Buying and operating a business is a complex and isolating experience.
Acquisition Lab unites education, community, capital, and services to make the process more structured and less intimidating for every Searcher and Operator.
We believe acquisition is one of the most direct paths to meaningful ownership. However, the journey is often fragmented and isolating. Information, advice, and tools are siloed or disconnected, leaving ambitious entrepreneurs to find their own path to success.
In this environment, capable buyers must independently assemble capital partners, Advisors, and operational support without consistent standards or frameworks to guide their decisions. Working in isolation and without a shared system, each entrepreneur is forced to build their own engine for acquisition.
The Lab was built to reduce that isolation and give ambitious entrepreneurs a clear path forward. By integrating community, expert Advisors, and battle-tested resources into a shared environment, we are building a coordinated path so acquisition entrepreneurs no longer have to navigate the journey alone.
Together, building what’s next.
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In 2018, Walker Deibel published Buy Then Build, challenging the idea that entrepreneurship had to start from zero. He argued that acquisition wasn’t a shortcut or a compromise to ownership. It was a viable path with key, strategic advantages to long-term financial success.
As the movement around Buy Then Build grew, it became clear that scaling the Lab would require a healthy mix of vision and disciplined execution. Walker partnered with Chelsea Wood, a seasoned M&A advisor with years of experience advising on transactions and building rigorous financial systems.
In 2022, Tim Ericson joined Acquisition Lab as a member. As the founder and former CEO of Zagster, Tim had already scaled a venture-backed company to a national level. For his second chapter as an entrepreneur, he chose to buy rather than build from scratch.
With the merger complete, Acquisition Lab now combines community, capital, and post-acquisition services into a single, unified platform for serious acquisition entrepreneurs.
Interested in supporting our members?
We partner with experienced Advisors and service providers who share our standards, values, and passion for ownership through acquisition. If your expertise supports our platform, we’d like to hear from you.
Learn more →We hold a high bar for who joins and how we operate. Preparation, diligence, and follow-through are expected. Membership is selective by design because the strength of the community depends on the caliber of its participants.
Trust is built through competence and integrity. We do not lower standards for speed, convenience, or growth. The long-term health of the Lab matters more than short-term expansion.
The Lab is shaped by lived experience. We design systems, tools, and frameworks based on the realities of buying and operating a business, not on theories or trends.
We prioritize clarity, practicality, and execution. Every decision is filtered through Operator-level thinking because the people we serve are building real businesses with real consequences.
We measure success by what happens after closing. Deal volume and enrollment numbers are not the benchmark for success.
Our focus is durable ownership. Every initiative, partnership, and resource is evaluated by the same standard: Does it improve the odds of long-term Operator success?
Acquisition is difficult, and we speak about it directly. There are no shortcuts or easy paths to ETA success.
We share lessons and hard truths openly — including mistakes and tradeoffs — because honesty builds better Operators and stronger businesses.
Vision without execution is noise. We move with clarity, urgency, and structure to align around shared standards and repeatable systems.
We commit and follow through. We build for durability rather than momentum, and we favor proven methodologies over passing trends.
