Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game

Buy Then Build by Walker Deibel is a practical guide for entrepreneurs interested in acquiring existing businesses instead of starting from scratch. This is a great practical book and provides step by step guides to evaluating oppurtunities and execution.I recommend this for those trying to find a strategy for becoming an entrepreneur without having to come up with the next big idea that no has thought of before

As a former M&A Investor, this was a great refresher on the whole process with great advise. Highly recommend for anyone considering AE！

As I prepare to go to the Invest Like a Boss podcast meetup here in Chiang Mai on Jan 3, 2018 - I felt I should catch up on some reading about investing and this one was a new one with amazing reviews so I couldn’t help myself.Buy Then Build is a book about what the author calls a new trend for entrepreneurs - to be Acquisition Entrepreneurs.To start off the book, he makes the case that something like 90% of startups fail, and those that you say succeed simply become small to medium sized enterprises with nothing special. That the ones who win in the startup game are not the entrepreneurs, but the investors. They get to spread their bets across multiple startups and just need one to win, while the entrepreneur is all in on 1 startup with a 90% chance of failure.So Walker, the author, says to instead skip past the startup phase and buy an existing business with positive cash flow.It makes sense - as he shows the numbers of failures in this stage is something like 5% (95% success rate) so the complete inverse of the startup phase.Plus, it seems cheap! Paying 2 to 4 times of SDE (seller discretionary earnings) for a company that already has product market fit and is earning positive cashflow - compare that amount of investment with what you would need to do it from scratch.The real eye opener for me was that you can finance these acquisitions with the bank. And then pay yourself salary while also paying back the bank loan - and keep 100% of the company /equity (as its a loan not equity investment).Throughout the book you get step by step instructions and almost the exact wording to use when talking to brokers and the other players in the acquisition game.My favorite part is that the author says there is tons of opportunity to be creative in these companies you acquire - and that you need to know yourself and your own strengths. Not to look for a company by industry, but more for what suits your needs as an entrepreneur / investor.And what is even cooler, you can use that cashflow to invest in growth and leverage the existing customer base on a new technology. As all so many times when starting a company you are scrambling to get customers why not by an existing company, get financing, and then plug in your technology idea into it with its existing client base.Seems like a fun game that can be repeated every five years or so (plugs into a recent post I talked about 5 year plans 999999) and you can focus on your own strengths each time - applied to existing customer bases which need your skill set.My only concern, as an American in Asia, I probably can’t tap into these bank loan options. But for many of you reading this - if you have good credit and maybe a home to put up and your personal guarantee (as a US person) it can be a great way to jump right into entrepreneurship.

Walker does a very good job in the first half of the book laying out the arguments that being an entrepreneur and especially when buying a company rather than starting from scratch is the more profitable and bears a higher likelihood of success.The second half of the book drills down to details what one needs to be mindful of throughout the acquisition process, from negotiation to looking at the balance sheet and checking cash flow. The accounting line items like accounts payable and accounting receivable and inventory.What I liked about the book is more like the practical examples of how one applies for the SBA loan (like you need personal guarantee and you wouldn’t be able to get home line of credit afterwards) but the downside is that it is scarce in the real world examples of people who have conducted successful small business acquisitions and a profile of those buyers/sellers as well the businesses themselves. Walker made his first step into acquisition entrepreneurship through buying his own parents’ business, thereby peeking into the buyers and sellers’ sides simultaneously. This is probably not typical of others who are starting out. What I would have liked to see would have been more examples of people who have done search funds and what those are.

Perfect for anyone even remotely serious about acquiring a small business. Tons of great reference material for further exploration and reading too.

I had already decided to buy a business so I didn't need to be convinced. This book gave me the framework I needed. Since reading I've made 2 acquisitions.

This book is insightful and details all the necessary steps one needs to consider and take to buy an existing business. One of the most important aspects for me was how to find the business that is right for you along with deal flow. If you are serious about business a business, you will not regret buying this book.

So glad I bought this book. Great read to help clearly spell out action plan for business acquisition and growth.