In the mid-eighties, a group of enterprising and industrious MBA students at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business pioneered an experiment which today we call “Search Funds.”

Captained and inspired by visionary Leader Irv Grousbeck, they designed a track that allowed them to acquire a company, become its CEO, and, if well executed, also be its largest shareholder. Supported by strong boards and a solid process, it turned an inexperienced entrepreneur into a successful business leader.

In this book, Jan Simon, Managing Partner of Vonzeo Capital and Academic Director of the International Search Fund Center at IESE Business School, presents a best-practices-based roadmap for searchers, acquisition entrepreneurs, investors and board members. Drawing on generous contributions from the search fund community as well as his own experience, he sheds light on how this community converted $1.4 billion of investments into $8.7 billion, with $1.8 billion going to the entrepreneurs.

Think big, buy small.

Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: You can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small company offers significant financial rewards―as well as personal and professional fulfillment. Leading a firm means you can be your own boss, put your executive skills to work, fashion a company environment that meets your own needs, and profit directly from your success.

But finding the right business to buy and closing the deal isn’t always easy. In the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, Harvard Business School professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff help you:

• Determine if this path is right for you,
• Raise capital for your acquisition,
• Find and evaluate the right prospects,
• Avoid the pitfalls that could derail your search,
• Understand why a “dull” business might be the best investment,
• Negotiate a potential deal with the seller,
• Avoid deals that fall through at the last minute.

Entrepreneurs have a problem: startups. Almost all startups either fail or never truly reach a sustainable size. Despite the popularity of entrepreneurship, we haven’t engineered a better way to start. …Until now. What if you could skip the startup phase and generate profitable revenue on day one? In Buy Then Build, acquisition entrepreneur Walker Deibel shows you how to begin with a sustainable, profitable company and grow from there. You’ll learn how to:

• Buy an existing company rather than starting from scratch
• Use ownership as a path to financial independence
• Spend a fraction of the time raising capital
• Find great brokers, generate your own “deal flow,” and see new listings early
• Uncover the best opportunities and biggest risks of any company
• Navigate the acquisition process
• Become a successful acquisition entrepreneur
• And more…

Buy Then Build is your guide to outsmart the startup game, live the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and reap the financial rewards of ownership now.

The reason why many people feel frustrated or even afraid of the Search Fund industry is because they cannot comfortably follow a conversation about it, especially with investors. Plus, the jargon which is linked to all the necessary steps of the Search Fund model are plenty.

But there is nothing inherently complicated in Search Funds, after all, it is “only” about acquiring and selling stocks of non-publicly-traded companies. The endless jargon, however, is a stunning and defining feature, and it matters. Anyone can perceive if you are more or less prepared to undergo the challenge by the way you use the industry vocabulary with fluency.

The Glossary of Search Fund Terms Funds holds the key to develop or review the vocabulary and terms used in Entrepreneurship through Acquisition. This short up-to-date reference guide includes formal and informal expressions that are commonly used by professionals with large experience in the Search Fund industry.

Many people have an entrepreneurial dream but are faced with circumstances that can make achieving that dream difficult. Whether they are unsure that leaving their job to launch a startup is for them, they don’t have business experience, don’t know how to get funding, or whatever the reason may be.

Buy Your Business: A Guide to Entrepreneurship through Acquisition offers an alternative. In this book, author Jacob M. Krum, who has proven success buying and selling businesses, lays out a path for aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs to thrive at entrepreneurship via purchasing an existing business. You’ll learn how to choose the right company for your skillset and personality, find businesses for sale, conduct due diligence, secure funding, automate operations to free your time, develop an exit strategy, and more. In a conversational tone, Jacob gives you the foundation you need to succeed. If you’re ready to excel at buying and selling businesses, this book is for you.

How does CEO sound for your future job title? Most people consider two primary ways to become a CEO: climb the corporate ladder, or start a company. But there is an alternative, less risky, avenue to entrepreneurship. Rather than starting a company, college-educated graduates can buy an existing, profitable company, and then scale that company to achieve financial returns. This process is known as entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA).

The model incorporates 4 phases: searching for a company, acquiring the company, managing the company, and then selling the company. For the past 30 years, only members of elite MBA communities were able to buy companies with external investment. Now, you can do so with a little knowledge about the ETA model. And to help you along in your process, there’s a tight, well-established community for ETA.

Inside Acquiring Entrepreneurship you’ll learn:

• Why you should consider ETA as an investment in career and wealth
• How to navigate the 4 main phases of ETA to successfully acquire and ultimately exit a company with exceptional ROI
• How you can build a network with members of the well-established ETA community for your future
• How to apply key phrases and terminology that industry insiders use to gain an edge in the ETA process
• Stories from over 40 leading business operators, searchers, and investors of ETA

For those who are dissatisfied by the monotonous tasks they face in the workforce, or for college-educated students and graduates, this book details a perfect opportunity for your career. So quit the day job. Get a pencil and a notepad, read Acquiring Entrepreneurship and start planning for your future as a leader. This is your time!