Learn How to Buy Your First Small Business
Join 700+ students outsmarting startup hustle culture. Get the tools & network you need to find and close a small business acquisition.
Join the alumni and become your own boss
In the age of rising prices, Colin’s Micro-PE course is the highest ROI you’re going to find in your search for a business to acquire.
It’s full of real ‘meat and potatoes’ content, actionable, real world advice and is a blueprint for searching for and closing on a micro SaaS or other digital business.
Never mind the added bonus of plugging in to a community of people with the same goal!
Acquired Apex Motorsport (online retailer)
I found Colin's Indie PE course to be very valuable, and most importantly, very actionable. He hits on all the key topics in a thoughtful sequence with excellent frameworks and templates to work from. No brainer ROI. Highly recommend.
Acquired business management SaaS for creatives
This is a really good course to learn about small business acquisitions.
Tons of great intro content, templates and tips for both beginners and those already searching for something to buy.
Acquired StandupBot & Launched Sidenote (SaaS holding company)
As someone coming from a business background, Colin brings a lot of value to the Micro-PE industry with this essential course that covers all the basic things you would need to get your foot in the door of Micro PE.
His simple and well-organized approach making it easy for you to understand the whole life-cycle of an actual micro acquisition. I recommend the course to anyone interested in the world of Micro PE. Also to founders to know the do's and don'ts when selling a business
Not coming from a 1) Technical & 2) Traditional banking background had been barriers to entry evaluating Micro PE opportunities. Those days are gone thanks to Colin's course.
Great course! It's a great overview of the microPE space — I especially loved the "Structuring a Deal" section with sample deal structures, super helpful! 🙌
Indie PE is an eye-opening course. The prospect of building wealth through buying an online business can seem incredibly daunting if you're a first timer like me.
Because the Indie PE course holds your hand every step of the way, you come to realize it is not only possible to buy a business and start to build wealth, but extremely probable assuming (1) you have the right mindset, and (2) you use the Indie PE course as a blueprint.
The email templates for reaching out to prospective businesses is invaluable. I also love how the Indie PE course provides actionable steps to improve an online business after you've purchased it and therefore increase its value.
Starting companies is hard.
If you are here, you probably already know that.
Startups fail 90% of the time.
And if they survive they rarely reach $1 million in sales and even more rarely $100k+ in profit for the entrepreneur.
I know because I’ve been there. Dozens of times.
Wandering in the wilderness with a new startup. Trying to find the elusive product-market fit.
You work really hard just to find a few customers. Way harder than anyone ever should.
And in the end, you rarely have anything to show for it.
What if you could skip the broke wandering in the wilderness phase?
And instead, make real money on day one.
This is what I am here to teach you. How to be an entrepreneur through acquisition.
Buying a small business may seem scary, but it doesn’t have to be.
I’ll share all I've learned during these last 10+ years buying and building businesses.
This comprehensive step-by-step course will teach you how to buy your first small business and save you from some of that time and frustration.
I have an MBA from the University of Chicago, but realistically I figured most of this out by trial and error.
I wasn’t handed anything and you won’t need to be either.
This is the path that no one ever tells you about. Not your boss. Not your teachers. Not your parents.
It took many years of observing how others approach buying businesses, doing my own deals, making a thousand mistakes, and finally finding solutions that work.
Eventually, I got it down pat.
Cash flow delivered while you sleep.
Although I’m constantly learning something new, I have discovered many things that work for me every single time.
I will walk you through my entire process. From the way I find businesses to buy, my thoughts on what to look for when evaluating a business, how to negotiate a price and creatively structure a deal, and finally how to close and ensure a successful transition.
I’ll share my templates for everything and walk you through deals we've done. You will see my thinking each step of the way so you won’t have to guess what to do next.
This is not a course for entertainment.
I am here to help you buy a small business yourself. Not waste your time with high-level stories.
I want to change your life and make you an owner.
We will outsmart the startup hustle culture while still achieving the business owner’s lifestyle.
This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes work.
But together we will put you on a path that all private equity people know to consistently generate wealth and freedom.
You can replay these videos and return to these templates as many times as you wish. No rush.
At the end of this course, you will have the confidence and tools to buy your own small business without fear.
What you'll leave with
A Concrete Plan
Understand your skills, decide on what your target deal looks like, and set up your legal entity to be ready for your acquisition.
Streamlined Search Process
Finding the perfect business to buy is hard. We will start to build top-quality deal flow together. You don't have to settle. By the end, you will have contacted brokers, owners, and marketplaces in your space.
First Deal Analyzed
How do you know if you've found a great deal? We go through how to diligence your deal qualitatively and quantitatively with financial modeling templates and diligence checklists.
Lifelong Community / Network
Searching is more fun with friends. Your acquisition peers will hold you accountable in your search. And our ever-expanding list of trusted service providers will give you the confidence to close a deal.
Creative Finance Options
We go through creative ways to fund and structure your deals for maximum returns and minimum money upfront. You don't need as much money as you think you do.
Confidence to Close
When you find the right business to buy, you will have the resources, tools, service providers, and network needed to close quickly.
Featured Deal Breakdowns
Sourcing, Negotiation, Deal Structure, & Improvement Plan
Lifetime Community Access
Join the alumni-only community where we share ideas, deals and feedback on how to buy, sell and build businesses.
Ensure your success by engaging with like-minded individuals working towards the same goal of freedom through small business acquisition.
All current students have lifetime access to the community for no additional cost. Future students will have to pay an annual fee.
