Rob
Johnson

Former Collaborator of Entrepreneurship

• Master in Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue, Heythrop College, University of London.
• Master in Business Administration, The Darden School, University of Virginia
• Bachelor of Arts, Davidson College

Rob Johnson is a Former Collaborator in the Entrepreneurship Department. Rob is a successful entrepreneur and venture capital investor. From 1990 he was on the faculty of London Business School for ten years, where he designed and taught a course on entrepreneurial finance and founded the European Business Plan of the Year Competition. He also founded the International Search Fund Center at IESE.

He has served as a director, and in several cases as chairman, of many private companies and has been actively involved in those companies from their early financings through to successful trade sales and IPOs. Rob serves on the advisory boards of Palamon Capital Partners in London and Vonzeo Capital in Vancouver, the investment committee of the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar Development Fund, and the boards of several search fund companies. His areas of specialization include financing new ventures, the private equity industry, and search funds.

Areas of interest.

• Search funds

Publications

Outreach Articles

KOLAROVA, L., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON R., R. (2023). The Big Picture: The search fund wave. IESE Business School Insight (163), pp. 34-35. KOLAROVA, L., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON R., R. (2023). The Big Picture: Oleada de fondos de búsqueda. IESE Business School Insight (163), pp. 34-35.

Studies

KOWALEWSKI, A.-S., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON, R. (2024). International Search Funds - 2024. Selected Observations. IESE. KOLAROVA, L., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON R., R. (2022). International Search Funds-2022. Selected Observations. IESE. KOLAROVA, L., DÁVILA, A., JOHNSON R., R., KELLY, P. (2020). International Search Funds 2020. Selected Observations. IESE.

Cases

JOHNSON, R. (2023). Nova Capital. IESE, E-235. JOHNSON, R. (2023). Nova Capital. IESE, E-235-E. JOHNSON R., R. (2022). Marc Bartomeus and Spain's First Search Fund. IESE, E-226-E.

Technical Notes

JOHNSON, R. (2020). Valuing Early-Stage Businesses: The Venture Capital Method. IESE, EN-33-E. JOHNSON, R. (2013). Assessing a New Business Opportunity. IESE, EN-17-E. JOHNSON, R. (2005). Assessing Non-US Markets for Private Equity Investments. IESE, EN-6-E.