastructure behind them.
What you get
- A full Thesis team to help analyze deals alongside you
- Additional sourcing firepower to augment your network
- Unlimited access to our proprietary deal-sourcing platforms
- The ability to run targeted campaigns against your thesis
- Access to opportunities already sitting in our network and pipeline
- A collaborative "work with you" partnership; we bring tools and team, you bring the operating expertise
Common Questions
Will I be compensated during the CIR period?
The CIR program isn't a salaried engagement. The value exchange is different: you get unlimited access to our deal-sourcing platforms, a full team working alongside you, and a collaborative partnership to identify and evaluate opportunities. We rely on your expertise, you rely on our tooling, team, and network.
What kind of CEO fits the CIR program?
Experienced CEOs who already know how to run a business and have a clear sense of what they want to acquire or operate next. The program is designed to amplify proven operators, not to train new ones.
What does "work with you" actually mean?
We can run targeted sourcing campaigns aligned to your thesis, surface matches from our existing pipeline, and provide analytical horsepower on diligence. You drive the strategy; we bring the infrastructure to execute it quickly.
Executive in Residence
Step into leadership at a business that needs you
Our portfolio companies are run by talented teams; but leadership transitions happen. Founders step back. Businesses grow beyond their current management. New opportunities require executives who can hit the ground running.
Our EIR program places experienced operators into those roles. You join with real authority, real equity, and a board that understands operations because they’ve done it. No corporate bureaucracy. No quarterly earnings pressure. Just a business to run and a long-term partner behind you.
The program runs in two phases: an In-Residence period to identify the right target market and opportunity, then an Operator period where you launch and build the platform alongside management.
What you get
- Meaningful equity in the business you run
- A board that has actually operated businesses
- Capital for add-on acquisitions and growth
- Back-office support so you focus on operations
- No fund clock forcing premature decisions
- Two phases: In-Residence to identify the target, then Operator to build it
Common Questions
Do I have to be a CEO to qualify?
No. We look for operators with P&L ownership experience, that includes COOs, GMs, division heads, and business unit leaders. Title matters less than track record.
How long does the matching process take?
It varies. Sometimes we have an immediate fit with a portfolio company in transition. Other times we work with an EIR over several months to find the right match. We don't rush it.
What industries are you looking for EIR candidates in?
Our portfolio skews toward services, manufacturing, and industrial; but we follow the operator first. If you have deep expertise in an adjacent sector, let's talk.
Searcher in Residence
Find a business. Own it. Run it
The traditional search fund model is well-established, but it has real constraints; narrow investment mandates, high investor dilution, and pressure to source deals that fit a specific profile rather than the right one.
Our SIR program is different. We back talented operators to search for and acquire lower middle-market businesses that fit our criteria. You get capital when you find the right business, and a long-term partner who is aligned with your success; not an investor counting the months until exit.
Like the EIR, the SIR runs in two phases: an In-Residence period to define and validate your target market, then an Operator period where you lead the acquisition and growth.
What you get
- Access to Thesis proprietary deal flow
- Full capital backing at close
- Ongoing operational support post-acquisition
- Flexible equity structures that reward performance
- A partner, not a passive investor
- Maximum autonomy and upside through a self-funded search model
Common Questions
What's the deal structure?
We back you with capital to acquire a business that fits our investment criteria. You run it. Equity splits are negotiated case by case, but they're designed to be genuinely meaningful for the operator.
Do I have to search full-time?
Yes. We take the search seriously and expect searchers to be dedicated to it full-time.
What if I already have a deal under LOI?
We can move fast. If you've already found a business and need a capital partner to close, reach out and we'll respond quickly.
Investment Management Track
Build as a sponsor
Investment Professional Program
A path to becoming a sponsor; not a seat as an analyst
The Investment Professional Program is for people who believe they’re best suited to work in an investment environment , whether or not they’ve closed a transaction before. We welcome candidates without deal experience and help them get real reps. But ideally we’re working with professionals who already have deal experience and are looking to move to the sponsor side and move quickly.
You’ll work inside existing Thesis investment decision committees while developing your own. The program is structured around a high degree of support paired with a meaningful degree of autonomy. You learn the sponsor game by playing it; sourcing, underwriting, structuring, and executing real lower-middle-market transactions alongside the Thesis team.
This is not an apprenticeship with a long tenure clock. The program is designed for people who want to become sponsors, and the pace reflects that.
What you get
- Work inside live Thesis investment decision committees
- Develop and run your own investment theses with real support
- Own the full investment process; sourcing, underwriting, execution
- Real transaction reps on real lower-middle-market deals
- A high degree of support, paired with a meaningful degree of autonomy
- A path toward becoming a sponsor; not a seat as an analyst
Common Questions
Do I need prior deal experience to apply?
