Below are answers to some of the most common questions about Acquisition Lab, membership, and Services we offer.
Our results. Our vetting. Our lifetime access. Our level of services. Our level of support.
Hear first hand from the Lab’s creator, Walker Deibel (WSJ Bestselling Author of Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Start-up Game), as he explains it best in this short video: Watch here.
No, we’re not brokers.
Instead, we work with brokers so that you have deal flow on day one and after working with our Advisors you are able to successfully position yourself as a credible buyer and get brokers to bring you their best opportunities.
Over 400 businesses have been acquired by Lab Members. The average acquisition by Lab members is valued at $2.4M and has $678k in earnings.
That being said, our members acquire companies ranging from $40,000 bolt-ons up to $24M independent sponsor-backed deals.
We don’t specialize in a size or type of business. The important thing is that you’re buying a business that is appropriately sized to achieve your goals and match your skills & experience.
Our Services Team helps entrepreneurs with everything from setting up search entities to running finance operations and hiring for growing businesses. We also offer a network of service providers & biweekly roundtable sessions with our members who have acquired companies.
While members receive structured learning and practical tools, Acquisition Lab is not an online course.
It is a full-service ecosystem designed to support the entire acquisition journey. Members gain access to a vetted community of serious buyers and owners, live programming, deal discussions, office hours with experienced Operators and Advisors, and structured frameworks used to source, evaluate, acquire, and operate a business.
The goal is not simply to learn about buying a business. It is to actually do it, with guidance and a high touch level of support along the way.
Acquisition Lab membership is for life. We’re the only program that offers true lifetime access, supporting you across all your deals, not just the first one. You maintain access to all of our advisory services including daily office hours, weekly live deal review calls, biweekly post-close roundtable, etc.
Membership to Acquisition Lab does NOT include taking equity or investing in your acquisitions.
We provide lifetime advisory support to ensure you have expert guidance throughout your entire journey.
For select members who are seeking a capital partner, Acquisition Lab Capital provides pre-deal committed capital if they have liquidity of $250k+, more than 4 years of direct management & operational experience, and are looking for SBA-qualified deals earning over $1M EBITDA.
We can’t, and neither should anyone else. We teach our members that it’s better not to acquire a business than to acquire the wrong business.
This mentality, although not great for marketing, has allowed us to have a very low failure rate from the members who have acquired. We’ve only heard of 6 businesses that have failed after acquisition (mostly due to doubling interest rates and external factors). That’s around 1.5% of the businesses our members have acquired.
“The goal is to buy a business, but not at the expense of making a mistake.” —Walker Deibel, Creator of Acquisition Lab
You’ll be speaking with an active Lab member, someone who’s already a part of our accelerator, not a salesperson.
The goal is simple:
Even if we’re not the right fit, you’ll walk away with clear, actionable advice from seasoned acquisition entrepreneurs.
Members receive a combination of training, deal support, tools, and community access designed to help them find, acquire, and operate a business.
Advisor support & deal guidance
Training & education
Deal flow & search acceleration
Tools, templates & resources
Legal & business setup
Community & networking
Service provider network
Post-acquisition support
Nope! We have Lab members acquiring in every vertical across every market imaginable and some you couldn’t have imagined! Have you ever considered buying a cadaver harvesting business that sells animal cadavers to schools for dissection? Ever consider buying a business that cleans and restores church pews? Ever consider buying a wood pellet manufacturer? Neither did we, but they all were performing well and great fits for 3 of our members.
We don’t specialize in a single industry, location, or type of business. Some of our members are looking at traditional businesses but others are also open to remote workforces or online businesses.
The Masterclass was designed to be an upgrade to the existing 6-month course that was developed with Walker’s book launch. It was developed as a DIY solution that provides foundational knowledge as well as a deeper dive into the topics introduced in the book. It is designed like an MBA course with resource guides, skill practices, supplemental readings, guest lectures, as well as traditional lecture videos from Walker’s book. We also wanted to add some practical experience-based content so we included the Commonly Asked Questions course from Acquisition Lab cohorts Q&A sessions with Walker as well as 30+ expert interviews.
