10d • General discussion
Buying a Business is a Longer Journey
I naturally lean toward sprints.
Momentum feels good. Fast action. Visible progress. That’s where I’m most comfortable.
The frustrating part about buying a business is that the process behaves more like a marathon.
Finding the right deal usually takes longer than you think. So does becoming the kind of buyer that sellers and brokers actually want to work with.
Something I wish I’d understood earlier: the answer wasn’t rushing to make an offer before I was ready.
The shift happened when I started treating the search itself as part of the work.
One idea that changed how I approach acquisitions: radical incrementalism.
Commit to 30–40 conversations with brokers and sellers before making major decisions. Review dozens of businesses before forming rigid opinions about what you want.
In the beginning, the goal isn’t necessarily to find the deal. It’s to calibrate your judgment.
Every conversation sharpens pattern recognition. And every business teaches you something the previous one didn’t.
Most buyers stop searching too early. Or they fall in love with the second business they see because they haven’t seen enough yet.
There’s a Latin phrase I keep coming back to: festina lente. “Make haste slowly.”
Move with urgency in your outreach. Build conviction with patience.
Part of that also means preparing mentally for what the search actually looks like:
• Set a conversation target before setting a closing target
• Start reaching out before you feel fully ready
• Build a pipeline wide enough that no single deal feels like your only option
The road is long either way.
Worth learning how to walk it with intention... and even learn how to enjoy the process. This is the best way to do it.
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Buying a Business is a Longer Journey
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