What Acquiring Minds does

Acquiring Minds is a media platform serving acquisition entrepreneurs — individuals pursuing or considering the purchase of small businesses — through a long-running podcast hosted by Will Smith, a complementary webinar series, and the ETA Database, a searchable archive of past episodes and recordings. The platform distributes content through podcast apps, a YouTube channel, a company website, and a newsletter community of approximately 4,778 subscribers. Content is free to access for the audience, and the platform's product surface is built around accumulated editorial output rather than licensed or subscription-delivered software.

The core product is the podcast, with more than 450 published episodes featuring practitioners, investors, and operators sharing deal stories and frameworks relevant to the lower-middle-market acquisition path. The webinar series, with more than 30 archived recordings, functions as a secondary content format that deepens engagement with the same audience. The ETA Database extends the product surface into on-demand reference, allowing listeners to search the archive of episodes and webinars.

Acquiring Minds generates revenue primarily through podcast and event sponsorships. Three partners are disclosed: Acquisition Lab, positioned as a core partner offering search fund and acquisition resources; Oberle Risk Strategies, an insurance advisory; and Pioneer Capital Advisory, an SBA lender. The business operates as a privately held, US-based content venture with no public funding history, no disclosed headcount, and no premium subscription or licensing tier.

Name

Acquiring Minds

Legal name

Acquiring Minds

Website

https://acquiringminds.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Acquiring Minds is a media platform serving acquisition entrepreneurs through a podcast with 450+ episodes, a webinar archive of 30+ recordings, and the ETA Database searchable content archive, monetized via podcast sponsorships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Acquisition Entrepreneurship Media

NAICS

Sound Recording Industries (5122), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Creator Tools & Monetization Platforms (Podcasts/Audio) (MPAIADAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Innovation & Design Thinking Programs (EDAMAHAD)

Keywords

• Business acquisition podcast
• Acquisition entrepreneurship education
• Search fund resources
• SBA lending education
• Small business buying content

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Podcast/Sponsorship Revenue: Acquiring Minds generates revenue through podcast sponsorships. The podcast features sponsor segments for companies serving the acquisition entrepreneur ecosystem, including insurance brokers (Oberle Risk Strategies), SBA lenders (Pioneer Capital Advisory), and business acquisition ecosystems (Acquisition Lab).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Acquiring Minds is a media platform that produces and distributes original podcast episodes and webinars teaching individuals how to buy, own, and operate small businesses. The content features interviews with acquisition entrepreneurs sharing real deal stories, plus technical sessions on SBA lending, due diligence, and deal structuring, supported by a free email newsletter community of acquisition entrepreneurs.

Product overview

Acquiring Minds is a media platform focused on Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA), offering a podcast and webinar series. The core product is the Acquiring Minds Podcast featuring interviews with business buyers sharing acquisition stories, complemented by live and recorded webinars on acquisition topics. An additional resource is the ETA Database, a searchable archive of podcast episodes. The platform positions itself as a community and educational resource for acquisition entrepreneurs, providing content on deal sourcing, financing (SBA loans), deal structuring, and operations management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Acquiring Minds Podcast A long-form podcast featuring interviews with acquisition entrepreneurs sharing their stories of buying, owning, and operating small businesses. Episodes cover various acquisition models, industries, deal structures, and financing approaches, distributed via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, and YouTube.
• Acquiring Minds Webinars Live and recorded webinar sessions covering technical topics related to business acquisition such as SBA loans, due diligence, deal structuring, financing, and working capital. Features expert speakers including SBA lenders, attorneys, and experienced acquisition entrepreneurs, delivered via Zoom with recordings published afterward.
• ETA Database A searchable, filterable online archive of over 450 Acquiring Minds podcast episodes, cataloged by industry, acquisition model, geography, and other criteria. Functions as a reference resource for the acquisition entrepreneur community.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Oberle Risk StrategiesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerInsurance brokerage serving searchers and acquisition entrepreneurs. Oberle, led by former searcher August Felker, provides complimentary due diligence on insurance and benefits programs for businesses under LOI. Mentioned as sponsor segment in podcast episodes.
• Pioneer Capital AdvisoryminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSBA loan team focused on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses. Pioneer Capital Advisory has closed 100+ SBA loans with timelines below industry standards. Matthias Smith and Valerie Stash lead the team providing conventional debt on top of SBA 7 loans.
• Acquisition LabcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerComplete ecosystem for acquisition entrepreneurs including education, capital access, community, and post-close support. Founded by Walker Deibel, the Lab has 1,200 members who have acquired over $1B in businesses over six years with a 40% success rate. Provides deal reviews, active community, post-close services, and a dedicated fund for larger acquisitions.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Flippa: Flippa is an online marketplace for buying and selling websites and small businesses with content, deal data, and a buyer community. It shares the buyer-ecosystem audience with Acquiring Minds and competes for the same SMB-acquisition attention via content.
• BizBuySell: BizBuySell is the largest US marketplace for buying and selling small businesses, with educational content and listings targeted at prospective buyers. It competes for the same searcher audience and owns a much larger but less specialized content footprint.
• Indie Hackers: Indie Hackers is a larger content community/interview platform for solo founders and bootstrapped operators, monetized via sponsorships and community. It shares the founder-interview podcast model and sponsorship-driven revenue model with Acquiring Minds but targets startup operators rather than acquirers.
• Acquire.com (formerly MicroAcquire): Acquire.com is a marketplace for buying and selling small internet businesses, with a sizable audience of acquisition-oriented founders. It overlaps in the buyer-ecosystem audience with Acquiring Minds and operates a content/newsletter layer that competes for the same attention.

Direct peers

• Search Fund Partners: Search Fund Partners provides a directory and community resources for the search fund / ETA model, including content and webinars for prospective searchers. It overlaps directly with Acquiring Minds in audience and mission of educating acquisition entrepreneurs.
• Acquisition Lab: Acquisition Lab is a full ecosystem for acquisition entrepreneurs offering education, capital access, and post-close support with ~1,200 members who have acquired over $1B in businesses. It is already a core sponsor of Acquiring Minds but competes directly for the same ETA persona via community and educational content.
• Acquisitions Anonymous: Acquisitions Anonymous is a long-running podcast focused on buying and operating small businesses, covering deal sourcing, financing, and operator stories. It is the closest direct competitor to Acquiring Minds in format (podcast-first), audience (aspiring and active searchers), and category (ETA/SMB acquisitions).

Regional players

• Quiet Light Brokerage: Quiet Light is a US-focused business brokerage that produces educational content and podcasts aimed at people buying and selling online businesses. It overlaps in educational content for acquirers but is primarily a transactional brokerage rather than a pure media platform.

Emerging players

• Starter Story: Starter Story is an interview-based content platform profiling founders and their businesses. It shares the founder-interview podcast/content model and sponsorship monetization but focuses on startup founders rather than business acquirers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AcquiringMinds_
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@AcquiringMinds
• Facebooklinkedin.com/company/acquiring-minds
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/acquiring-minds

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Acquiring Minds