Not strictly. We welcome candidates without transaction experience and help them get real reps. But ideally we're working with professionals who already have deal experience and are looking to move to the sponsor side quickly.
What does "work inside existing investment decision committees" mean?
You'll participate in live Thesis IC discussions on real deals; seeing how underwriting, structuring, and execution decisions get made from the inside. Over time you develop your own theses and bring them forward.
Is this an analyst role?
No. It's a path to becoming a sponsor. The program is structured around autonomy and ownership, not hours of model-building on someone else's pipeline.
Proven Process
Ten years of sourcing, refined
We’ve run the same sourcing process for over a decade. refining it, instrumenting it with internal KPIs, and scaling it behind a fully staffed team of analysts and transaction professionals with more than $10 billion in closed M&A experience between them. When you join a Thesis program, you don’t start from scratch. You inherit all of it.
10+
Years Refining the Process
$10B+
M&A Transaction Experience
Full
Analyst & Transaction Team
KPI
Instrumented Operations
The Sourcing Flywheel
Data and people, working together
Great deals don’t come from any single channel. Our sourcing engine combines proprietary data, a standing network of brokers and scouts, relationships with portfolio CEOs, and direct outreach campaigns; each channel feeding the others. The more opportunities we see, the better we get at finding the next one.
- 87,000+ opportunities continuously indexed and classified
- Standing broker, scout, and operator relationships refreshed monthly
- Internal KPIs on pipeline volume, conversion, and response rates
- Weekly outbound campaigns against active sourcing theses
Refined Over a Decade
The process, step by step
Every opportunity moves through the same five stages. Instrumented at every step so we know; not guess; where the funnel is working and where it isn’t.
The Team Behind It
Analysts
A fully staffed analyst bench drives the sourcing engine day to day; running screens, classifying opportunities, scoring the pipeline against our KPIs, and operating the outbound campaigns. This is not outsourced, not a rotating intern seat, and not a side project. Full-time people with the same process, every day.
The Team Behind It
Transaction Professionals
Above the analyst bench sits a team of transaction professionals with more than $10 billion in closed M&A experience. They set the sourcing theses, review the pipeline, lead diligence, and sit on the ICs that decide which deals move forward. When a CIR, EIR, SIR, or IP candidate engages with Thesis, this is the team they work alongside.
Our Sourcing Advantage
The tooling you inherit when you join
Every program, CIR, EIR, SIR, and IP, comes with unlimited access to the Thesis proprietary deal platform and sourcing infrastructure. This is the same tooling the Thesis investment team uses on every deal, and it’s a genuine force multiplier for an operator running a targeted search.
The Thesis Deal Platform
Over 87,000 live business opportunities, continuously filtered, scored, and tracked. Operators in our programs run precision searches against their own thesis; filtering by business model, niche, geography, financials, and review status; and push qualified deals straight into our CRM.
Precision Thesis Filtering
Build custom multi-condition filters; nested groups, AND/OR logic, save and reuse them. A CIR or EIR can turn a specific investment thesis into a precise query and surface exactly the businesses that match, instead of wading through generic listings.
The Thesis Finder
Beyond listed deals: the Finder lets an operator turn a thesis into a qualified outreach list in minutes; mapping every business in a target niche and geography, whether or not it’s for sale today. Campaigns can be launched from the results directly.
Enriched Outreach
Every target is enriched with address, phone, email, website, ratings, and category; ready for direct outreach or handoff to our internal team for a campaign. Operators come with a thesis; we turn it into a pipeline.
87K+
Live Opportunities
Unlimited
Platform Access
1:1
Team Support on Campaigns
Our Process
A deliberate, selective path
We generally find the number of truly qualified applicants is low. In a given year we’ll speak with a few hundred candidates and work with a limited few. The process is the same across all four programs.
01
Interview
A direct conversation; informal and focused on understanding where you've been, what you've built, and where you want to go next.
02
Company Screens
Multiple screens with the Thesis team including background checks, behavioral profiles, reference checks, and beyond.
03
Match & Launch
For those who qualify, we work together to identify the right opportunity; an existing portfolio need, a new platform thesis, or a target business to acquire.
Background checks, behavioral profiles, and reference checks are standard; not because we distrust candidates, but because the operators we eventually partner with will be running real businesses with real people and real capital.
Not sure which path fits?
Tell us about where you are and what you’re looking for. We’ll figure out together whether there’s a fit.