Entrepreneur Partner

About SMEVentures SMEVentures is the leading platform for Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) in Asia Pacific, with a core focus on the ANZ market. We've built a unique investment model that backs elite entrepreneurs to find, acquire, and lead established, profitable SMEs. We address the succession challenge faced by many SMEs by connecting talented entrepreneurs with retiring owners to continue their legacy and drive the next phase of growth. The Opportunity As our portfolio grows, we are adding a senior partner to our leadership team to deepen the support we provide to our entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur Partner will work directly alongside our Managing Director, serving as a hands-on partner to our searchers and a board member across our portfolio companies. The core of this role is coaching and mentoring searcher fund entrepreneurs through the entire lifecycle: sourcing and evaluating acquisition targets, navigating the transaction, and building the business post-acquisition. The search and acquisition process is inherently stressful and uncertain. The right person finds energy in being a steady, trusted presence that helps entrepreneurs make clear-headed decisions under pressure. We create value maximising the probability that our searchers find high-quality businesses at a reasonable multiple. That means bringing an investor's lens to every opportunity (quality of earnings, competitive positioning, key-person risk, deal structure), helping searchers segment their deal flow early, focus on the opportunities most likely to close, and move with the speed and rigour that reduces broken deal risk. What You'll Drive

• Coach searchers through the deal lifecycle: target identification, business evaluation, transaction execution. Help them apply an investment lens, submit well-qualified LOIs, and close strong deals
• Provide real support through a hard journey: not just strategic guidance, but the emotional steadiness that searcher fund entrepreneurs need to stay grounded through setbacks and make good decisions under pressure
• Serve on portfolio company boards: become a trusted advisor to our CEOs, helping them build strategic plans, track performance, and navigate the challenges of running a business for the first time
• Entrepreneur selection: source, vet, and back the high-potential leaders we partner with
• Build the playbook: help codify how we work into documented, repeatable systems for searcher coaching, deal evaluation, and portfolio governance

Requirements

• A coach at heart: You build trust by asking good questions, not by telling people what to do. You've mentored or advised executives before, ideally first-time CEOs or founders. You understand that coaching through a high-stakes journey is as much about emotional steadiness as it is about strategy
• M&A and investment acumen: You can evaluate a business through an investor's lens: quality of earnings, competitive moats, key-person risk, valuation. You know how to segment deal flow, focus on what's most likely to close, and move fast enough to reduce broken deal risk
• Operating experience: You've run or closely supported the operations of a business: P&L, team, customers, strategy. That experience gives you credibility when you're advising a searcher CEO
• A natural systematiser: You see founder-dependent processes and instinctively turn them into scalable playbooks

Our Cultural Foundation

• Act Like an Owner: You take radical accountability for outcomes, have a bias for action, and solve problems proactively
• Accelerate to Win: You build repeatable playbooks and use technology as a force multiplier to create leverage and amplify impact
• Commit to the Partnership: You build deep, resilient relationships founded on trust, candor, and unwavering, empathetic support

Benefits

• A pivotal role in a pioneering company focused on the sustainability of SMEs in the ANZ
• A chance to work with a diverse, passionate team dedicated to making a real difference
• Opportunities to grow and wear multiple hats in a supportive, dynamic environment

Ready to Build With Us? This is more than a job. It's a chance to be a foundational leader in a fast-growing firm. If you are a builder who thrives on ownership and is excited by this challenge, we encourage you to apply.