Harvard Business School: ETA’s Case Study Powerhouse

In 2015, Matt Perelman graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA and a conviction that fast food could be a platform for disciplined, scalable operations. He and classmate Alex Sloane acquired 23 Burger King locations, treating each restaurant the way a private equity associate might treat a portfolio company: with rigorous financial controls, clear KPIs, and an operator mindset forged in the HBS case method. That initial cluster of franchises became the foundation of Garnett Station Partners, which has grown into a firm managing roughly $3.5 billion in assets under management.

The Perelman and Sloane story encapsulates what makes Harvard Business School distinctive in the world of entrepreneurship through acquisition. HBS does not merely teach students about buying small businesses. It immerses them in hundreds of real-world scenarios through its case study tradition, equips them with a $130,000 fellowship to begin searching immediately after graduation, and connects them to a faculty whose published work has shaped how an entire generation thinks about acquiring and operating small to medium enterprises.

Why Harvard Business School matters for ETA

The case method is HBS’s defining pedagogical feature, and it aligns naturally with the demands of search fund entrepreneurship. Aspiring searchers need to evaluate businesses under uncertainty, negotiate with sellers who have emotional attachments to their companies, structure deals with multiple investor classes, and step into a CEO role on day one. Every one of those challenges has been distilled into HBS case studies that students debate in 80-person amphitheaters before they ever write a private placement memorandum of their own.

Beyond pedagogy, HBS contributes institutional weight. The school’s name recognition among search fund investors is substantial, and its alumni network of over 90,000 graduates provides a sourcing and mentorship advantage that few other programs can match. When an HBS graduate calls a business owner to discuss a potential acquisition, the school’s brand provides an immediate credibility baseline.

The Ruback-Yudkoff legacy

No discussion of ETA at Harvard is complete without Richard S. Ruback and Royce G. Yudkoff. Together, they co-authored the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, which has sold more than 65,000 copies and remains the single most widely read introductory text on entrepreneurship through acquisition. The book translated the academic frameworks of business valuation, deal structuring, and post-acquisition management into accessible language, opening the field to readers who had never encountered the term “search fund” before.

Ruback, the Baker Foundation Professor Emeritus, brought decades of corporate finance research to bear on the small business world. Yudkoff, a Professor of Management Practice and MBA ’75 alumnus, brought the operator perspective. Before joining HBS full-time, Yudkoff co-founded ABRY Partners, a media-focused private equity firm that gave him firsthand experience with the acquisition and growth of mid-market companies. Their complementary backgrounds produced a curriculum that balances analytical rigor with operational pragmatism.

The pair designed two of HBS’s three ETA courses and mentored numerous students who went on to launch search funds. Their influence extends well beyond the campus: the relationship between MBA programs and ETA was meaningfully shaped by the Ruback-Yudkoff framework, which treats acquisition entrepreneurship as a legitimate career path rather than a niche curiosity.

Faculty

HBS fields four faculty members with direct ETA expertise, an unusually deep bench that reflects the school’s long commitment to the field.

Richard S. Ruback

Baker Foundation Professor Emeritus. Ruback’s corporate finance research spans several decades, but his most lasting impact on ETA came through the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business and the suite of case studies he developed with Yudkoff. He co-teaches HBSMBA 1452 (Financial Management of Smaller Firms) and HBSMBA 6452 (Field Course: Entrepreneurship through Acquisition).

Royce G. Yudkoff

Professor of Management Practice and HBS MBA ’75 alumnus. Yudkoff co-founded ABRY Partners before returning to HBS to build the ETA curriculum alongside Ruback. He co-teaches both the classroom course (HBSMBA 1452) and the field course (HBSMBA 6452), where students work directly on live acquisition opportunities.

Jason T. Pananos

Senior Lecturer. Pananos brings an exceptional operator track record to the classroom: 14 completed acquisitions and a 43% compound annual growth rate across his portfolio. He teaches HBSMBA 6453 (Value Creation in SME Firms), which focuses on what happens after the deal closes, covering operational improvement, talent management, and value creation in small and medium enterprises.

Archie L. Jones

Senior Lecturer. Jones teaches a search fund investment series that examines ETA from the capital provider’s perspective. His course material helps students understand how investors evaluate search fund proposals, structure their commitments, and monitor portfolio companies, a perspective that is invaluable whether a student plans to raise capital or eventually invest in searchers themselves.

Course offerings

HBS offers three dedicated ETA courses, covering the full lifecycle from deal sourcing through post-acquisition value creation. This breadth is rivaled only by Stanford GSB among US programs.

HBSMBA 1452 provides the analytical foundation. Students work through case studies on how to value small businesses, structure acquisitions, and negotiate with owners and lenders. The course draws on the Ruback-Yudkoff textbook and is often the entry point for students exploring ETA for the first time.

HBSMBA 6452 is the field course, where the learning becomes experiential. Students engage with real acquisition targets, conduct due diligence, build financial models on actual businesses, and present to panels of experienced search fund investors. This is closer to an apprenticeship than a lecture series.

HBSMBA 6453, taught by Pananos, addresses the part of ETA that many programs overlook: what happens after closing. Pananos draws on his own experience with 14 acquisitions to teach students how to create value in the businesses they acquire, covering everything from pricing strategy to organizational design.

