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Think Big, Buy Small

Think Big, Buy Small

著者： Harvard Business School
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概要
 Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own startup seem too risky? There's another compelling path open to you: acquiring a small business and running it as CEO. Co-hosted by Harvard Business School Professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff, the show is an extension of their courses on small firms, including Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, which has been taken by thousands of MBA students, and their highly-regarded book, HBR Guide To Buying A Small Business, which has sold more than 65,000 copies. In this series, Rick and Royce guide listeners through the different milestones of the journey to acquiring an enduringly profitable small business, sharing insights on how to evaluate prospects, raise capital, and ultimately determine if this path is right for you.Harvard Business School マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ リーダーシップ 出世 就職活動 経済学
エピソード
  • Turning Corporate Experience Into Acquisition Entrepreneurship

    Turning Corporate Experience Into Acquisition Entrepreneurship
    2026/11/09
    Kyle Poll had built a successful career at LinkedIn and Gympass, but he found himself looking for something more entrepreneurial. With five children, a mortgage, and a comfortable career, leaving his corporate life to search full-time for a company to buy was not an obvious choice. Yet Kyle and his wife had built enough financial flexibility to make the leap, and after nearly a year of searching, he acquired GetOutPass, a subscription-based family entertainment business, and merged it with its primary competitor, PogoPass. In this episode, Kyle shares how his experience in enterprise sales shaped his approach to finding and acquiring a business. He explains why he treated relationships with brokers as a systematic sales effort, how his background at Gympass helped him connect with the sellers of GetOutPass, and how he navigated a deal involving multiple owners with competing objectives. Kyle also discusses the challenges of bringing two competing companies together – including the integration of teams, technology, markets, and cultures – and the lessons he learned during his first year as a new owner. Together, they explore what Kyle’s experience reveals about the importance of financial preparation, understanding the motivations of all parties in a transaction, and approaching acquisition entrepreneurship with humility and persistence. Ultimately, Kyle’s journey shows how the skills and relationships built over a successful corporate career can become powerful assets in the pursuit of business ownership.
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    53 分
  • Building an HVAC Roll-Up in France

    Building an HVAC Roll-Up in France
    2026/11/02
    Entrepreneurship through acquisition is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon, and in this episode Rick and Royce speak with Louis-Clair Francois-Poncet, an HBS alum who returned to his native France after business school to pursue ETA alongside a longtime friend. Since launching their roll-up in 2022, they have acquired fifteen HVAC businesses, combining them under a single company while still preserving the local brands and cultures that made each one successful. Louis-Clair shares how he identified HVAC as an attractive sector, raised capital from French investors, and built deal flow by establishing credibility with business owners. Along the way, they explore the differences between pursuing ETA in France and North America, the distinct motivations of business owners who sell without wanting to retire, the power of bringing professional management and information systems to small businesses, and how a roll-up can create value not simply through economies of scale, but by better management, technology, recruiting, and shared resources. The conversation also considers what it means to build an entrepreneurial career around a unified professional and personal life, and why businesses that depend on skilled tradespeople may prove particularly resilient in an age of rapid technological change. Ultimately, Louis-Clair’s experience offers a compelling look at how the ETA model can travel across borders and how entrepreneurs can adapt it to local markets while still preserving the fundamental principles that make the model work.
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    52 分
  • Navigating the Legal Process of Buying a Small Business

    Navigating the Legal Process of Buying a Small Business
    2026/10/26
    Buying a small business involves much more than simply agreeing on a price. To explore the legal process of getting a deal across the finish line, Rick and Royce are joined in the studio by Jared Shwartz, a mergers and acquisitions attorney who specializes in smaller firms. Jared shares many lessons from his extensive experience representing both buyers and sellers, including how to choose an advisor with the right small business M&A background, what information belongs in a letter of intent, and why working capital can become one of the biggest sources of deal friction. They also discuss the importance of identifying potential obstacles early in the process, such as multiple owners, complicated corporate structures, third-party consents, and financing challenges; how to navigate negotiations without creating deal fatigue; and why maintaining a strong relationship with the seller can be critical even after a deal closes. Throughout the conversation, listeners will hear practical insights into managing risk, avoiding surprises, and using the legal process to increase the likelihood that a transaction gets done.
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    57 分
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