Acquisition Lab is a home for serious business buyers. Acquisition entrepreneurship demands flawless execution across deal sourcing, underwriting, financing, owner transition, and operations. The Masterclass leaves you attempting to build that infrastructure entirely on your own. Acquisition Lab brings these critical elements together in one place. By uniting our premier community, deal sourcing support, funding, and back-office infrastructure into a single platform, we reduce friction and improve decision quality at every stage of the acquisition process.
It’s the only community of highly vetted, driven, and qualified buyers. The content we have created for the Lab is proprietary to the Lab and can’t be accessed elsewhere. It’s the framework for execution paired with the hand holding which can’t be found in our Masterclass.
The content of the program definitely applies across markets; however, our knowledge base of transactions is specific to the U.S. market. As a result, we like to be very transparent with our international applicants that there will be certain aspects of the Lab that they won’t find value in.
For example, we do not have access to lenders, broker networks, or transaction service providers in other countries. Our tools are designed for the U.S. legal system as well as US financial markets so they would have to be adapted for your own market.
That being said, many of our international members join because they’re looking for the structure, tools, and community that the Lab provides as well as the sounding boards in our advisors. We have a strong base of Canadian members. We have members acquiring companies all over the world: Canada, Germany, Portugal, United Kingdom, Guatemala, and Australia to name a few. One of our members started one of the first PE funds in their country to support acquisition entrepreneurship.
Yes, from our team of Advisors and members but it is delivered in a small group setting so everyone can learn. This isn’t a program where you’re assigned a specific mentor and can jump on a call and have them analyze deals for you. They’re here as a resource to help be a thought partner as you analyze & close deals but they aren’t going to be working as an analyst for you.
Our program is built around the value of group learning. While our network of mentors are always available as thought partners to discuss listings or deals, best practice is to lean on your Lab members as well as our advisory team for feedback on deals. The value of the Lab is that everyone learns from everyone’s deals so we try to limit the one-on-one sessions as much as possible and/or highly encourage our members to take aspects of the discussion to the Slack channels to gain insight from other members and our Advisors.
Lab members gain instant access to more than 500 broker mailing lists, as well as established relationships with our preferred intermediaries. Rather than spending months building outreach from scratch, members are instantly plugged into existing networks that can be accessed from day one.
Through Acquisition Lab Services, should you want additional support in your search, a search assist service is available at a discounted rate for members so that they can manage the tasks including looking for deals, tracking progress, etc. These are the things that our members who are often working high demand jobs don’t have time for. This service allows your day-to-day responsibilities not to delay your search.
We get members who are in all stages of their search.
We have some experienced acquisition entrepreneurs who join after acquiring other companies because they want the structured framework and community. We have others who know they want to acquire a business but nothing else is figured out yet other than they have the money to do so.
We also have people who join the Lab even after they are under LOI. Those members are given access to the advisory services a little early because our primary goal is supporting your deal.
Whether you’re just starting your search, already under LOI, or 4 years post-close, there’s never a bad time to join the Lab.
Typically, the reason someone is joining the Lab is a good indicator of whether or not they close. If a member is joining because they’re concerned that someone is going to take advantage of them or defraud them or they’re desperately trying not to make a mistake then they don’t close. When we follow-up with them later in their search to check on progress they tell us all about the people they’ve interviewed, podcasts they’ve listened to, forecasts they’ve built, etc. but they’ve never submitted an LOI. The issue there is that their daily actions never drive toward buying a business only toward not making a mistake.
When someone joins because they want to buy a business in the least risky way possible then they typically take the actions necessary to buy a business versus solely focusing on how to mitigate all of the risk out of the deal.
That being said, our goal at the Lab is not that everyone buys a business. Our goal is that our members are prepared, educated, and comfortable with whatever decision they make. So some of our members have chosen not to acquire and instead have invested their money in other member’s deals. Others have pursued start-ups again while some have taken promotions in their professional careers.
