A billionaire didn’t see the vision, but we built it anyway.

Hi ,

In 2016, I pitched a billionaire on an idea: my vision to build a new platform built around competent buyers of small businesses.

He stood up and walked out.

His COO looked at me and said, “Walker, you’re trying to boil the ocean.”

That moment could have killed the idea. Instead, it became my fuel.

That meeting wasn’t going to deter me.

The Vision Becomes Proof

Within two years, I published Buy Then Build to prove that buying small businesses wasn’t a niche pursuit, but a smarter, faster approach to entrepreneurship.

The book reframed acquisition as a disciplined investment strategy. I built frameworks based on empirical evidence, data, and my experience as a decade long small business acquirer and operator. 

Entrepreneurs and investors began to see what I had seen all along: for most of us, acquisitions are a superior path to starting a business from scratch. That book sparked acquisition entrepreneurship’s push into the mainstream.

Then in 2019, my co-founder, Chelsea Wood, and I launched Acquisition Lab. From the start, our focus was simple: help entrepreneurs buy companies that already work. We built world-class curriculum, created a vetted community, and tracked success through two metrics: 

1. Our member to acquisition ratio, and

2. How well we supported them (as member reviews).

If you build it, they will come. 

Five years later, the results speak for themselves: 

• 1,000+ vetted member;, 

• a 37% acquisition rate; 

• and more than $980 million in small businesses acquired.

During this time the SMB acquisition landscape has matured.  Multiples have climbed. The cost of capital has risen. Private equity has pushed down-market, competing for deals once left to individual operators. And social media has flooded the space with “no money down” myths and quick-fix promises. The fundamentals haven’t changed, it’s just gotten more noisy.

Competent operators need more than education. They need aligned capital, standardized structures, analysts, post-close resources, and peers who understand the journey.

The Next Chapter

That’s why I’m proud to share what’s next. 

Acquisition Lab has merged with Shareholder Ventures and launched a $20 million entrepreneur-centric fund. Built by operators for operators. This ecosystem backs entrepreneurs acquiring $1–2M EBITDA companies with SBA loans. New programs expand the model further:

• A funded Entrepreneur-in-Residence program with $250K+ pre-committed before the deal.

• PACT, a standardized playbook for raising equity and structuring transactions.

• Post-close support including fractional CFO services and dedicated hiring pipelines.

• I’ve made strategic equity investments in the tech enabled brokerage Dealonomy and Dealstack.ai (Dealstack itself began as a Lab member’s acquisition).

In 2016, the vision was too early. Today, the world has caught up. This merger positions Acquisition Lab as the Y combinator of small business acquisition— the ecosystem that brings together capital, community, curriculum, and credibility to power the next decade of entrepreneurship

Welcome to Search 2.0. 

In this issue of Wealth Stack Weekly, you’ll see how this evolution creates opportunity for both entrepreneurs and investors:

• Why buying a small business can be a faster, safer path than founding one — with SBA loan data to prove it.

• How $980M in acquisitions and a 37% close rate point to an emerging model with repeatable outcomes.

• Where private equity is moving down-market, and what that means for capital allocation.

• Then decide to step into the CEO chair, or back those who do.

Let’s dive in,

— Walker Deibel
WSJ & USA Today Bestselling Author of Buy Then Build
Founder, Build Wealth

P.S. Want to learn more about investing in the small business acquisition fund, hit reply with the word “FUND.”

SHIFT YOUR STACK

Outsmart the Startup Game

For decades, entrepreneurship has carried a single dominant image: the founder starting from scratch. A blank page, a pitch deck, venture funding, and years of grinding to find product-market fit. The risk is high, the odds of survival are low, and even “success” often comes only after years of trial and error.

But there is another way. Instead of starting from zero, an entrepreneur can buy an existing business with proven cash flow, established customers, and a trained workforce already in place.The approach resembles a value-add real estate investment: acquiring a proven asset and compounding its performance, rather than building from raw land.

The Numbers Behind the Shift

The data shows how powerful this model can be. Roughly 50% of startups fail within their first five years, but acquisition entrepreneurs are buying companies that have already cleared that hurdle. And when financing is involved, banks know the difference: the probability of default for SBA business acquisition loans remains relatively low, ~2.25 %. Compare that to startup success.

Capital markets are paying attention. SBA 7(a) loan volume for acquisitions has nearly doubled in the past decade, and search fund activity has expanded more than sixfold since the early 2010s. What began as a niche experiment is now an institutionalized model generating billions in returns.

Why It Matters Now

Baby Boomers own more small and mid-sized businesses than any other generation in history and they’re retiring. Roughly 11,000 Baby Boomers reach retirement age every day, representing an estimated $10 trillion in business assets that need new owners by the end of the decade. For acquisition entrepreneurs, that’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity coming to market.

For entrepreneurs, this path offers credibility, customers, and cash flow from day one. Instead of spending years in survival mode, they can focus on growth.

For investors, the implications are even bigger. Backing acquisition entrepreneurs means exposure to durable, cash-flowing assets purchased at valuations far below those in venture capital or large private equity. With more operators pursuing acquisitions — and more infrastructure supporting them — small business ownership is becoming investable at scale.

