Table Of Contents
What Is Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition?
Entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) means you buy an existing business (this can be a physical or internet-based business).
You do not start a new one from zero.
You find a company with steady revenue and negotiate a deal.
You take over the day-to-day work and use the existing team and systems.
In entrepreneurship through acquisition, you focus on growth and efficiency.
We Help You Buy / Build, Manage and Scale E-commerce Brands for an EXIT
E-commerce Simplified for Busy Individuals – We handle the buying, building, and scaling, so you can focus on what matters.
Growth-Focused Strategies – From sourcing to marketing, we drive growth and prepare you for a profitable exit.
Expertly Managed Exits – We build a high-value brand designed for a Lucrative exit.
Why Choose Acquisition over Startup?
Buying a business lets you skip the early struggle.
You get cash flow from day one, avoid the risk of new products.
And leverage an existing brand and customer base.
You can focus on small improvements that boost profit. You can get financing from banks or investors.
And most importantly, you get to acquire a business that fits your strengths—operations, sales, or finance.
While you still face work, plan, and lead after you buy, the upside is that you start from a stronger position than a blank page.
Why Reading the Right Books Matters
As we have just mentioned above, you need to know how to navigate the entrepreneur through acquisition as a beginner.
Reading a good book offers you just that—a clear plan.
By reading the business acquisition books:
You learn how to find deals
You learn how to value a company
You learn how to talk to sellers
You learn how to plan post-purchase changes
You avoid guesswork
You gain a playbook from experts
You save time and avoid mistakes
Books Help You Avoid Common Pitfalls:
Many business buyers make the same errors, such as the ones listed below:
They overpay for a company (say, due to emotional bias)
They miss hidden debts
They fail to check key contracts
They leave out working capital needs
However, arming yourself with the right book warns you about these traps.
The best acquisition books show you real cases where things went wrong. The books show you how to spot trouble before you sign papers.
10 Best Books for Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition:
Here are the top ten best books about buying existing businesses and what each one offers you:
1. Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel
Buy Then Build is one of the best books on buying a business.
Walker Deibel writes in a clear way. He shows you why buying is safer than building.
He gives you a nine-step plan. He covers how to find deals off-market. He shows how to work with brokers.
He covers due diligence and financing. He then covers integration and growth.
Keep in mind that the author uses real stories in his book.
He writes about buyers who turned small firms into market leaders. He shows you simple tools you can copy.
Overall, this book reads like a guide from a friend who has done the work.
We Help You Buy / Build, Manage and Scale E-commerce Brands for an EXIT
E-commerce Simplified for Busy Individuals – We handle the buying, building, and scaling, so you can focus on what matters.
Growth-Focused Strategies – From sourcing to marketing, we drive growth and prepare you for a profitable exit.
Expertly Managed Exits – We build a high-value brand designed for a Lucrative exit.
2. HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business by Ruback & Gillooly
HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business by Ruback & Gillooly is another great book if you want to learn about acquisition entrepreneurship.
The book guides you through all the basics of ETA.
Straight from Harvard Business Review, this book covers value assessment and deal structure.
This book also shows you how to set prices and terms.
It covers legal steps and tax issues. It then shows how to run the company after you buy.
Even better, the book gives you case examples from small firms in tech and services. It offers you clear graphs and charts to explain numbers. You will find sample memos and checklists.
This book cuts through jargon and helps you move quickly from idea to offer.
3. Search Funds & Entrepreneurial Acquisitions by Jan Simon
Jan Simon’s Search Funds & Entrepreneurial Acquisitions looks at search funds through data.
He uses research from Stanford and IESE. He covers fund setup and fundraising. He then covers the search process and the decision-making process.
He adds tips on financing and seller financing.
He shows how to run acquired firms. He uses a neutral tone and backs steps with numbers.
According to Stanford GSB, search funds have a 35.1% internal return and a 4.5x invested capital return.
This data only makes his advice stronger.
This book is for people who want a numbers-backed playbook.
4. The Art of Buying a Business by Richard Ruback
Richard Ruback writes in simple, clear sentences. He explains how to find motivated sellers.
He even covers, in full detail, how to pitch your offer.
He shows you how to set up earn-outs and holdbacks. He then covers how to lead a team after the deal.
He adds examples from firms that grew sales by 50% in three years.
The Art of Buying a Business by Richard Ruback stands out because it uses plain tables to show cash flow models.
You can use the models in your own Excel files.
5. Buying a Business That Makes You Rich by John Martinka
John Martinka writes like a coach. He covers crucial areas of acquisition entrepreneurship like deal sourcing, valuation, and closing.
He also shares stories of buyers who found hidden gems in service firms.
In this book, John Martinka shows you how to negotiate earn-outs and seller notes. He covers bank debt and personal guarantees.
He also points out the common traps with real numbers from past deals.
He gives sample term sheets you can adapt. His style feels like you are at a workshop with past buyers.
6. Built to Sell by John Warrillow
John Warrillow starts his book, Built to Sell, with a story about a marketing firm. The firm depended on its founder. They lacked process.
Warrillow shows how that weakens value. He then shows steps you can follow to create standard offerings.
In this book, he covers subscription models and a simple menu of services. He shows how to hire and train teams.
While this book focuses on selling a business later, the lessons it shares will help you plan post-purchase moves.
You see why you must build systems and repeatable steps before and after you buy.
7. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Michael Gerber explains in his book, The E-Myth Revisited, why many small firms fail.
He calls it a myth that skills in work mean you can run a firm.
He clearly demonstrates in the book how a technician, manager, and entrepreneur's minds must work together.