The Search Fund Fellowship: $130,000 to launch your search

The HBS Search Fund Fellowship is one of the most generous ETA-specific financial awards available at any business school. It provides up to $65,000 per year, totaling $130,000 over two years, to graduating MBAs who plan to pursue a search fund immediately after graduation.

The fellowship is not equity capital. It is non-dilutive funding designed to cover living expenses during the search phase, which typically lasts 18 to 24 months. This is a meaningful distinction: it allows recipients to begin searching without immediately giving up economics to cover personal costs, preserving their equity allocation for the eventual acquisition.

For context on how this compares to other programs, Wharton offers the Perlman Fellowship at $50,000. The HBS fellowship’s size reflects the school’s institutional commitment to ETA as a mainstream career path, not a secondary option for students who could not land traditional finance or consulting positions. For a detailed comparison of fellowship economics across schools, see our analysis of MBA ROI for search fund careers.

Alumni spotlight

HBS alumni have pursued ETA across a range of industries and geographies. The following profiles illustrate the diversity of paths available.

Matt Perelman (MBA ’15) and Alex Sloane (MBA ’15): Garnett Station Partners

Perelman and Sloane met as HBS classmates and initially acquired 23 Burger King franchise locations. Rather than stopping at a single operation, they treated the acquisition as proof of concept for a broader platform. Garnett Station Partners has since grown to approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management, making it one of the most successful ETA-origin stories in recent memory. Their trajectory demonstrates how the search fund model can serve as a launchpad for building a significant investment and operating platform, not just a path to owning a single small business.

Robin Kovitz (MBA ’07): Baskits Inc.

Kovitz acquired Baskits Inc. and built it into the largest Canadian gift basket company. Her story is particularly relevant for searchers interested in consumer-facing businesses, a segment where many search fund investors are cautious. Kovitz succeeded by applying disciplined operational management to a category with strong seasonal demand patterns and meaningful brand loyalty.

Greg Ambrosia (MBA ’13): Citywide Building Services

Ambrosia acquired Citywide Building Services, a $10.3 million revenue commercial services business. His acquisition fits squarely in the sweet spot that Ruback and Yudkoff describe in their textbook: a profitable, established SME with predictable revenue and room for operational improvement under professional management.

The HBS ETA Conference

The HBS ETA Club hosts an annual conference that has become one of the largest ETA-focused events in North America, drawing approximately 1,000 attendees. The conference brings together current students, alumni operators, search fund investors, and faculty from HBS and other schools.

The event serves a dual purpose. For students still exploring ETA, it provides exposure to dozens of operators and investors in a single day. For those already committed to launching a search, it is an opportunity to build relationships with the investors who will eventually fund their search and acquisition capital. The conference also attracts students from other MBA programs, reflecting HBS’s central role in the ETA ecosystem.

If you are comparing conference ecosystems across schools, note that Chicago Booth and Kellogg co-host a similarly scaled event, and IESE organizes the leading European ETA conference alongside London Business School.

Tuition and financial considerations

HBS tuition for the 2026-2027 academic year is $84,760 per year. Over two years, tuition alone totals approximately $169,520 before living expenses, health insurance, and incidental costs.

For students committed to ETA, the financial calculus involves more than tuition. There is the opportunity cost of two years out of the workforce, the cost of living in Boston, and the post-graduation search phase, which typically requires 18 to 24 months of personal runway. The Search Fund Fellowship can offset a significant portion of this post-MBA cost, but even with the fellowship, the total investment from the start of the MBA through a closed acquisition can approach $400,000 or more. A thorough treatment of these economics is available in our guide to MBA ROI for search fund careers.

Who should choose HBS for ETA

HBS is a strong fit for aspiring searchers who value three things: case-method depth, brand recognition with investors, and a large alumni network for deal sourcing and mentorship. The program is particularly well-suited for students who want to learn by working through hundreds of real scenarios before putting their own capital at risk.

It is worth comparing HBS with the other Tier 1 programs. Stanford GSB is the intellectual home of the search fund model and publishes the definitive industry dataset. IESE leads international ETA and offers the deepest European network. HBS sits between these poles: its case study library and faculty publishing record are unmatched, and its US alumni network is enormous, but it does not have a dedicated research center equivalent to Stanford’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies or IESE’s International Search Fund Center.

Students weighing a Tier 2 option like Yale SOM should note that Yale offers unmatched academic depth through Professor A.J. Wasserstein’s 100+ case studies, at a somewhat different price point. The right choice depends on your target geography, budget, and whether you prioritize breadth of network (HBS) or depth of academic immersion (Yale).

For a comprehensive comparison across all programs, read our complete ranking of the best MBA programs for search fund careers.

Related reading

• Getting started with ETA – A beginner’s guide to entrepreneurship through acquisition
• Stanford 2024 Search Fund Study – The definitive dataset on US and Canadian search fund returns
• Writing a private placement memorandum – How to structure the document that raises your search capital
• MBA and ETA – How graduate business education connects to the search fund model
• Best MBA programs for search fund careers – Tier-by-tier comparison of programs worldwide
• MBA ROI for search fund careers – Cost analysis, outcomes, and break-even scenarios
• Finding search fund investors – How to identify and approach capital providers for your search