CHAPTER 3

The Acquisition Process

The process of finding and buying a company is likely to be one of the most interesting and challenging experiences of your professional life. Interesting because you will learn about many different businesses, meet all types of people, and think through decisions that will shape the direction of your career. And challenging, both physically and emotionally, because until you buy a business, there is no end to the amount of self-structured work you can be doing. The process generally takes between six months and two years of full-time effort.

The rest of this book describes that process in detail, but this chapter will give you an overview so that you can understand what to expect—what the steps are, and how ...

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