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A worker arrives at his office in the Canary Wharf business district in London February 26, 2014.
A worker arrives at his office in the Canary Wharf business district in London February 26, 2014. Reuters / Eddie Keogh

It is no secret that the global pandemic has squeezed thousands of small businesses to breaking point. Covid-19 has caused severe supply chain disruptions, and businesses are still suffering the after-effects of reduced footfall during quarantine.

Paradoxically, during the height of the pandemic the number of new start-ups sharply increased by 24%. Spending more time at home seemingly gave many people the freedom to release the big business idea they’d been keeping cooped up while they trudged to their 9-to-5s.

However, the life of a start-up entrepreneur is renowned for being tough and unforgiving. Aside from the financial insecurity, start-ups suffer from a lack of trust from lenders, the need to pump funds into shaping a brand identity, and the time-consuming task of building a network of customers and contacts from scratch.

Acquisitionpreneur aims to help those that want to build a business and experience the freedom of being your own boss, without having to undergo the sacrifices and uncertainty that are inevitably involved when founding a start-up.

Kyle Mallien and Michael Byars, Acquisitionpreneur’s Co-Founders, are using their fifteen years of acquisition experience to help people to understand the market, and to learn how to follow in their footsteps. A key message they convey is that this is possible for people from all walks of life, whether they already have some investments and capital under their belt, or whether they are starting with no experience and little-to-no capital.

Through their various investments, Kyle and Michael consistently amassed $140 million in total sales each year. They were inspired to start Acquisitionpreneur after developing a clear investment criteria and strategy - which they term the ‘Wall Street Exit Method’ - and felt compelled to share what they’d learned with others.

The acquisition field can often seem opaque and out-of-reach, but Kyle and Michael hope to demonstrate that this is accessible and doable without large funds - if you follow the right steps. Acquiring a $5 million company when you quite simply don’t have $5 million seems like an impossible mountain to scale. Acquisitionpreneur opens people’s eyes to a climbing path they didn’t know existed.

Kyle Mallien
Kyle Mallien Kyle Mallien

The coaching program covers areas such as how to finance the deal, the specific attributes to look for when choosing a business to invest in, and viable alternatives to buying the business outright. This has previously been seen by many as a closed field, where if you did not learn the fundamentals at college and if you don’t know the terminology, then there is no possible inroad to acquisition. Acquisitionpreneur is leveling the playing field, and making a potentially highly profitable career path accessible to non-experts.

A number of Kyle and Michael’s students are in real estate, with a basic understanding of certain aspects of investing, such as ‘good debt’ and ‘bad debt’, for example. But a significant portion of people that enroll for Acquisitionpreneur’s program are in a 9-to-5 job, and aspire to run a business but desperately want to avoid the ‘start-up hell’ that entrepreneurs so often find themselves in.

The emphasis of the program is on teaching students how to acquire seven-to-eight figure businesses, and the sessions are run via a combination of zoom meetings and live in-person events. An integral aspect of Kyle and Michael’s mission is to build a strong sense of community between the entrepreneurs, and they have a members-only Facebook group in which people regularly share ideas and tips. This provides the perfect environment for continuing the learning process long after the Acquisitionpreneur masterclasses have been completed.

As is so often the case in life, the starting point is a change in mentality. Too often, we are limited by our own perceived horizons - many would love to run a multi-million dollar business, but do not believe it is something they are capable of. This is the central goal of Acquisitionpreneur: to help people to realize that, with good guidance, all of this success is very much within their grasp.