"When people envision entrepreneurial endeavors, they typically think about starting a small business on a bootstrap budget or raising third-party equity from venture-capital firms. But there is a less-discussed alternative: acquiring a small business from a retiring founder or family to run. Although this is not a new phenomenon, in recent years, it has emerged as a formal discipline — called Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, or ETA — that some business schools are spotlighting with dedicated academic courses, blogs, white papers, podcast content, conferences and the like.
Now is a good time for the entrepreneurially minded to explore ETA."