Topic: Would you rather start/grow a business from scratch or buy an existing business? - page 2. (Read 1543 times)

Does it seem unfair to think that every company for sale are time bombs? Business is more complicated. Strategic shifts, personal circumstances, and new challenges drive the sale of many profitable enterprises. This restricted vision ignores chances for skilled investors, even green ones. Let's discuss experience - or lack thereof. Isn't entrepreneurship about taking risks, learning on the job, and maximising resources? We must admit that sometimes the best lessons are acquired in the trenches, not in textbooks.

Sarting a business is hard and deserves praise. But why assume that reviving a struggling business is any less of an accomplishment? Each path presents unique obstacles and rewards. Entering a failing firm is an opportunity to innovate, restructure, and revitalise it. Isn't this the ultimate entrepreneurial test? The problem-solving abilities learned in such a situation are invaluable. You become resilient, resourceful, and adaptable. Why is resurrecting a business less noble or fulfilling than starting one from scratch? Each journey shows entrepreneurship's resilience?

Usually an existing business is sold if the owner did not calculate his forces, did not see the pitfalls, or if the business was conducted incorrectly, the location was wrong, or the initial investment was calculated incorrectly, or if in fact the business has low profitability. Therefore, of course, it is better to start a business from scratch, rather than buying an existing business

Well I guess, that's up to the person. If he is qualified enough to handle such work then why not. Also if he had past experience then that's a plus point for him. The only disadvantage I see is that, a existing business can come with many challenges. So if I'm not qualified enough or smart enough to handle everything swiftly, it might create a lot of pressure. I doubt that not everyone has such capabilities to handle those kind of mental pressure. One the other hand, if I start from scratch I can start small and grow it bigger over time. I assume you understand what I meant.

If you don't have enough experience and knowledge, how can you ensure that the business you buy will have the opportunity to make a profit? And meanwhile, of course, someone will not sell their business if the business is profitable. Someone will only sell their business when the business experiences serious problems or is on the verge of bankruptcy. And how can you possibly ensure that after transferring ownership the business will continue to progress and develop, if you yourself as the company owner do not have sufficient knowledge and ability to solve the problem.

Indeed, building a business from scratch is very difficult and not as easy as turning the palm of your hand. However, when we succeed in building a business gradually by going through all the processes until the business becomes big. So when you buy a company where the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, for you it is not difficult for you to revive the company. Because you are used to facing and solving problems that exist in a business.

Sometimes, strategic acquisitions can be like acquiring a masterfully crafted blade – it gives you a head start, a foundation built on someone else's sweat and toil. But just like wielding a new weapon, you need the know-how to handle it effectively.

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter is a perfect example. Sure, he may not be a social media guru, but his experience in building and disrupting industries equips him with the vision and leadership qualities to guide Twitter to new heights. He understands the power of leverage, knowing that surrounding himself with experienced talent will be crucial for success.

Starting a new business is good because it's your passion and the joy of watching it grow is something that is worth experiencing. You'll take a business that you started very personal because you wouldn't want your efforts to be in vain, thereby nurturing it like your baby and will do all it takes to make it work.

Despite the advantages and passion of starting a business from the scratch, if I have the means, I'll rather buy and existing business that is doing great in the market, because what it needs is a good or better management to continue giving unique outputs. If it's an industry that you're very familiar with or you can hire a professional team to head the business all the better and less stressful. Why nurture a business from the start, where you can buy it when it has grown, saves you time and stress of grooming it, what is important is if you can be able to sustain or surpass the growth of the business.

Starting a business from scratch brings risks as well as benefits. When you buy a business that already has customers, you already have customers, but when you start a business from scratch, you may not reach your target customers. This can cause you to lose capital.

I think the most important thing here is to remove uncertainty. If you know exactly the problems and the benefits of the business you are going to buy, then you should go for it. It can be an advantage to be present at every stage of the business that you are building from scratch, but there is a risk as there is no guarantee that you will be able to achieve this as the purpose of the business is to make a profit.

Neither option is without problems, but in general it depends on the person. Risks are in every business. Sometimes it is necessary to take risks, but acting in a planned way will minimize them.

But that start up would really be that much lesser compared into buying a current existing ones specially if it does already have that name and already have that good revenue on which it would really be added up on the value. This is why it would really be just that better that you should really be that having those kind of considerations on which one you would really be taking in, if you could be able to afford those current existing ones
and able to handle it out then it would be just fine but if its not and you do really want to handle into those businesses on which you are the ones who do make out that kind of start up, then it would really be your choice.

The difference about expenses when it comes to new and current existing then there would really be huge gap.There are people who do really likes on making their own business or idea that they do have in mind.
They arent that liking on running up continually into those projects that others had started and really just that want to start on their own.
So its a personal choice for someone who do have the capital on which one they would really be running.

The major difference between these two is the start up costs. If you're beginning fresh, you have to construct the entire business - from sourcing the product or service that you wish to sell, to compiling the accounts, to customer services responses, to advertising management and many more things. That takes a lot of effort and experimentation to figure out what works correctly at the right price point. It'll be a lot cheaper because you have to figure everything out along the way. However if you go to buy a business then a lot of this will be figured out for you and hopefully shared, but you will pay a huge premium for the opportunity to take over someone elses income stream and there could be many pitfalls or missing information that mean it won't be as successful for you.

It depends if the business that is to be bought is a good one and no challenge, if their are no challenge it is not bad to buy already made business. But if their is a lot to be fixed it is better to start from the crash to lay a good foundation which will later be profitable in the future . It depends which one that will be more easy to run, I know their are some business that is not worth buying because the expenses in is more that it will be preferable to start a new business.

