Insights from a recent interview with Doug Bunim of OFS Capital Management.

By Lou Sokolovskiy

To the uninitiated, the world of independent sponsors brims with opportunity. Identify a target company, win over the seller, run some numbers, charm a few capital providers—and voilà, a deal is born. But the reality, as many nascent sponsors discover, is far less tidy. The timeline to a first successful transaction can stretch well beyond a year, often edging toward two. For many, the hoped-for celebratory dinner remains stubbornly hypothetical.