HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business

Think Big, Buy Small, Own Your Own Company (HBR Guide Series)

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff

Narrated by: Brian Holsopple

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; and avoid deals that fall through at the last minute.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation (P)2024 Ascent Audio

It’s a good introduction to entrepreneurship the acquisition

This book is a great resource if you are new to the M&A/entrepreneurship through acquisition space. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who has been involved in the space for a while.

Great read, high level overview of larger acquisitions.

This book focuses on the “textbook” search and acquisition. This examples in this book are more fitting for business acquisitions that are $2M+. This doesn’t fit my target purchase price/ budget of sub $1M. However, this book is very extensive and i would recommend to anyone looking to purchase a business of any size.

Very efficient written book about entrepreneurship through acquisition

The book has many of the details to consider good stories and sense of completeness that I
appreciate

Makes complex concepts simple

This is an incredibly actionable guide for anyone who wants to buy a small business. While it does focus on ETA search and gets into much of the DIY required for a self funded search, its valuable info for anyone looking to buy a smaller business.

Very comprehensive and easy to understand

Reco for people who wants to purchase a biz - this is your 101 but very comprehensive and with short examples. This in combination with other resources would be a perfect starting point

Solid, concise guide for a specific topic

Goes through the essentials of buying a small business. Pretty good reference guide. Doesn't get into specifics, but a good place to start.

Dry, focuses on search fund, hard to get engaged

I've listeded to several books, poccasts, videos on the topic. Some of the books 2-3 times now - "Buy Then Build," "Here's the Deal" to name 2. Those were far more interesting and engaging and weren't solely focused on search fund style. I'm confident many if not most acquisitions don't result from full-time search funded buyers the way this book describes as being the only way it can be done successfully.