Welcome to BuyME a Business! Entrepreneurship through acquisition – or ETA – is one pathway to building a career as an entrepreneur, whether buying a business as a means of launching your own venture idea or using acquisition to expand and scale a venture you’ve already started. But how do you know where to start in the journey to buying a business? This course is designed to answer those initial questions!

Through approachable learning activities, this badge gives you a real-world, no-fluff look at what it actually takes to buy and take over a business successfully. By the end of this minicourse, you will be better able to identify and articulate your “why” – the driving force behind your search to acquire an entrepreneurial venture, which frames the search process and the aspects you’ll want to evaluate in potential acquisitions. You will also develop a better understanding of how that search process typically unfolds, including elements like business valuation, conducting due diligence as a buyer, financing the purchase, and the types of documents needed to prepare for a purchase.

After completing asynchronous learning activities that introduce you to concepts and initial resources, you can earn the BuyME a Business Foundations Micro-Badge, which you can communicate to lenders, ETA consultants, and others to demonstrate that you’ve completed the initial preparation for venture acquisition. Those who earn the Foundations badge can also enroll in a BuyME Advanced workshop, where they can apply their skills to create a business acquisition plan, receiving additional training and support from University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine Business School experts.

Value of the (Fees covered by a grant for the first cohort.)
Foundation Course: $25
Advanced Workshop: $300

Technology Requirements: This course content will be entirely online on Brightspace. An email address, access to a reliable internet connection, the newest version of your web browser, and an electronic device (i.e. laptop, desktop, iPad, or tablet) with video/audio capabilities are required to complete this course.