There is a lot of content out there. This is the short list for people who are just getting oriented – a curated collection of books, podcasts, and real buyer stories to help you build a foundation before you decide what to do next.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • How buying a business compares to starting one from scratch.
  • The ways ordinary people structure and finance acquisitions.
  • What the experience actually looks like, from real buyers.
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Browse member stories

Real buyers on how their deals actually went.

Read the stories

The classics

Pick the format that fits how you like to learn best and dive in.

  • Buy Then Build (Book). Walker Deibel’s book made acquisition entrepreneurship accessible to first-time buyers. He makes the case for buying an existing business rather than starting one, then walks through how a search works, how deals get structured, and what happens after you close. If you read one book first, make it this one.
  • Harvard Guide to Buying a Small Business (Book). Two Harvard Business School professors lay out a methodical framework for evaluating acquisition paths. This book is more structured than Buy Then Build and pairs well with it.
  • Acquiring Minds (Podcast). Each episode follows a buyer through some part of the journey, with enough detail to understand what the decisions actually felt like. The podcast largely features success stories with some hard lessons mixed in.
  • Acquisition Anonymous (Podcast). Three experienced buyers and a broker react to real listings in real time. Hearing what they pass on is as useful as hearing what they would pursue.

What the acquisition journey looks like in practice

The resources above will build your foundation. These go one step further – real buyers talking through their deals, start to finish.

  • Acquiring Minds with Julia and Grant Hensel (Podcast). Julia was a management consultant and Grant ran a nonprofit marketing agency. Together they bought a business you might not expect and did so on favorable terms. The episode covers the search, the deal, and what year one looked like.
  • Acquiring Minds with Yan Vinarskiy (Podcast). Yan started his search thinking he would buy a business with his own money, then pivoted mid-search to work with investors to buy a $22M business. His journey shows that the path to buying a business isn’t fixed.
  • How I Bought a Business Series by Acquisition Lab (YouTube). Everyone on camera has closed a deal. Owners will tell you their experience with the acquisition process and how they ultimately made ownership a reality.
  • SearchFunder (Discussion Forum). Members have bought businesses across industries, from metal fabrication to B2B software. Their stories cover what they expected, what surprised them, and how they navigated the first months as owners.

These resources are a starting point. As your questions get more specific, the Lab’s resource library can point you toward material organized around where you actually are in the process.

➡ EXPLORE: Acquisition Lab Resource Library

➡ BONUS: Read a free chapter of Buy Then Build