This is one of the most challenging aspects of your journey. It’s the primary reason why we require the 4 week onboarding. We feel like understanding who you are as a buyer is the biggest risk mitigation strategy that there is — you are the biggest risk in any transaction you do.
By the end of our onboarding, you’ll have greater clarity around both of these components. We provide calculators and exercises to help you narrow down your search. After working one-on-one with our branding advisor, you’ll have a completed buyer profile that gives you confidence in your ability to execute.
According to our Slack analytics, we typically have 7,000 messages per month. We always seem to run just under 500 active members on a daily basis.
At some point, it’s inevitable that members will look at the same deals. It’s actually one of the things that makes the Lab so valuable. When it has happened, it’s been beneficial because the members were able to share information to uncover additional information by comparing analysis and sharing notes after meetings.
As you may be aware our focus is understanding your unique value proposition as a buyer so ultimately one is a better fit than the other. Because both members may be looking for the same type of business but have completely different value propositions, it makes it unlikely that it would be a great fit for both.
For example, if one member is looking for a manufacturing company to do process improvement work and the other is looking for a manufacturing company to implement a sales strategy and hire sales staff then a business would not be attractive to both people. One would be attracted because he saw sales potential and the other would be attracted because it already had sales in place but needed some refinement around operations.
There’s little focus on this aspect of business acquisition but to us at Acquisition Lab, it makes all the difference.
Yes! Walker hosts a live kick-off call with every cohort as well as the live ask-me-anything session to close out every cohort. He’s also a board member and a venture partner at the Acquisition Lab Fund, helping to ensure the Lab’s strategic direction. He also hosts Search Forum, a weekly live deal review call.
His instruction is also simulcasted at the beginning of every session, prior to the live workshop kick-off with a technical advisor.
The onboarding is modeled after MBA coursework. It has a mix of live workshops, videos, recommended reading, self-evaluation work, worksheets, small group work, and resource guides.
Typically, curriculum is delivered in a hybrid approach where the session kicks off with video instruction but then moves into a live workshop. We do have a lot of videos of interviews from guest speakers and interviews in our archives.
Many of our members are working full-time so the onboarding was designed to mirror an Exec MBA course.
Initial onboarding requires between 7-10 hours of your time per week. The live workshops are weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 to 6 Central. Our pre-recorded course, The 3 Forces of Search, drops on Thursday mornings.
Between the live workshops, 3 Forces modules, and the outside work, it takes 7-10 hours per week; however, only 4 hours live on a call.
Once the onboarding is complete, you’ll be able to put as much time into the community as you need.
During your strategy call, you will talk to a Lab member who is part of our Membership Committee. The goal of the call is to explore the feasibility of what you’re trying to accomplish. This includes discussing your financial objectives, minimum income requirements, the type of business you’re hoping to acquire, and whether your plan is something that brokers, lenders, and sellers would view as credible and achievable.
We also look for alignment with the culture of the Lab. Our community is built around open, honest, and respectful dialogue. Because members collaborate closely and share real experiences during their search and ownership journey, we look for people who contribute positively to that environment.
The Lab is not designed for people looking to flip businesses, pursue “no money down” acquisition strategies, or chase quick wins. Instead, we partner with acquisition entrepreneurs who are serious about becoming long-term business owners in their communities and who understand the responsibility that comes with that role.
Acquisition Lab is not about glorifying buying a business. It’s about supporting members through the real work of acquisition and ownership — the good, the hard, and everything in between.
If the Committee member feels that you can afford to do what you’re trying to do, others will think you should do what you’re trying to do, you have the right background to be taken seriously by brokers, lenders, and sellers, and our Committee member feels you’re a good fit for our culture, then you’ll be invited to join.
We have a very diverse membership base. We have people who have recently sold their business and are looking to invest those proceeds. We have mid-level career managers or retiring executives who are looking to invest in themselves finally after supporting other people’s success for many years. We have veterans exiting the military and starting their entrepreneurial journey. We have males, females, seasoned, even a few freshly graduated, MBAs, marketing backgrounds, and everything in between.
The profile of success for our members is that they have skills/experience that can add value paired with the means and conviction to buy a business.
