Interest in entrepreneurship through acquisition has skyrocketed in recent years. Although the idea of buying a business as a career path stretches back to the 80s, when a Stanford professor first popularized the idea of a traditional search fund, it has only been the past 5-7 years when it has come into vogue.

This can be seen across the internet and even on university campuses. Twitter personalities like Clint Fiore (a business broker in Texas), Michael Girdley (an SMB buyer in Texas), and Brent Beshore (a business buyer in the Midwest) boast hundreds of thousands of followers. There are conferences like SMBash and HoldCoConf. MBA programs almost all offer courses and/or clubs on ETA (see business school programs at MIT, UVA, Rice).

The cause of this surge is due to two converging factors. First, there are now accessible resources around how to buy a business. Just a decade ago, there was little written on the topic. As of 2023, there are a number of books that provide a roadmap for buying a business. Additionally, there are dozens of online courses and communities for business buyers. Second, there is a growing sense of disillusion with Corporate America. Part of this was accelerated by COVID-19, when so many people were locked in their apartments cranking away at seemingly meaningless work with little freedom and ownership.

Entrepreneurship through acquisition provides the ownership, control, and sense of freedom that comes with starting a business from scratch while also having a mechanism for buyers of small business to maintain a decent quality of life through a salary and distributions from the business.

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