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With the Lab in your corner, you’ll learn the best course of action on how to buy a business, while working with a highly skilled team of advisors who will support your acquisition journey from initial search to final close.
Members receive 24/7 access to highly qualified advisors who understand how to buy a business and help to navigate all the complexities of the process.
Get instant access to our signature Buyer Preparation Onramp, plus a vetted community of professionals & industry guides to support you.
The proof is in the numbers - we've had over 50 closings in less than 2 years! Click here to read some of their incredible success stories.
— Deborah Ekstrom, Plastic Surgeon & Owner of the Money Loves Women Podcast
I’m Walker Deibel, founder of Acquisition Lab and author of the bestselling book Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game.
This is the same strategy I’ve used to acquire 7 businesses and 10x my income – all in the same amount of time it took my first startup to start, grow, and die.
I designed the Acquisition Lab curriculum as a framework to execute the Buy Then Build approach. Our proprietary tools, workbooks & calculators are only available to Lab members.
We surveyed over 100 of our members and they rated their experience 4.7 out of 5 stars!
It was an off-market deal I generated from a Facebook group conversation.
I couldn’t have done it without Chelsea & Walker - thank you both for bringing this community together. Without these resources and group, I would not have been able to accomplish this.
I got recommendations for what I most needed, including a lender, lawyer, due diligence company, accounting firm, etc. I read Walker’s book at least 3 times and reviewed the course curriculum constantly!
— Gabe MurilloMy hope was that this course would provide a framework and the resources to more confidently go after my dream of owning my own business.
I am pleased to say that to this point the Acquisition Lab has delivered as advertised. The weekly cadence calls, resources/expertise brought to the calls and the community were excellent. No suggestions at this point for what could be done better.
— Andrew B.You do such a great job breaking down the complexity so it is easy-to-understand. You are both also very generous with your time allowing everyone, with any question to gain understanding.
Your genuine desire to help us learn how to buy a business is refreshing and much appreciated! Thank you for all you both do, cheers!
— Gina V.I have found extremely useful the live deal evaluation discussions and comments to complexities the members are facing as they explore how to buy a business. I feel it helps me be better prepared and more confident as I approach similar situations.
When I interviewed with Chelsea, she commented the Acquisition Lab will help me get nicely setup for my search next year. I couldn’t agree more. I am glad I joined!
— Paul M.— Shane Ehrsam, North Texas Trailers
— Paul Golden, Pool Maintenance & Repair
The content is amazing! Felt like I got a $200k MBA in 4 weeks.
Having access to experts for questions & input is priceless!
An incredible experience & community. I couldn’t imagine starting my ETA journey without the Lab.
The financial model, documentation, legal templates alone makes this well worth the money.
$7,500
$62,400/year
Priceless
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$24,000/year
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We will review applications and invite qualified applicants to participate in a strategy call to explore whether you’ll be a good match for Acquisition Lab membership.
The initial intensive requires between 3 and 5 hours of your time per week. The live workshops are weekly on Wednesdays from 4 to 6 Central. Then there is a pre-recorded course, The 3 Forces of Search, that drops on Thursday mornings. Between the live workshops, 3 forces modules, and the outside work – it takes 3 to 5 hours per week; however, only 2 hours live on a call.
The first week of the intensive does also have the 2 hour kick-off call and a 90 minute to 2 hour target statement refinement session that is optional so the first week requires a bit more of your time live.
Because we spend a lot of time vetting new members, we really focus on not rushing the decision making process, and have only had a single refund after starting our intensive.
We don’t want this to change so we encourage you to really think through your capacity, your commitment, and your timeline for execution before joining the Lab.
If someone truly feels like they’re not a fit for the Lab shortly after starting the Intensive, we would provide a refund because that’s the right thing to do.
However, we would hope that refunds continue to be a thing that doesn’t happen at the Lab.
— Maurice Thomas, Electrical Contracting
Complete the Intensive assignments to learn exactly how to buy a business and begin defining your value & brand as a buyer
Partner with Lab Advisors to complete your buyer profile and pre-qualification letter
Create the infrastructure for an efficient and effective search so you have to mechanisms in place to search with confidence
Execute on your search using the Lab deal flow, plus evaluation & analysis frameworks
As you're reviewing deals, bring questions related to your search to the Lab's weekly office hours or Slack advisors, so you're never left alone or spinning your wheels
Find one deal that’s interesting to you and run that deal through the Acquisition Lab process to evaluate & analyze
Almost there! Using the tools and templates provided by the Lab, draft your first LOI, get feedback from advisors, and finalize your offer at the live Deal Review call.
As you search, you'll start building your transaction team, where you’ll get to tap into our ever-expanding service provider directory of trusted professionals
Tap into tools and resources, ask advisors, and plan for your first 100 days
Time to celebrate (and get to work!) Now the REAL fun begins.
Coming out of it, I feel confident that I know what I am doing and I am part of a community with whom I share the same journey.
Additionally, the connections to various experts has been amazing….mentioning that I am part of the lab opens the door immediately. I cannot think of anything that could have been done better – I am just grateful to be a part of this incredible course and community. Thank you!!!”
The best part of the Lab was the community it created around business acquisition. I also really enjoyed the sessions on how to buy a business: the financial analysis, deal flow and all the related discussions around specific deals.”
Worth every penny. Well organized and provides valuable insight into the quite confusing world of small business acquisition. The buyer profile and SBA pre-approval were extremely helpful and both provide much needed confidence during outreach.”
I couldn’t have put such a nice profile without Karen, she’s awesome! Preparing the profile helped me reflect on these experiences and think how I can best use my skills in a small business setting… and if I have to burn all my boats, I still feel the odds are in my favor.”
— Lucas Phillips, Auto Manufacturing
— Stewart Nixon, Restaurant Owner
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