Acquisition Lab is built for serious acquisition entrepreneurs. We invest significant time vetting new members because we care deeply about alignment and long-term success.
We encourage every prospective member to carefully consider their capacity, commitment, and timeline before enrolling. The Lab is designed for those prepared to take action.
Our goal is not to issue refunds. Our goal is to ensure the right people join.
If, within the first 30 days of purchase, you determine that the Lab is not the right fit for you, you may request a refund.
To request a refund, email support@acquisitionlab.com within 30 days of your original purchase date (by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Day 30). Refund requests made within this 30-day window will be reviewed promptly.
After 30 days, all payments are non-refundable. By that point, members have received significant components of the program including onboarding and access to materials.
Important clarifications:
If you have questions about whether the Lab is right for you before enrolling, we encourage you to ask. We would much rather have thoughtful conversations upfront than process refunds later.
For refund requests or support inquiries, contact: support@acquisitionlab.com
We don’t have flexibility on pricing because it is very expensive to provide such a high-touch service. Additionally, our members get lifetime access to all of our advisory services versus a timed membership; which makes the lift heavier.
What we can offer is that the membership fee is a business expense for the acquiring entity so it can help lower your taxable income and, if you do acquire in 12 to 18 months from joining and you want to build your cash back up, you can let your lender know up front and provide your invoice and many lenders will reimburse you for this expense (and other service providers) at closing and roll that expense into the Loan.
Our discounted services typically save $7-10k from what non-Lab members will pay. While we understand there is an upfront cost, we do everything we can to support you to get so much more value out of the program.
Acquisition Lab meetups are designed for acquisition entrepreneurs at every stage of the journey.
That includes people who are:
These events bring together people who are serious about ownership through acquisition, making them a place to exchange ideas, learn from real experiences, and build relationships with others on the same path.
No. Our meetups are designed to introduce people to the acquisition membership community and give you a chance to meet others on the same path.
You can attend up to two meetups before deciding whether you’d like to apply to join the Lab. At that point, continued participation is reserved for members.
Meetups are a great way to meet other acquisition entrepreneurs in your area, hear real stories from active Searchers and Operators, and get a feel for the Lab community before joining.
Our quarterly Searchers Circle meetups are free to attend. These events are meant to bring acquisition entrepreneurs together in a casual setting to connect, share experiences, and discuss the ETA journey.
The Acquire It Summit does have a registration fee. It’s a multi-day event that brings together Lab members, Operators, Advisors and industry experts for deep learning, networking, and discussions around buying and operating a business.
Our hosts are seasoned Lab members, but all are volunteers in their capacity as an event leader.
Their role is to help bring other like-minded acquisition entrepreneurs together and create a place for open discussion, shared learning, and local connection.
Both! A typical Searchers Circle meeting involves some networking aspects, as well as a group activity — usually a lecture or group discussion — that will offer some insights into the acquisition journey.
While Searchers Circles aren’t meant to offer advice or pitches, you’ll hear plenty of honest experience from other Searchers.
Yes. Meetups are a great place to explore acquisition entrepreneurship, especially if you’re just starting out.
Many attendees are just beginning to learn about ETA and want to understand what the journey looks like. By meeting others who are actively searching, under LOI, or already operating a business, you’ll gain perspectives on what this path entails.
The Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Program is designed for experienced operators who want to acquire and operate a larger business with investor backing.
Through the program, the Lab Fund provides a pre-committed capital commitment that qualified operators can use to acquire a business. This commitment helps solve one of the biggest challenges acquisition entrepreneurs face: demonstrating credible capital to brokers and sellers while sourcing deals.
The program is intended for Operators who:
Participants receive capital support, deal evaluation assistance, and access to the broader Acquisition Lab ecosystem throughout the acquisition process.
No. The commitment letter issued through the Lab Fund represents a contractual commitment to invest, provided the deal meets the program guidelines and qualifies for SBA financing.
Many funds issue non-binding “support letters” that simply indicate they may consider investing once a deal is under LOI. The commitment letter used in the EIR Program is different because it provides credible capital support before a deal is identified.