I myself prefer or prefer to start a business from scratch rather than buying a business that is already running, because I think like this, a business that is already running well of course has customers who already know each other, of course the business owner has his own way. myself to retain my customers, and when I bought the business I was afraid that customers who were already used to it would be reluctant to come back because my service would be different from the previous business owner, even though I had done the best I could, if they weren't comfortable it would be useless.

I prefer to start everything from the beginning because that way consumers will get to know me better as time goes by they will get to know me well because I started everything from the beginning, also by starting everything from the beginning I can learn a lot about business or business that is carried out, this is not a bad thing but a good thing that I can do, because that way I myself have my own experience with all the things that happen to what I do, risks, income, expenses, ideas, I want to feel all of that and I want to be able to be independent in running a business or business, in the future I will definitely feel the results myself. Sometimes other people only see the results and not the process.

If I could afford it, I think I would rather buy an existing business. The pros of buying an existing business makes the offer very tempting to pass. First, existing businesses already have a customer base which means I don’t have to do a lot of marketing because the product I’m selling isn’t a new one to the market. Secondly, before buying I can review the company’s books…how much money they make annually before and after taxes e.t.c. Lastly I can easily gather information I need to manage the business from the previous owners, asking them their company mission’s statement and goals, the challenges they had in the past e.t.c All these information will ensure I’m ready for what comes ahead.

Yes. For someone who is starting out. But there will be a time where you’ve gone too far to start from scratch or would just prefer to save that time of starting from scratch for something else. Like in the US, you see people buying houses because they don’t have the time to build. It isn’t bad as long as it works for you. Someone like Bill Gates, if he wanted to buy a business instead of build one, it’ll be a great decision because he already knows a lot and buying it would save his time, etc.

The majority of people will want to build from scratch it business is called not a building everyone will advise you to start from scratch, the money available for you to buy instead you it to start and you know this days their are a lot of spaces that the government is not filling properly if anyone can identify does spaces housing, transportation, agriculture and this are things that have high demand and when you go into them you must succeed because there are people's lives at stake. 

And having a strong customer relationship is good, and how you sell your product is all part of the plan, as is the packaging; you just have to do so many things in business, especially keeping your consumers happy.

Gain and loss is a face that different people face, and while some people start well, the problems they experience along the way are minor, and any business that is launched must be taken carefully. Some people are savvy to take over any firm, but it is not recommended if there are loans on the ground and restarting the business will cost even more. It's a difficult one for them.

On which I think only a few of us can understand. You  can't just go to a businessman and offer to buy his business.

For me business from scratch is hard to attain, building it all the way up would require so much time and passion unlike buying a business that if it makes profit and have a good cash flow you can take it and get passively from it. So I'll just a buy business instead but before that there are some things I need to consider like the timing, my skills if it relevant to the business, its market condition, etc. This topic is ultimately depends on each of us, some of us may find their success from zero and some of us may acquire a maintaining number. There's no better if you know all the advantages, you just need to consider the factors.

I think both options here have their advantages and disadvantages and comes down to preference and financial muscle.

For starters, buying an already existing company means buying its reputation, which means this can be an advantage for the new owners as they can build on it without having to do much of the heavy  lifting... a reason big cooperation do it too...though for some buying a company is to put the competition out if there is a product competing with them.

On the other hand, building a business from scratch has its challenges when starting off such as inexperience in how to go about running the business,  barriers to entry which means customers will shy away from doing business with you as you lack the reputation but with time things get to change as you know it inside out on how best to run it and pretty much have a better connection/understanding of the market & business itself.

For me the money available will decide which option to take.

I will love to do the same but the challenges in running a business from scratch is more than enough to discourage you before even starting the business. How many startup do we see in a year that close down on their first trial? It's even said that more than 90% of business failed on their first attempt, few survive in the second try because many of them don't come back again.

Having a business grow from bottom is good, it makes you a better person as to make decisions will not be something of headache but know that the road to successful business isn't a cake you can form overnight.


As an already grown business, you have high chance of making it than a person that is starting from scratch because having a grown business means that you have employees already in the business that has experience in the company and knows things better, good suggestions and when you treat them well and pay them hood, they will put their life on the line to make sure your business succeed but if it was a new business, you will be struggling to look for optimum scaling of the business to reach the top.

I will buy and existing business and redefine and remodify it. It has to be a business that is within my area of interest and expertise. There is no true path that guarantees business success as many successful people have both grown a business from scratch or bought an existing business and they are still doing huge numbers every year. It may mean a little shake up in the people and bring in new people but then the thing is that the hard work would have already been done what will be left is just to ensure its sustenance.

I like both of these things, but before I decide to buy an existing business, it is important that I have sufficient experience in these matters. However, before I actually do that, I have to be able to start a business from scratch first. So that I can learn directly about how to manage a business well so that it can continue to run and develop. Because without this, when I buy a business, I am worried that if the person holding the business is me, sooner or later I will go bankrupt because I don't have enough experience in doing this. "Because there is a saying that says, when a field is held by someone who is not an expert, then just wait for its destruction."

And when we have sufficient experience, knowledge and abilities, even though the business we bought is in danger of going bankrupt, but when we are able to manage it well, it is not impossible that after the change of ownership, the business I bought can rise again. and continue to progress.

Well, you're a businessman now whether you're acquiring businesses or you're starting your own. These bills could have been paid with your actual business or with your other jobs that you do while establishing the one you own now.

Wherever you are good with, you gotta love what you do and that's for your own sake as you're growing your business alone and not others.

Nope, it's applicable to everyone.

These big companies started from zero as well and learned all from their experiences and also from the other bigger corporations before.

That's true that all of them started from scratch but why think that acquisition only applies for the big corporations? it's for everyone who are growing in business.