He shows simple structures like an organizational chart with basic roles. He covers the turn-key franchise model and how to apply it to any firm.
His stories from a bakery will help you see why processes matter.
This helps you plan changes after you buy a firm that lacks structure.
8. Value: The Four Cornerstones of Corporate Finance by McKinsey & Company
The book Value: The Four Cornerstones of Corporate Finance by McKinsey & Company is written with finance beginners in mind.
McKinsey & Company covers value drivers, risk, cash flow, and cost of capital.
They use plain graphs and math steps to show you how to model free cash flow.
They cover discounted cash flow and trading comps.
Moreover, they add examples from real firms in healthcare and manufacturing.
With this book, you learn to test the deal price and return scenarios. The steps help you decide on a fair offer.
9. The Private Equity Playbook by Adam Coffey
In this book, The Private Equity Playbook, Adam Coffey shares tactics from his PE (private equity) career.
He covers important phases of acquisition entrepreneurship like deal sourcing, terms, and closing.
He then covers post-deal playbook steps like identifying low-hanging fruit for profit.
He shows how to build dashboards and KPIs. He adds tips on leadership and culture. He uses case studies from 20 deals he led.
Adam Coffey’s stories help you see how a playbook can speed up growth. This book bridges PE and search fund ideas.
10. The Search Fund Primer by Stanford Graduate School of Business
If you’re looking for a 100% FREE book about business acquisition, this is it.
Stanford GSB offers you this free online guide completely free.
The book covers search fund basics from fund setup to exit. It also answers FAQs from founders and investors.
This Search Fund Primer book covers deal flow, due diligence, financing, and post-acquisition work.
It clearly demonstrates to you data on deal size and returns.
The book reports a median purchase price of $14.4 million in 2023. It shares that 94 new funds were launched in 2023.
Overall, this primer works as a quick reference for understanding key steps in entrepreneurship acquisition.
How To Apply These Insights to Your Acquisition Journey
Now that you know the top books about ETA you can read today, what’s next?
You’ll need to learn how you can apply the insights from them to your acquisition journey.
Start by defining your acquisition criteria. Write down the industry, size, and geography you prefer. Keep this list on a single sheet for quick reference.
Next, build a simple pipeline. Use a spreadsheet to log outreach to brokers and owners. Track dates, responses, and next steps.
Then, create a basic due diligence checklist. Include finance, legal, and operations. Use sample lists from Search Funds & Entrepreneurial Acquisitions as a guide.
After you find a target, draft a preliminary offer. Base your terms on models from Buying a Business That Makes You Rich. Share your offer memo with a mentor or advisor.
Once the seller accepts, plan your first 90 days. Lay out clear goals for revenue, staff, and customer retention.
Draw on chapters from The Private Equity Playbook for quick wins. Finally, review your progress every month.
REMEMBER to adjust your plan based on real data. This simple path turns the ideas in these books into action you can follow from day one.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Here are some commonly asked questions about the best books on buying and selling businesses:
What does entrepreneurship through acquisition mean?
Entrepreneurship through acquisition means buying a running business instead of building one from scratch. You form a fund or use capital from investors. You then search for a private company with steady cash flow. After you find a target, you negotiate terms, complete due diligence, and take over operations. You steer the business toward growth while you own it.
Is entrepreneurship through acquisition legit?
Yes, entrepreneurship through acquisition is a well-established path. The search fund model began in 1984 at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Since then, over 500 search funds have raised capital to buy firms in North America and abroad (Source). Leading business schools now teach courses on the topic, and industry accelerators support entrepreneurs through acquisition.
How to become an entrepreneur through acquisition?
To become an entrepreneur through acquisition, you should first learn the model by reading key texts or taking a course at a business school. Next, build a network of investors who will back your search fund or equity raise. Then, source deals through brokers, marketplaces, or direct outreach. After you find a suitable business, conduct detailed due diligence on its finances, operations, and growth potential. Finally, close the deal with a clear purchase agreement and plan for a smooth transition to ownership.
What is the success rate of acquisition entrepreneurship?
The success rate of acquisition entrepreneurship is quite impressive, with two-thirds of search fund entrepreneurs completing an acquisition. A 2020 study found that 67% of searchers acquired a company, down slightly from 69% in 2018. After acquisition, roughly half of first-time CEOs scale and exit their businesses successfully, giving a combined success rate north of 50%. (Source).
Why should aspiring CEOs consider acquisition entrepreneurship?
Acquisition entrepreneurship gives you cash flow from day one. You skip the early-stage risk of product-market fit and long development timelines. You buy a firm with proven revenue, a customer base, and existing systems. You can then focus on growth levers, such as marketing or new products. Investors often back this path because search funds deliver an aggregate pre-tax internal rate of return of around 35%. (Source).
Is business acquisition profitable?
Yes, business acquisition is a profitable venture. On average, search fund investors see a 4.5× return on invested capital and a 35% pre-tax internal rate of return, according to this Stanford report. Another biennial Stanford study also reports a 5.2× return on investment and a 35.3% IRR since 1986. These figures show that buying and growing private companies or established businesses can deliver strong profits for both founders and backers.
Conclusion
Buying a business gives you cash flow and proven systems, but you need to know how to go about it.
Thankfully, these ten books will guide you through finding, valuing, buying, and growing a firm.
They cover deal flow, financing, culture change, and dashboards.
Each book offers you clear examples and tools.
Start with the one that fills your biggest gap, then move on to build skills and confidence.
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We help you acquire profitable online businesses, guiding you through deal sourcing, due diligence, negotiations, and post-acquisition. Then we scale your business 2 to 4 times so you can exit at peak profit.
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