Batten Institute - Entrepreneurship
Batten Institute - Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition
Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition
Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) offers a unique path for aspiring entrepreneurs to acquire, lead, and grow established businesses. By bringing fresh ideas and strategic vision, these entrepreneurs drive innovation, enhance customer experiences, and create new opportunities for employees.
Featured Resources
Explore ways to engage with ETA at Darden.
Batten ETA Fellows
Batten ETA Fellows empowers graduating Darden students to pursue Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). Fellows receive financial support and essential resources to search for, acquire, and operate a business post-graduation. This funding reduces barriers, instills confidence, and covers key search-related costs, making ETA more accessible.
2025 application opens soon!
Darden ETA Student Club
Club events include regular lunch and learns, office hours, and other information sessions with investors, searchers, operators, lenders, and others who have acquired a business or are involved in acquiring businesses.
Batten Venture Internship Program (BVIP)
BVIP supports early-stage, startup, search funds and recently acquired closely held enterprises to recruit and hire Darden MBA summer interns with matching grant funding.
Meet the ETA Community
Featured Darden faculty, staff and student leaders who champion ETA endeavors
Megan McGee
Director of ETA, Batten Institute
Michele Rankin
Career Center, Marketing, Start-ups and ETA
Chris Boyle (Class of 2026)
President, ETA Club
Les Alexander
John Glynn Endowed Professor and Professor of Practice in Business Administration
Randolph Seibert
Adjunct Lecturer
Hunter Reichert
Adjunct Lecturer
Why Darden for ETA?
Darden’s comprehensive general management education provides an ideal foundation for a recently graduated MBA to successfully own, operate and grow a small business. The School has a strong track record of producing successful entrepreneurs and business leaders.
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1. The Core: The Darden School of Business is known for its strong core curriculum designed to deliver excellence in general management education. “The Core” covers the breadth of essential disciplines required to lead a small, medium, or large enterprise.
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2. The Faculty: Darden faculty excel at teaching. Darden faculty consistently receive top rankings among business schools for teaching excellence.
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3. The Case Method: Darden faculty expertly employ the case method to facilitate active participation and develop critical thinking skills. This methodology requires that students evaluate a business situation, analyze the available information and produce a recommended path to address the topic. These skills are integral for small business owners to effectively manage their businesses.
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4. Dedicated Support for ETA: Darden supports students interested in exploring and pursuing ETA with additional elective courses, independent studies, faculty mentorship, ETA student club, internship support, speakers and by co-hosting the Southeast Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Conference.
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5. Strong Alumni Network: Many Darden alumni have gone on to lead established companies, and pursue entrepreneurial ventures through acquisition. Darden students leverage their large and supportive alumni community for support in exploring the ETA career path, executing in the acquisition phase.
ETA in the News
Featured insights and news from Darden's ETA community
