01 / Why now
Succession is coming.
Thousands of Canadian owner-operators are approaching retirement without a clear successor.
Succession
starts here.
Schulich ETA helps students learn how small businesses are bought, operated, and grown in Canada.
Our mission
A clearer path
to ownership.
Business schools usually teach two paths: get hired or start something. ETA focuses on the third — buy something that already works.
Schulich ETA makes small-business acquisition practical for students. We build the operator first: learn the model, gain industry exposure, build the network, and grow toward ownership.
02 / The gap
The small end is open.
Below roughly $1.5M, there are fewer buyers and far less infrastructure.
03 / The seller
Trust still matters.
Many owners care as much about who takes over as the final price.
The path
Operator first.
Owner second.
You do not start with the acquisition. Learn the model, work in the industry, build the network, buy something small, and operate it well.
01
Literacy
Read listings, financials, add-backs, demand, and risk well enough to understand the business.
↗
02
Judgment
Price real businesses and defend the number: what it earns, what it is worth, and what could break it.
↗
03
Network
Meet owners, holdco operators, brokers, lenders, and advisors who shape real opportunities.
↗
04
Operating reps
Get closer to the work through sales and operating exposure in industries you may want to own.
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Want the whole sequence in one place?
Get the roadmap →
The idea
Ownership is the destination.
Competence is how you get there.
What members get
Access to the room.
The information is online. Access is not. We bring students closer to people who have actually built, bought, operated, financed, and sold businesses.
Owners
Hear from people who built it.
Long-time owners discuss how they built the business and what succession looks like from their side.
Real succession stories→
Exposure
Get closer to the industry.
We help members find shadowing and operating exposure in industries they may one day want to buy into.
Help finding opportunities→
Technical side
Learn the Canadian playbook.
Direct sourcing, risk analysis, vendor take-back financing, CSBFP, and BDC — in a practical context.
Useful, not theoretical→
Curious how these pieces fit together?
Start with the roadmap →
Start here
Start with the roadmap.
A concise guide to the sequence: what to learn first, which roles build credibility, and how to progress toward buying and running a small business.
Send it to yourself
Keep the path handy. We’ll send you the short version by email.
No spam. Just the guide and occasional Schulich ETA updates.
Join ETA
Become the kind of buyer
an owner would trust.
Learn the model. Meet the people. Build the reps. Then, when the time is right, buy something small and run it well.