We would rather talk you out of a bad deal than watch you close it.
Finding the right business can take time. Membership in the Lab is paid once and lasts for life, so there is no renewal clock pushing you toward the wrong deal.
Applying costs nothing, and membership fees are only collected upon joining the Lab.
Acquisition Lab is called a lab for a reason. You bring the deal in, pull it apart, and see what holds up before you commit.
You don’t get a practice acquisition, even if you’re a first-time buyer. Once the deal closes, the money is committed, the debt starts getting paid, and any problems you missed are now yours to solve.
The Lab gives you somewhere to put a live deal under scrutiny before your money goes into it. Experienced Advisors and members challenge the parts of the story that don’t look right.
Every deal has hair on it, and you can talk yourself into almost anything when you have been searching long enough. Our Advisors are here to challenge the parts of the deal that you are explaining away. They’re paid hourly and have no stake in whether you close.
That’s the case for everyone on our team. Nobody carries a commission, and nobody is telling you how to think about a deal. There are no deadlines pushing you to close. You can walk away from a hundred wrong deals and try again until you find the one you want.
The final decision is always yours, and knowing that you didn’t buy the wrong business is worth a lot more than $12,500.
We would rather talk you out of a bad deal than watch you close it.
There is one useful question to ask anyone selling you help buying a business: When do they get paid?
Most businesses in this category make their money before you own anything. They sell the course, the list, the search service, or the transaction. None of them are around in year two, and none of their money depends on whether the business turned out to be any good.
We built the Lab differently. The education is free. The platform is free. Membership pays for the things that require actual people: Advisors every business day, live deal reviews, sourcing, onboarding, events, and the member room.
Our membership fee runs the Lab at breakeven. If it were where we made our money, we would offer access to everyone, and you would be forced to renew annually. We’d also accept everyone who applied and put commissioned closers on the phone.
Instead, we make our money later through investing and post-close finance services. Both work a lot better when the member bought a genuinely good business in the first place.
That money pays for Advisors, deal reviews, sourcing, onboarding, tools, and events. Membership runs at breakeven. There is no annual renewal waiting behind it.
Most of what we know how to teach can be published for free. Membership covers what cannot: people showing up, looking at your actual deal, and helping you think through what comes next.
Advisor calls run every business day. Members also bring live opportunities to the weekly Search Forum, where Advisors and other Members question the assumptions, risks, and terms before anyone signs the personal guarantee.
Remotely search alongside people dealing with the same brokers, lenders, diligence questions, and ownership decisions you are. Then meet them in person at Lab events throughout the year.
Use the models, templates, checklists, and frameworks the Lab has built around real searches and acquisitions. They are there to help you do the work, not to make the membership look bigger.
On-market deals come through the platform. Off-market deals come from a sourcing team working member buy boxes. If you buy one of the off-market deals we sourced, the success fee is disclosed before you ever see it.
When you need a lender, M&A attorney, QoE provider, or another specialist, you don’t need to start with Google. The Lab has already vetted providers who understand small business acquisitions and come recommended by other Members.
Closing the deal doesn’t make the finance work disappear. Operate is available separately for owners who want a real accounting and finance function behind the business after acquisition.
Joining starts with an application and a conversation about fit. The person across from you is a Lab member and business owner, not a commissioned closer. If it makes sense on both sides, you join.
Take five minutes to us about your goals, capital, timeline, and acquisition plans. We ask enough to know whether the next conversation is worth having.
You’ll talk with an owner who knows what the search and transition actually require. If they think you are too early, poorly prepared, or simply not a fit, they can say so.
You’ll usually hear back within 48 hours. If the fit is mutual, choose an upcoming onboarding cohort and join when the timing works.
If you join and the Lab is not what you expected, ask for your money back within 30 days. No questions. No exit interview. No attempt to convince you to stay.
Refunds are rare because most of the fit work happens before anyone pays. You have already used the free library, completed the application, and talked with a Member-Owner who earns nothing if you join.
In seven years and more than 1,300 members, only six people have asked for a refund.
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Plenty of members aren’t searching alone. The pricing is straightforward, so we publish both cases here instead of making you ask.
If someone is searching with you, reviewing the same deals, and plans to own or operate the business with you, they join as a full member too.
Their fee is $5,000, paid once. A two-person search team pays $17,500 total for lifetime membership for both people.
If your husband, wife, or significant other is not part of the search but wants to understand the financing, risk, and process, bring them in at no additional cost. They can attend onboarding and see the same material you do.
In our view, if the household is carrying the financial risk, the household should understand the decision.
If you are still asking whether acquisition entrepreneurship is right for you, you’re early for membership with the Lab.
Start with the free material. Join a Roundtable. Listen to Searchers and Operators talk about what the work actually looks like.
Figure out whether you want the job before you pay to get better at it.
You have 30 days after joining to ask for a full refund. You do not need to justify it, explain it, or sit through a retention call.
The full terms are in our Terms of Use.
Not buying is a perfectly acceptable outcome.
We would rather see you walk away from every deal than convince yourself to buy one that should have stayed with the seller. No one at the Lab needs you to close on a deal.
No.
Membership runs at breakeven. Cutting the price means cutting the Advisor hours, sourcing, events, or infrastructure every other member paid full price to support. We are not going to do that.
You will not see a sale, promotion, or “today only” price.
US veterans are the standing exception. Their membership fee is $10,000.
Membership includes support for setting up a search entity, which may allow the fee to be treated as a business expense. Some lenders may also allow it to be rolled into acquisition financing when you close.
Your accountant and lender get the final say.
If you have decided to buy and operate a business, start with the application.
You’ll talk with a Member-Owner about your plans, your readiness, and whether the Lab belongs in your search.
Not ready to apply? Join a live roundtable.