This structure helps solve a common challenge in deal sourcing:
The commitment letter bridges this gap by giving acquisition entrepreneurs credible capital support early in the search process.
No. The Lab Fund invests exclusively in SBA-financed acquisitions within the EIR Program.
The EIR Program is primarily designed for businesses generating $1M–$2M in Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE).
There is some flexibility depending on the strength of the opportunity.
The Lab Fund will not invest in businesses below $750K SDE because those businesses often do not generate sufficient cash flow to support debt service, Operator compensation & investor returns.
The Lab Fund provides a signed capital commitment of $500,000 to $1,000,000 per deal, provided the transaction meets the investment criteria for the EIR Program.
Members of the EIR Program are generally expected to invest approximately 3% of the total project cost into the acquisition.
Participants may contribute more capital if desired.
The program also requires a minimum liquidity threshold of $250,000, which may include:
This requirement exists to ensure:
Yes. The liquidity requirement can be satisfied through multiple sources including:
If a HELOC is used, the credit line must be secured before submitting an offer through the EIR Program. Funds must be readily accessible to count toward the liquidity requirement.
Capital invested by the Lab Fund is structured as participating preferred equity.
Preferred equity includes a preferred return that accrues until the investor’s original capital and preferred return are repaid. After that point, ownership distributions shift to common equity.
Three mechanisms align incentives between Operators & investors:
Preferred return
Liquidation preference
2X step-up
For example, a $500K investment with a 2X step-up is treated as $1M for ownership calculations.
Preferred returns in the Investor-Backed Search market typically range between 8% and 15%.
Within the EIR Program, the preferred return structure encourages Operators to prioritize repayment of investor capital.
Operators have two options:
SBA regulations prevent investors from forcing repayment immediately, so the repayment schedule ultimately depends on the Operator’s decision.
Within the EIR Program, the Operator’s personal investment is structured as preferred equity for financial return purposes.
This allows the Operator to receive preferred distributions alongside investors, increasing the Operator’s economic participation in the business.
Governance and control remain aligned with common ownership.
When a deal reaches the Letter of Intent (LOI) stage, an acquisition entity is created.
At formation, the Lab Fund receives 5% common equity in the acquisition entity.
This equity:
The 5% stake compensates the Fund for supporting the acquisition process including:
Members of the EIR Program receive hands-on support throughout the acquisition process.
This includes:
Yes. While the Lab Fund often serves as the primary investor, additional investors may participate in the transaction.
These may include:
For larger acquisitions requiring additional equity, the team can help syndicate capital through the Partner Network.
Yes. Members of the EIR Program must work with the preferred providers for:
Because the Lab Fund commits capital before seeing the deal, using vetted providers ensures transactions are structured correctly and diligence standards remain consistent.
Seller financing is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged.
For certain transactions involving higher operational risk or customer concentration, seller financing may be required as part of the deal structure.
The goal is to structure transactions in a way that reduces downside risk for both the Operator & investors.
Yes. Participation in Acquisition Lab is required as the official onboarding to the EIR Program.
The Lab provides the education, frameworks & community needed to run a successful acquisition search.
These resources help acquisition entrepreneurs:
Members of the community have collectively acquired over $1B in businesses.
Lab Services provides operational infrastructure to support Operators after they acquire a business.
The Services Team helps Operators build the systems required to run and grow their businesses.
Lab Services may support areas such as:
Within the EIR Program, CEO salary is generally capped at 10% of Trailing Twelve Months Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) based on the final Quality of Earnings.
For Operators living in higher cost-of-living cities, a cost-of-living adjustment of approximately $20K–$25K may be applied.
The compensation structure encourages Operators to prioritize:
Distributions are often more tax efficient than increasing W-2 salary.
The EIR Program is generally structured around a single operating CEO.
For businesses within the typical target range, it is often difficult for two Operators to split compensation from the operating business.
However, certain structures may still work if one partner acts as a silent investor rather than drawing salary.
Each situation is evaluated individually.