After I published Buy Then Build in 2018, I got inundated with phone calls.

I was probably getting a dozen calls a week from people asking me if I could help them find and buy a business. Just from a scalability standpoint, there was no way I could personally help each single person I talked to. However, clearly, there was a significant demand for structured, high-quality guidance when it came to how to buy businesses as an individual buyer.

These calls had me thinking: what could an educational program look like for business buyers?

Instead of simply telling people I wrote a book about how to buy businesses and to check out my online course to learn more, I really wanted to build something helpful and even exceptional. Although no one else was doing anything like this at the time, I wanted to build the very best educational program out there that would beat the competition, regardless of who else was teaching the same material.

But before I dive into that, it’s probably important to answer the question:

 

Who Am I?

Sure, I wrote a book about business buying, but what else in my experience allowed me to build the premier educational program for business buyers?

My journey in creating this content spans two decades.

Over that time, I was in the trenches buying businesses, working on my blind spots, and getting all the certifications out there in the private capital market.

I bought, managed, and sold several businesses in book printing, distribution, marketing material management, eCommerce, metal fabrication, and more.

I’ve worked as a broker to get exposure to other deals that weren’t mine, and I invested in minority positions in other companies. I’ve consulted on hundreds of acquisitions, which total hundreds of millions in value, deals ranging from sub-$100,000 to $180 million.

I’m the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of Buy Then Build.

 

 

I’ve written in Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and the Harvard Business Review. I’ve also given talks to various entrepreneur groups, such as the Scale Up Summit with Verne Harnish, Blue Ribbon Mastermind with Ezra Firestone, Entrepreneur’s Organization, and Mastermind Talks, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in the industry.

I’ve also had the privilege of being a guest speaker at top universities, including MIT, Duke, Columbia University, University of Illinois, and Northwestern. I even taught two semesters of entrepreneurship through acquisition at the Olin School of Business.

 

Having experienced how fragmented acquisition entrepreneurship was while also being so incredibly full of opportunity and return, the mission for me became clear: to create a transformative accelerator that would help aspiring entrepreneurs find and buy businesses by providing the same caliber of education and support found at the world’s best universities and celebrated accelerators.

So, how did we go about creating this world-class education? Here are the seven things we incorporated to make the Acquisition Lab stand out as the premier business buying educational platform:

 

1. Great Content

The first pillar of the Acquisition Lab’s world-class education is its great content. This comes in two forms:

 

Strategic and Tactical Content

Our content is designed to be strategic at the macro level while also being highly tactical and applicable to current situations you’re dealing with as a buyer – out there in the market, looking at deals and working with brokers.

We start with an action-packed four-week “onramp” that helps you build the necessary skills, prepares you for market evaluation, and develops your unique ‘Buyer Brand.’ Along the way, we provide intensive workshops that dive deeper into the concepts I touch on in Buy Then Build.

 

 

You can see that the content isn’t just an extension of the book – we help you tactically by developing your skills and your personal brand so you can stand out against other buyers.

 

Experiential Frameworks Supported by Research and Data

In other words, I can go out and spend decades buying all these companies, but as Walker, I’m just one person. Instead, by interviewing and researching other people who have also done it, we get to broaden our perspective. We look at studies coming out of institutions like Stanford, Pepperdine, and certification programs that conduct a lot of research in the M&A space. We take that date and we ingrain it into our frameworks at the Lab.

We are able to integrate insights, research, and data from other successful entrepreneurs, which ultimately makes the Lab more effective for every member coming in.

Having taught at schools myself, I can tell you that teaching at ranked universities requires exceptional content in order to get great reviews from students who are poised to become transformational leaders in their industries.

 

2. Expertly Designed and Expanded

The second pillar of the Acquisition Lab is its expertly designed and expertly expanded curriculum.

 

Expertly Designed

Our content has been developed by a curriculum designer who specifically develops curriculums for accredited universities and certification programs. We worked together to craft the core content, ensuring all the frameworks were cohesively integrated and comprehensively structured.

 

Expert Expanded

Beyond the foundational content, we’ve invited top industry experts to provide additional insights to further enhance the learning experience. For example, I may give a talk on how banks operate within the Lab, but we also bring in an experienced lender to provide additional and relevant information beyond the limits of my expertise. Lab members get to hear it right from the horse’s mouth, and they also get to ask all the “dumb” questions without the pressure of needing to bring a specific deal to the table to discuss.

We also bring in an expert who has run personalization assessments on thousands of executives to help our buyers develop a personalized buyer profile – this helps Lab members improve their chances of finding the right business and beating the competition when they decide to submit a letter of intent.

Lab members have access to over 100 exclusive interviews with successful acquisition entrepreneurs, lenders, search fund CEOs, M&A attorneys, and CPAs.

 

3. Results-Oriented

Our focus is entirely on achieving real success for our members. Revenue isn’t our metric – closed deals are. We’re not here to simply sell a class; our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to succeed in acquiring businesses.

