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As a freelance writer, I constantly learn about new industries and how they work. Lately, I’ve started to learn more about entrepreneurship through acquisition.

In my former life as a Spanish teacher, private equity and acquisition entrepreneurship weren’t on my radar. Instead, I was more focused on learning to make the language more comprehensible. So, to learn more about how goal-oriented entrepreneurs can establish a new career path through business acquisitions, I knew I needed to talk to an expert who could break it all down for me.

Recently, I spoke with , CEO of , to understand entrepreneurship through acquisition. Although Roddy’s company operates as a business to acquire other businesses, he has some excellent insight for individual entrepreneurs who want to purchase a company.

In this post, I’m sharing what I’ve learned so that you can make entrepreneurship through acquisition work for you.

Table of Contents

• What is an entrepreneurial acquisition?
• The Pros of Entrepreneurial Acquisitions
• The Cons of Entrepreneurial Acquisitions
• When Entrepreneurial Acquisitions Work Best
• Examples of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition
• Acquisition Entrepreneurship: A Direct Path to Business Owner

What is an entrepreneurial acquisition?

Entrepreneurship through acquisition, or ETA, is a unique opportunity for individuals who want to step into entrepreneurship without building a startup. Instead, individuals buy and grow existing businesses. Typically, these existing businesses are already established and generate consistent revenue. Entrepreneurs acquire these businesses and grow them to become even more successful.

Roddy’s company, WOWorks, acquires businesses through the same means. He told me, “We buy businesses that are already up and running. So we didn’t actually start them, and we’re not the founders of these businesses. We typically buy businesses from the founders.”

For WOWorks, that means working with a private equity firm to acquire health-conscious restaurants that align with their current business practices. For an individual entrepreneur, it means working with a mergers and acquisitions company or investors to purchase a business that aligns with your career goals and expertise.

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Who are becoming business owners and why?

Interestingly, 46% of Gen Z and Millennials are entrepreneurs. There are plenty of reasons why entrepreneurship is an attractive career path.

According to a :

• 46% of entrepreneurs say owning a business is a great way to escape the 9-5 grind.
• 26% of entrepreneurs run a business because they’re passionate about the opportunity.
• 16% say they take on the job to make more money.

Entrepreneurial acquisition is an excellent option for entrepreneurs who don’t want to spend time building a brand. With the right processes, like working with a mergers and acquisition firm, entrepreneurs can bid on for-sale brands and quickly become owners of an established brand.

(Pssst! Looking for more insights on the state of entrepreneurship? Check out )

The Pros of Entrepreneurial Acquisitions

Like any business venture, there are various pros and cons. To understand if managing an ETA business is your best option, we need to explore it. Since Roddy is an expert, I asked him about some of the pros of entrepreneurial acquisitions. Here’s what he told me.

1. No need to create something new.

Starting a business requires ingenuity and creativity. If those are not your strengths, entrepreneurship through acquisition might be right for you.

According to Roddy, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel and start a new business venture. ETA allows you to take charge of established brands without sacrificing time and money wading through the startup process.

Roddy told me, “The pros are these businesses are established already. And we’re not having to create something new. So, they already have an established business model.”

He says, “We have the chance to look at it to determine if we think it’s a good business model or not. So, we have the advantage of buying an existing business model.” According to Roddy, when you purchase an established business, many necessary operations, like team members and marketing strategies, are already in place.

This can save you time and money as an entrepreneur. Roddy adds, “A lot of the marketing costs to launch the brand have already been invested.”

2. You can purchase a business that aligns with your experience.

Roddy told me that WOWorks focuses on acquiring health-conscious restaurants for one simple reason: It’s easy to align the same marketing and business practices across all WOWorks brands when their audiences and businesses are similar.

Roddy told me, “We can take marketing principles from one fast-casual restaurant to another because they, in general, work very similarly. The operations all work very similarly. And so, what we’ve been able to do is build this large business while acquiring small brands.”

Although WOWorks operates as a business, this pro of acquisitions also rings true for entrepreneurs. Acquiring brands that fit your experience and career goals can be easier to manage.

You can take what you know to be true for your niche based on your industry experience, like which marketing strategies work best for your audience or which revenue operations strategies are most effective, and apply those same effective strategies to your newly acquired business.

3. Buying a business comes with lower risks.

Acquiring a business often comes with lower risks than starting a new one. When you purchase an already established business, you don’t have to wonder if it will generate revenue — it already does!

Roddy told me, “It’s a much lower risk to buy an established brand.” In theory, you could simply take ownership of the brand without tweaking its marketing or revenue operations strategies, and you’ll still generate income. Unless you make several ill-advised changes to operations, it’s not likely you’ll outright tank the business.

Roddy mentioned that buying a business is often easier than creating a startup. According to Roddy, the heavy lifting has already been done. He says, “It’s much easier than trying to start from scratch, for sure.”

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The Cons of Entrepreneurial Acquisitions

While the pros of acquisition entrepreneurship are significant, you need to be aware of some of the cons, too. It can be challenging to acquire a brand and learn the ins and outs of how it operates — especially if you’re acquiring a brand outside of your niche or business model.

I asked Roddy about the cons. He told me there are two major cons to entrepreneurship through acquisition, and both of them involve making changes after purchasing a brand to ensure it continues to be profitable.

“You have to make a few changes, and it’s a little bit disruptive,” he says.

1. Changing business terminology can be challenging.

Roddy told me that when WOWorks acquires a new brand, they spend significant time relabeling common terms. This might mean that certain positions within the company get a rebrand.

Roddy gives an example of this. He says, “The people who help oversee the stores and coach the franchisees, sometimes they have a title of ‘franchise business coach.’ Sometimes, they’re ‘business consultants.’ Sometimes, they’re ‘advisors.’ We change the names and the titles of a whole lot of different things, including procedures and processes. And so it’s just teaching people a new common language.”

