Jim Southern
Founding Partner
Jim is a co-founder of Pacific Lake. Once himself a beneficiary of the search fund model, Jim launched the first Search Fund in 1984 under the mentorship of then Harvard Business School professor Irv Grousbeck. This search resulted in the acquisition of Uniform Printing, a printer of specialty insurance documents. Jim successfully exited the business after leading it for 10 years, ultimately turning his efforts to supporting the next generation of search fund entrepreneurs. Today, he serves as an advisor and board member to companies in the Pacific Lake portfolio.
Jim has invested in over 100 Search Funds as an individual investor and with Pacific Lake. He is often a guest speaker on the Search Fund model at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School and is the subject of an HBS case on his first Search Fund acquisition. Jim holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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