Based on the information we’ve gathered from surveys, I can tell you that you have a 250% greater chance of buying a business if you come through the Acquisition Lab than if you go it alone.

So far, we have closed almost 200 deals worth over $350 million. The results speak for themselves.

Did I mention we receive no commissions or equity on any of these deals?

 

4. Engages Higher Order Thinking

A cornerstone of the Acquisition Lab‘s methodology is engaging higher-order thinking to cultivate deep learning among our members. To explain this, let’s refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy.

 

Source: Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching

 

At the basic level, learning involves knowledge—simply remembering information. Next is understanding, where you comprehend that knowledge and can explain ideas. Traditional teaching often stops here, focusing on exams and basic comprehension. Following this is the application of knowledge—how to use what you’ve learned in real situations.

However, true mastery involves going beyond application. Higher levels of learning include analyzing, evaluating, and creating. At these stages, you not only apply what you’ve learned but also critically analyze existing deals, evaluate and synthesize information, and create your own business plans and execution strategies. To cement the higher level learning processes, Lab members learn and apply what they’ve learned in a collaborative environment where others are on the same journey, which fosters a deeper learning experience.

 

5. Just-in-Time Training

Another key component of the Acquisition Lab‘s methodology is our just-in-time (JIT) training approach. During the first month of our intensive program, we focus on the foundational elements that members need first, rather than overwhelming them with information about the latter stages of the acquisition process, such as due diligence, which isn’t relevant at this stage.

We could bury our members in a ton of valuable M&A knowledge, but they wouldn’t be able to comprehend any of it, defeating the entire purpose. We want our members to get the knowledge, tools, network, and service providers they need when they need it.

 

 

As members progress and start to evaluate deals, they encounter new challenges and have new questions. Our coaching sessions, search forums, and extensive resources support them through these cycles, offering additional lessons on deal structuring, due diligence, and more as they become relevant.

We initially tried condensing the Lab into a weekend session but quickly realized that we needed more time if we were going to effectively teach people the acquisition process. Deep learning and mastery take time, which is why our program unfolds over a longer period. Just-in-time training ensures that members receive and apply knowledge as needed, leading to sustained, meaningful learning and success in their business acquisitions.

 

6. The Diamond Method of Coaching

Next, we have what I call the diamond method of coaching.

The private capital markets are inherently opaque and fragmented, making it impossible for just one or two experts to cover everything comprehensively, especially when it comes to analyzing, evaluating, and creating business strategies. People have diverse experiences, and I realized this while writing Buy Then Build. When I interviewed various people who had bought businesses, I realized there wasn’t a single way to approach it – there was a wealth of varied experiences and approaches that worked.

To address this, we anchor our coaching in solid frameworks, like the prep funnel and acquisition entrepreneurship matrix that you’d find in Buy Then Build. Then, the diamond method takes it further – during the intensive phase alone, you’ll interact with around four different coaches. Once you become a member of the Lab, you’ll have access to a different coach almost every day of the week.

 

 

Our Slack channel features two coaches at any given time, ranging from due diligence specialists to owners of manufacturing companies, online businesses, and service companies. We have experts from all walks of life. Currently, we have 11 coaches and are bringing on a 12th. These coaches work with you in various capacities depending on where you are in your search and what specific needs you have.

This approach ensures that Lab members aren’t just relying on one perspective but rather benefiting from a collective pool of expertise. The goal is for you to determine your own truth, make informed decisions, and ultimately create your own future, reality, and life of ownership.

 

7. A Vetted Community

Lastly, our vetted community is the final pillar of what makes the Acquisition Lab world-class. As a Lab member, you get access to small-group cohorts, an active community forum on Slack and Facebook, a service provider directory, and bi-weekly deal reviews giving members the chance to gather input on deals they’re currently evaluating.

 

 

One of the key reasons we chose to create a vetted community rather than allowing open enrollment was to facilitate rapid learning cycles through expansive experience.

Imagine being in a Facebook group with 100 people, where 99 of them are unlikely to ever buy a business—getting meaningful advice in that scenario is nearly impossible. It’d be the blind leading the blind.

However, if you apply and get accepted to the Acquisition Lab, you join a community where everyone is serious about acquiring a business. During our intensive program, we dive into case studies, real deals, and small group coaching sessions. Our search forum helps members go through a deal in detail, spending 40 to 60 minutes evaluating deals at a time.

You’re virtually sitting next to someone analyzing their deal in Omaha while you’re in Las Vegas. You’re both looking at similar types of businesses or even different ones with similar growth opportunities. This environment encourages you to remain engaged in the business buying process and apply what you’re learning in real-time.

In summary, the Acquisition Lab gives you everything you need to actually buy a business – not just take a fancy class to add to your resume.

If you’re looking to acquire a business in the next 12 months, the Acquisition Lab is your first stop. Reach out to us today and get on the fast track to becoming an acquisition entrepreneur.