While you may not change the terminology of the brand you buy, you’ll have to learn a whole new set of vocabulary to ensure you’re on the same page with your employees. Although this is challenging, it’s necessary to operate a business smoothly.

2. Implementing new technology can be a challenge.

Just like rebranding common terms to keep everyone on the same page, Roddy told me that technology sometimes poses a challenge, especially when implementing a new tech stack.

He told me, “We have an IT team trained around a certain type of technology. We may have to switch out a brand’s POS systems or their multi-programs so that we can run a common technology platform.”

Learning a new point-of-sale system isn’t always easy and can be challenging for you and your employees. If you immediately change the tech stack when you acquire a new company, you might hear a few grumbles and complaints as everyone learns a new, more streamlined system.

3. Upfront costs can be expensive.

Roddy didn’t mention this, but I think it’s safe to say that another drawback of entrepreneurship through acquisition is its associated costs. In fact, say raising capital and funds is the most challenging part of buying a business.

There are four ways an entrepreneur can go about acquiring a new business. They can:

• Work with a mergers and acquisition firm to fund searches to acquire a new company.
• Self-fund their own search, giving them more control over the acquisition process.
• Work with an independent sponsor who identifies acquisition opportunities and works out deals with investors.
• Operate as a holding company, allowing an entrepreneur to purchase multiple businesses simultaneously.

Whichever way you decide to acquire a business, you’ll need between to get started. It can be challenging to raise capital from investors, considering you’ll need to convince them why helping you acquire a new brand is in their best interest. Alternatively, you can self-fund your acquisitions or apply for an .

When Entrepreneurial Acquisitions Work Best

If you’re ready to enter entrepreneurship through acquisitions, it’s helpful to understand the circumstances when these investments work best.

Since Roddy is an acquisition expert who has been working with WOWorks for several years, I thought he would be the best person to ask which conditions are more favorable for a successful acquisition.

He told me it’s best to search for well-established brands available for purchase. He says, “I would say that it’s usually more successful because you have a business that’s been running for several years.”

Because the business has been profitable for years, it’s a good indication it’s a good investment of your time and resources. Roddy says, “The best predictor of the future is the past. You know these brands have been running well for many years. So there’s a really good chance that they’re going to continue to run well.”

As I mentioned before, it’s unlikely that you’ll run your newly acquired business into the ground unless you continually implement ill-advised strategies. This is why it’s helpful to search for brands that fit within your niche, industry experience, and overall career goals. Your background knowledge of the niche can help you steer the company in the right direction.

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Examples of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

Let’s look at a few examples of successful ETA businesses purchased by individual entrepreneurs. If you’re on the fence about entrepreneurship through acquisition, I think you’ll find these entrepreneurs’ stories interesting.

1.

I find Ken Massey’s acquisition of Autumnwood Designs inspiring. Massey learned about entrepreneurship through acquisition after chatting with friends and reading Walker Diebel’s book, Buy Then Build.

Using what he learned, he researched merger and acquisition companies before partnering with Vikings Mergers and Acquisitions. Their insights helped Massey purchase an available business that matched his expertise.

Massey found acquiring a business a successful path to entrepreneurial success for multiple reasons. says, “There are a lot of things to celebrate, and the business is doing well. But it’s not just about generating revenue. The fact that I love what I do — and I work hard, and I work a lot — but I don’t feel worn out at the end of the day.”

2.

I think it’s helpful to understand that when you work with a merger and acquisition business like Massey did, you can work with experts to help you find the type of business that fits within your business goals and career aspirations.

However, sometimes, opportunities present themselves to you when you least expect them, just as they did for Carlos Rodriquez Laconi when he acquired Boston Tree Preservation.

Laconi’s background and experience weren’t an exact match for Boston Tree Preservation’s niche, but they were pretty close. After talking with the owner, he realized running the company was something he would enjoy doing.

When I read Laconi’s acquisition story, something stuck out to me. Remember how Roddy told me it’s best to acquire a well-established business? This played into Laconi’s decision to purchase the company.

says, “Everyone knew the company. If you are in the area, you knew this company forever.” Because Boston Tree Preservation has been in business since 1977, Laconi was confident the business would continue to succeed.

3.

As a small business owner, I think it’s important to recognize there are plenty of reasons entrepreneurial acquisitions are an attractive path to business ownership. Sure, generating recurring revenue is one reason. However, there are other reasons entrepreneurs turn to acquisitions, too.

Life after the 2020 pandemic left Martin Bispels rethinking his choices. Ultimately, this led him to acquire Upper Park Disc Golf.

Bispels not only enjoys playing disc golf but loves running his own company. , “I get to work in this great space here in the barn, in a creative space, my commute is short, and I work with really talented people all over the world to grow this business.”

For Bispels, success isn’t just recurring revenue — although it is a good indicator of success. His ETA journey allows him to spend time doing what he loves.

Acquisition Entrepreneurship: A Direct Path to Business Owner

I find it really interesting that business acquisitions, like those made by Kelly Roddy and WOWorks, are very similar to entrepreneurial acquisitions. Instead of managing a business to acquire other brands, a solo entrepreneur can purchase an existing business without worrying about the startup costs or wondering if the company will be a success.

If you’re looking for a career change and want to add “business owner” to your LinkedIn profile, acquisition through entrepreneurship might be the right path for you.

Free Business Startup Kit

9 templates to help you brainstorm a business name, develop your business plan, and pitch your idea to investors.

• Business Name Brainstorming Workbook
• Business Plan Template
• Business Startup Cost Calculator
• And more!

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You're all set!

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