Buy Then Build Blog
Articles on Practicing Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

Why 90% of Acquisition Buyers Don’t Pull the Trigger
I help entrepreneurs buy and sell businesses. As the creator of Six Months to CEO, and an advisor at Quiet Light Brokerage, it’s not only my job—it’s my passion. Every day, I work with acquisition entrepreneurs to decide which businesses are a good fit for their goals. Not too long ago, I advised two potential

How NOT to Buy a Business
The following is adapted from Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game Perhaps you’re already familiar with the concept of acquisition entrepreneurship. It’s the process of purchasing an existing business, then exercising your entrepreneurial skills to grow that business, reaping satisfaction and serious financial benefits. Done well, acquisition entrepreneurship can be a

Ten Steps to Understanding the Seller (and Making the Right Deal)
The following is adapted from Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game After my last company acquisition, the banker supplying the SBA loan told me, “Walker, my first job is to convince prospective borrowers that we are the right bank for them, my second job is to then determine whether the loan

How to Apply Porter’s Five Forces to Evaluating a Company You’re Interested in Purchasing
The following is adapted from Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game As a new acquisition entrepreneur, you’re ready to purchase a company and you understand that it could be one of the most important investments you ever make. You’re also faced with the challenge of determining the future potential of any

How to Create a Target Statement that Guides Your Progress in Acquisition Entrepreneurship
The following is adapted from Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game The majority of people who set out to buy a company never complete their purchase. In fact, as many as 90 percent of people give up along the way. Why does this happen? A lot of the time, it’s because

It’s Not Time to Look for a Job, It’s Time to Create One
Change is a constant. And as things change, in order to position yourself to prosper, you must stay at the forefront of that change. Our lives within society tend to change incrementally. Yet eventually those small adjustments add up and paradigms shift. Architects who design public spaces now take Instagram into account. Small towns now