What is ETA? Buying and Running a Business as CEO

Name: What is ETA? Buying and Running a Business as CEO
Start: 2026-10-06T18:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-10-06T19:00:00-04:00
Location: Online Event

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Educational (academic lectures, educational/awareness workshops, training sessions, etc.) Career-Related Skill-Development Social

Tue, Oct 6, 2026

6 PM – 7 PM EDT (GMT-4)

Online Event

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Option RSVP	Sales Start -	Sales End -	Availability Unlimited	Price FREE

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What is ETA. Flyer for What is ETA? Buying and Running a Business as CEO

New to ETA? This session covers the fundamentals: what it means to buy an existing, cash-flowing business and run it as CEO, why the wave of retiring baby boomer owners makes this a generational opportunity, and why MBAs are uniquely positioned to capture it. It's equally clear on what ETA isn't: not a buyout fund, not flipping, not passive investing. Jon Blanchard (MBA '13), who acquired, grew, and sold ETI Precision as a search fund CEO, walks through the path from search to exit.

Speakers

Jon Blanchard

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-blanchard/

Jonathan Blanchard is a search fund entrepreneur and the former CEO of ETI Precision of Frederick, MD. ETI calibrates, repairs, and manufactures electrical test and measurement equipment. Jon acquired ETI from its retiring owners in 2018 via a search fund, ran and grew the business over seven years as CEO, and sold the company to a PE-sponsored strategic acquirer in 2025.

Prior to launching his search fund, Jon spent six years in economic consulting and technology startups in Boston, MA and Washington, DC. He holds a MBA’13 from Georgetown University and a BA from Bates College. Jon was a member of the DC Chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) during his tenure as CEO of ETI, frequently speaks to graduate students at business schools on entrepreneurship-through-acquisition (ETA), and lives with his wife and daughter in Amherst, MA.

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