Buy Your Next Startup
After hearing Roy Terracina’s story during another amazing capstone class, I realized I had missed something huge. You can buy companies. Whether it be a startup, a small mom and pop shop, or a larger corporation, business go up for sale every day. While of course I knew this occurred, what didn’t occur to me was that buying one of these business could be the way I start my entrepreneurial career.
Roy bought his first company selling MREs to the military in order to provide for his family. After a war increased his production, he quickly saw profits increase and after a while ended up selling the business. After that he has own more businesses than I can count, from spas to clothing chains and more. What really struck me was that most of his businesses, he either buys or invests in. And he is still an entrepreneur.
After hearing his talk, I have realized that the startup story is one that is overly glorified. Being able to grow your own idea into a successful venture in inherently more sexy than buying someone else’s great idea. However I think that buying businesses is such a valuable way to gain experience running a business and one where there is already so much figured out. There would already be inventory and processes in place for running the business, solving issues startups would have to deal with from the start.
That said, buying businesses also comes with baggage, old employees and old processes that may need to be changed in order to innovate. If one is considering buying a business, it is important to understand all the components. Roy also had advice for the class looking to pursue buying a business. He said to try finding successful business that simply want to retire as they are less likely to have issues within their organization and are simply looking for an exit.
While buying businesses seems like a smart hack to an entrepreneurial career to me, I do realize that it is not for everyone pursuing entrepreneurship. There is definitely something to be said about being passionate about your idea. However, if there is a business out there you are excited about and it’s up for sale - I would jump on that opportunity.
-Kylie Moden
Roy bought his first company selling MREs to the military in order to provide for his family. After a war increased his production, he quickly saw profits increase and after a while ended up selling the business. After that he has own more businesses than I can count, from spas to clothing chains and more. What really struck me was that most of his businesses, he either buys or invests in. And he is still an entrepreneur.
After hearing his talk, I have realized that the startup story is one that is overly glorified. Being able to grow your own idea into a successful venture in inherently more sexy than buying someone else’s great idea. However I think that buying businesses is such a valuable way to gain experience running a business and one where there is already so much figured out. There would already be inventory and processes in place for running the business, solving issues startups would have to deal with from the start.
That said, buying businesses also comes with baggage, old employees and old processes that may need to be changed in order to innovate. If one is considering buying a business, it is important to understand all the components. Roy also had advice for the class looking to pursue buying a business. He said to try finding successful business that simply want to retire as they are less likely to have issues within their organization and are simply looking for an exit.
While buying businesses seems like a smart hack to an entrepreneurial career to me, I do realize that it is not for everyone pursuing entrepreneurship. There is definitely something to be said about being passionate about your idea. However, if there is a business out there you are excited about and it’s up for sale - I would jump on that opportunity.
-Kylie Moden
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