Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game

I found Buy Then Build to be one of the most practical and well-structured guides I’ve read on acquiring and scaling a business. The format is clean and easy to follow, with each section building logically on the last. What really stands out is how the author breaks down the process—from identifying acquisition targets to closing the deal and creating long-term value—into simple, actionable steps that make sense in the real world. Unlike most business books that get lost in theory, this one emphasizes strategy as the central pillar of growth. It teaches you how to think like an investor and operator at the same time, which is exactly what successful entrepreneurship through acquisition requires. Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur looking to expand or someone exploring the acquisition path for the first time, Buy Then Build offers a clear roadmap that combines insight, structure, and real-world application. Highly recommend it.

This book helped me see a new way of doing business. The idea of acquisition instead of start up has ignited a litany of ideas and passions inside of me. If this book has come across your path at this time in your life and journey, I highly recommend you take that as a sign that it is for you to read now. I appreciate the thorough and insightful information given from this author that has obviously learned so much from real life experiences of buying businesses and entrepreneurship. It's a great book and I highly recommend it.

Looks like a great book! I can’t wait to read it!

Better than start up, the buy then build approach is a great option for the entrepreneur minded who want to reduce risk and get a head start with building a business. You’ll get a good overview of the process and the key steps and pitfalls. A must read to get started before you decide to start from scratch.

As I prepare to go to the Invest Like a Boss podcast meetup here in Chiang Mai on Jan 3, 2018 - I felt I should catch up on some reading about investing and this one was a new one with amazing reviews so I couldn’t help myself. Buy Then Build is a book about what the author calls a new trend for entrepreneurs - to be Acquisition Entrepreneurs. To start off the book, he makes the case that something like 90% of startups fail, and those that you say succeed simply become small to medium sized enterprises with nothing special. That the ones who win in the startup game are not the entrepreneurs, but the investors. They get to spread their bets across multiple startups and just need one to win, while the entrepreneur is all in on 1 startup with a 90% chance of failure. So Walker, the author, says to instead skip past the startup phase and buy an existing business with positive cash flow. It makes sense - as he shows the numbers of failures in this stage is something like 5% (95% success rate) so the complete inverse of the startup phase. Plus, it seems cheap! Paying 2 to 4 times of SDE (seller discretionary earnings) for a company that already has product market fit and is earning positive cashflow - compare that amount of investment with what you would need to do it from scratch. The real eye opener for me was that you can finance these acquisitions with the bank. And then pay yourself salary while also paying back the bank loan - and keep 100% of the company /equity (as its a loan not equity investment). Throughout the book you get step by step instructions and almost the exact wording to use when talking to brokers and the other players in the acquisition game. My favorite part is that the author says there is tons of opportunity to be creative in these companies you acquire - and that you need to know yourself and your own strengths. Not to look for a company by industry, but more for what suits your needs as an entrepreneur / investor. And what is even cooler, you can use that cashflow to invest in growth and leverage the existing customer base on a new technology. As all so many times when starting a company you are scrambling to get customers why not by an existing company, get financing, and then plug in your technology idea into it with its existing client base. Seems like a fun game that can be repeated every five years or so (plugs into a recent post I talked about 5 year plans 999999) and you can focus on your own strengths each time - applied to existing customer bases which need your skill set. My only concern, as an American in Asia, I probably can’t tap into these bank loan options. But for many of you reading this - if you have good credit and maybe a home to put up and your personal guarantee (as a US person) it can be a great way to jump right into entrepreneurship.

I was blown away by Buy Then Build. With most business books, there are a couple pages of insight and many filler pages of fluff. It's definitively not the case with Buy Then Build. The book is jam-packed with super useful information. I love how Walker gets into the nitty-gritty details of literally everything that goes into a successful business purchase - from the terms of SBA loans, to ROI calculations, to the financial ratios that go into bank/loan covenants - he's not afraid to dive deep. I'm a data and numbers guy at heart, so I loved these details. The fact the author can talk specifics is also a testament to his real world experience acquiring companies; he definitely walks the walk (excuse my terrible pun). Furthermore, the book is not simply an outline of the mechanics of acquiring a business, but a full-on strategic roadmap for plotting your own acquisition. It goes into all of the psychological and intangible details from self-assessment of goals, how to approach brokers and run the first introduction meeting with the seller, the psychology of all the stakeholders, and much much more. It also points out all of the common pitfalls that most buyers fall into, and hence why most deals don't go through. As a current business owner and aspiring acquisition entrepreneur, I know I'm going to be using this book as a North Star when navigating my first business acquisition. If you are serious about buying a business at some point, this is THE book for you!

I believe this is my first Amazon review of a book that I have read. I read a lot of books, but none have compelled me to tell other people about it like Buy Then Build, by Walker Deibel. After spending almost two decades working for other people, I took a leap of faith and purchased a company in the months leading up to the fall of Lehman Brothers and the beginning of a pretty major recession. This was the beginning of an entrepreneurial journey that has included growing that original business by opening another location, starting up my own consulting business from scratch, joining another entrepreneur in launching a startup with several partners, and acquiring a manufacturing business. Why do I tell you this as part of my review? Because Buy Then Build tells the story of the most efficient way to become an entrepreneur and a business owner/leader - buy the business from someone else. In his book, Walker takes you through all of the steps necessary to become an Acquisition Entrepreneur - The Opportunity (of business ownership and the demographic change in America), The Evaluation (of yourself and the market itself), The Analysis (of the target business), and The Execution (of the deal and running your new business). Walker does an amazing job of documenting all the steps, but also helping you navigate the landmines that litter the landscape as you consider becoming a business owner. His details cover self-assessments, working with business brokers and "deal flow," building projections and forecasts, drafting a Letter of Intent, conducting Due Diligence, closing the deal, and running your new business in the first 90 days. I've done all of these things, but I never called it Acquisition Entrepreneurship. And I never documented the process. I am not a fast reader, but I couldn't put this book down. If you are interested in becoming a business owner or growing your current business through acquisition, I strongly encourage you to read Walker's well-written book! What about my headline? Read the book to learn about the $10 Trillion opportunity, but let's keep it a secret so we can take advantage of these conditions!

This is a great guide into entering the world of acquisition entrepreneurship. I am fairly new to the process, but the author did a pretty fantastic job in organizing the process and giving very practical advise. I definitely feel more confident venturing into these endeavors after reading the book. In fact, I would recommend reading it a few times before you take the leap if you don't have a background in this area. He also has many resources on his website of the same name, as well as an active social media account. I'll be happy to update this review as I learn more and more about this topic and have the experience of having bough a business or two. I bought this because it came highly recommended, and it didn't disappoint. I also recommend getting the audiobook and listening to it as well, but I seem to consume most of the books that way, so usually preferred for me, but I also bought this paperback so that I could take notes and digest it a little slower.