Acquisition Entrepreneur Profile: Rory Tyer

From Academia to Acquisition; Key Lessons from an Unconventional Searcher

A recent episode of Acquiring Minds profiled acquisition entrepreneur Rory Tyer. Rory isn’t your typical MBA grad spinning a tale of the ultimate self-funded searcher HVAC deal. Nope. This guy was chasing a Phd in New Testament studies. Yes, you read that right. His first pivot was to marketing and leadership consulting, but once again, the universe had other plans. Like me, and probably you, Rory discovered entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) on X. And his life took a sharp turn.

How sharp? Well, Rory ended up buying a nursery/garden center. He found the business in Greenville, SC–and with no formal experience, no nursery background, decided to buy it. He just followed his gut.

Through sheer curiosity, Rory walks into the local nursery and loves the place. More importantly, he meets the owner. An owner ready to retire. Turns out the nursery has $800k SDE, so Rory cuts a deal to buy the business for $2.5 million. Oh, and he did it quite creatively through bank loans, seller notes, Translation: Rory didn’t have deep pockets and didn’t break the bank.

Rory gets his hands dirty, spending some time learning the business before officially taking the reins. He’s not there to reinvent the wheel, but he’s smart enough to make gradual improvements — new signage, looking into online sales, and thinking long-term about how the nursery could be…