Read the Full Report HERE

CASE STUDY

When an Asset Class Matures

The merger of Acquisition Lab and Shareholder Ventures marks a turning point for acquisition entrepreneurship. For years, the model lived in a gray area. Too small for private equity, too structured for traditional small-business ownership. Individual operators proved it could work, but the results were scattered and difficult to scale. 

Now, the infrastructure is catching up. The systems, capital, and standardization that defined the rise of venture-backed startups in the 2000s are being built for small-business acquisitions today. This moment is where a movement becomes an asset class.

The Efficiency Layer

At its core, Search 2.0, our new entrepreneur-centric fund, is about efficiency. Compressing what once took years of fragmented effort into a repeatable process.

• Capital alignment: Entrepreneurs now have access to pre-committed funding and analysis support through structured vehicles like the $20 million Shareholder Ventures fund, bridging the gap between education and execution.

• Standardization: Frameworks such as PACT are creating uniform deal structures and equity models that allow investors to underwrite these deals with greater confidence.

• Post-close support: Fractional CFO programs and hiring pipelines reduce operational risk after acquisition, addressing the weak point that plagued early operators.

This structure turns a once-manual pursuit into a scalable model with predictable inputs and measurable outcomes.

The Data Shift

The data is telling a great story.

• $980 million in small-business acquisitions completed by Acquisition Lab members.

• A 37 percent acquisition rate, compared with 5–10 percent averages among self-funded searchers.

• Over 1,500 sub-$25 million buyouts closed in 2024, as institutional capital increasingly enters this segment.

• Median EBITDA multiples in the lower-middle market have climbed from roughly 4.5× a decade ago to more than 6× today.

• The U.S. small-business acquisition market already measures in the tens of billions each year. For example, Q1 2025 alone saw $7.59 billion in closed deals across 9,546 transactions (BizBuySell)., a pool large enough to attract dedicated funds and repeatable investment strategies.

Why It Matters for Investors

For investors, this shift signals a new chapter in private markets. What began as isolated entrepreneurial experiments has become organized enough to attract institutional attention.

The maturation of acquisition entrepreneurship mirrors the moment when venture capital discovered startups: a repeatable playbook paired with rising deal flow and infrastructure built for scale. 

Search 2.0 delivers that same foundation for small-business acquisitions, offering investors access to standardized processes, qualified operators, and a growing pipeline of durable, cash-flowing assets.

We’re early in this asset class, but the frameworks are already reshaping how capital meets operators. The next phase will belong to investors who recognize the category while it’s still inefficient.

THE PLAYBOOK

The Choice is Yours: Operator or Investor?

The evolution of acquisition entrepreneurship sets up a choice for would be investors: buy the business and become the operator, or supply operators with capital for passive exposure to this emerging asset class.

Path 1: The Operator Path

Becoming the operator means stepping into the CEO seat of a profitable company.

• Upside: Direct control, wealth creation through ownership, equity build, and steady cash flow.

• Proof: More than $980M in acquisitions have been closed by Acquisition Lab members, with a 37% acquisition rate.

• Profile fit: Ambitious professionals who want to lead teams, manage growth, and build long-term value.

• Pathway: The frameworks and peer community created through Acquisition Lab and the broader Search 2.0 ecosystem.

Path 2: The Investor Path

Becoming the investor means backing the new generation of operators. Instead of chasing volatile markets, investors gain exposure to durable small businesses purchased at rational multiples.

• Upside: Access to private-market returns, income streams from established companies, and portfolio diversification.

• Proof: In 2024 alone, over 1,500 sub-$25M buyouts closed in the U.S., signaling institutional capital is already moving into the space.

• Profile fit: Accredited investors who want exposure to private markets, cash flow, and uncorrelated returns.

• Pathway: Funds like Shareholder Ventures, co-investments, and syndications emerging from the ecosystem.

The Decision

Both roles matter. Operators create value on the ground. Investors supply the capital that turns individual deals into an asset class. Together, they tackle the $10 trillion tsunami of transitioning business assets from Baby Boomers over the next 5 years - and laying the foundation for what comes next: a more scalable, institutionalized model of entrepreneurship built on acquisition, not invention.

The infrastructure is built and the deals are flowing. Let’s go.

WEALTH STACK REBELLION

Wealth Is Built on What’s Real

“The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer” — Nolan Bushnell

The core lesson of this issue goes beyond entrepreneurship or deal mechanics. It’s about how lasting wealth is built.

For decades, speculation defined the playbook: founders chasing scale, investors chasing multiples. The compounding edge has now moved toward the tangible: productive small businesses with steady cash flow, led by capable operators and backed by aligned capital.

Global wealth is already shifting in that direction. Over $12 trillion in U.S. defined-contribution assets is now seen as a frontier for private market allocation.  This expected migration is driven by the search for yield, stability, and real-world value creation.

This is where the next generation of wealth will be created. Ownership of productive assets compounds differently. It grows quietly, month after month, through businesses that serve customers and generate cash flow in the real economy.

What we need to work on is trading the illusion of liquidity for the reliability of productivity.

That’s the rebellion. And we’re already underway.

WHAT WE ARE READING

The Weirdest Small Businesses for Sale on BizBuySell

Search Funds Show Strong Performance in Acquisitions and Returns

America’s small businesses: Time to think big

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