Skip the startup: Focus turns to entrepreneurship by acquisition

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4 Comments

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  1. It seems many aspiring professionals want to take the express elevator to the top. Who wants to climb anymore? The problem is, buying a business without real-world experience carries real risk, too. What you learn by working within a company or building one from the ground up is invaluable. It’s far better to break something you started than to break something you bought or leveraged. After all, what you buy might also be the livelihood of others. Take your time—success rarely comes quickly, and the climb teaches you more than the shortcut ever will.

    1. So no one should ever sell a business?

      Your take is when an owner retires the business should die with them?

    2. JJ Frankie — not at all. I’m a big believer in acquiring a business. What I question is whether a recent graduate, without much real-world or on-the-job experience, is truly ready for that responsibility.

    3. John, its a fair comment, and my takeaway from your comment is that both start up and buying a business involve significant risk. From a capital deployment standpoint, bringing in new ownership to reinvigorate a business, leveraging existing assets and talent, can be a better alternative to raising new capital. Its not without risk, and any new entrepreneur needs to consider their own strengths and surround themselves with complementary capabilities. This ETA approach as long as it takes the risks you outline into consideration can be a good alternative.

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