All the Templates & Resources to Complete an Acquisition
Letter of Intent Template
Show that you are serious about continuing towards a purchase.
Non-Disclosure Agreement Template
Enforce the confidentiality between the buyer and seller.
Purchase Agreement Template
Put the terms of your acquisition into writing with this contract.
Deal Structure Examples
Be inspired by how others are structuring deals with these real-life examples of low upfront investment.
Outbound Email Scripts
Use these templates to find new businesses to buy without competition.
List of Deal Sources
An ever-growing list of marketplaces, brokers, and other sources to find opportunities.
Diligence Checklist
(Asset & Equity Purchase)
Make sure you dot all the I's and cross all the T's before closing a deal with our checklist.
General Transition Guide
After you close an acquisition, make sure it is smooth transition and nothing is lost.
Financial Modeling Template
Model out your acquisition financials in this simple to understand sheet. No MBA required.
Building Own Dealflow Live Example
We walk through building out a list of prospects that fit your ideal business to buy and how to find their contact info.
Negotiation Walkthrough Live
Be ready with responses for all the different possible situations that come up in a negotiation.
Business Valuation Cheatsheet
Not sure what a business is worth? We walk you through what different types of businesses are worth so you get a great deal.
Say goodbye to working on someone else's business
Of the three ETA courses I've taken, IndiePE represents the best overall ROI by a long shot. I especially appreciate Colin's philosophy of abundance, desire to build up the ETA community and unique insights into software focused ETA. Colin's built something special, and I'm grateful for his generosity in sharing his experience with the ETA community. I just wanted to share a personal note of gratitude.
Colin's course was really instrumental in me getting out there, looking at deals, making offers, and now closing one!
He breaks it down step by step: how to search for deals, how to evaluate them, and how to close them.
But most importantly, Colin's kind and direct demeanor shines through. It's very apparent he treats sellers with respect while still insisting on a great return for him and his team's time and money. And he'll teach you how to do just that in this course!
Acquired Quickstaff (SaaS for event staff)
The Micro PE course clearly and concisely covered a wide range of topics at a depth that fast tracked my comfort level in jumping into the micro-PE world.
The Indie PE team's ability to cover best practices as well as more complex ideas strikes a balance that I think both beginners & folks more well-versed in the field would find extremely beneficial.
The course was very helpful and well worth the low price. Increasing the price to several thousand dollars would be fair btw. Anyone considering dropping millions or even thousands on deals should pay $2k easy for this to avoid making costly mistakes.
Great course that I would recommend to anyone that is looking make a micro acquisition. There were lots of different parts covered in the course from searching for deals to transition and post-acquisition. There were also lots of templates to help guide anyone through the process.
The Micro PE course was great. Colin's teaching was excellent.
He was super quick to the point but seemed to get everything across that I needed to know.
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Hello! Colin here 👋
I wish I discovered acquisitions earlier. I wasted years on countless projects struggling to get off the ground.
Until I learned that you can just buy a working company. And creatively structure the acquisition so you don't need much money to do it.
After my first acquisition I was hooked. No more elusive product-market fit. Instant customers and a business with real revenue to grow.
Now we get cashflow from every new acquisition on day one at our holding company. It has been life-changing for me and I know it will be the same for you.
I can't wait to see you on the other side.
@ColinKeeley
My writings
My podcast
My guest podcasts
Have questions, we have answers
Will this course be updated?
Yes! I've more than doubled the course content since launching. I continue to add lectures based on student questions all the time. This is very much a living course.
Do I need to be "rich" to buy a business?
Absolutely not. Creativity is the name of the game here. You can negotiate for "seller side financing" (covered in the course), which let's you buy the company with the company's own profits. I know it sounds crazy, but it's common in these transactions. You can also get a loan from the government (SBA) and put only 5% down. We cover tons of creative financing options in the course and have a guest lecture from the #1 provider of SBA loans.
How long will it take me to get through the course?
The course is dense. You can speed run through it in a day, but you will likely spend many times that reviewing and returning to the relevant material and templates as you move through acquisitions.
Is this focused on only SaaS businesses?
No. I know SaaS the best and use many SaaS examples, but we have alumni that have bought almost every local business imaginable. The mechanics of searching for, negotiating, and buying a business are almost all the same from SaaS, e-commerce, online content businesses to the local business down the street.
Is this for US residents only? Is this internationally relevant?
The legal templates are aimed at doing business in the US, but everything else is applicable worldwide. If there is enough demand, I'll look at bringing on guest lecturers for non-US focused content.
Will you help me find businesses to acquire?
Yes, included in this course is a list of great marketplaces, brokers, and communities with more deal flow than any one person can possibly go through. I'll also teach you how to build up your own proprietary deal flow.
I've never bought a business before. Is this for me?
Yes! I built this course exactly for someone that has never bought a business before. I promise it is a lot less scary than it seems from the outside. I walk you through all the steps and assume you don't have a finance degree or a background in any of this.
How long does it take to buy a business?
That depends on how targeted you are in your search, the amount of time you commit to the process, the size of the deal and financing. We have had some members complete their first deal in under a week while other take several months.
Do I need to know how to "code" to buy an online company?
No. I don't know how to code much at all. It helps when buying a tech company that requires managing developers to speak their language, but that doesn't require coding ability. Many small companies don't require developers as well.
Can I request a lecture? Suggest a guest?
Absolutely just shoot me a DM on Twitter @ColinKeeley.
Money Back Guarantee
We want this investment to be 100% risk-free. If you watch the lessons, complete the deliverables, and still don’t find the course valuable, we’ll happily refund your full payment within 30 days.