A detailed examination of how entrepreneurs can often have more success - financial and operational - with buying an established, growing company, rather than creating a start-up from nothing.

Entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA), also known as Acquisition Entrepreneurship, allows entrepreneurs to leverage their skills, capabilities, and interests to purchase an existing business and grow and improve it from within. ETA can be an easier form of entrepreneurship than a traditional start-up (as an established business is being taken over) and one in which interest is growing exponentially.

There are now a significant number of search funds in the US and this number is increasing in the UK, too. From current MBA graduates, to thriving corporate managers looking to strike out on their own, to retiring business owners seeking to exit the market and sell their business on, ETA through search funds is becoming an increasingly popular choice.

Buy Up, Don't Start Up is rooted the real-life business experiences of the author, as well as case studies from across a range of sectors. It explains how to run a business, how to find and value companies, how to fund acquisitions and negotiate deals, how to manage mergers and – often very importantly – what to do if things start to go wrong.