Ditch The Pitch Buy The Business!

​What if your path to entrepreneurship didn’t start with an idea, a pitch deck, or building from zero?

​Join Search & Sip and Faison Law during DC Startup & Tech Week for an evening exploring a different route to entrepreneurship: buying an existing business and building from there.

​We’ll bring together entrepreneurs and operators for a candid fireside chat about the decision to buy vs. build—and what changes when you start with an existing business, customers, employees, and cash flow rather than a blank slate.

​Moderated by James Faison, Lead Sponsor & Partner at Faison Law, in conversation with two founders who've walked both paths, building a start-up and acquiring a business, each within the past year:

• ​Sonya Hopson, Founder & CEO of Sage Services Group and CHPK Ventures, a business acquirer who's grown a solopreneur practice into a multi-state professional services firm

• ​Willem Straatman, Founder of Heritage Facility Services, with a background in investment banking and corporate M&A

​Whether you're actively searching for a business, building a startup, investing in entrepreneurs, or simply exploring what business ownership could look like, this conversation will offer a practical look at entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) as another path to becoming an owner.

​Then stick around to meet founders, searchers, operators, investors, lenders, advisors, and others across the DMV entrepreneurship community.

Sponsors: Faison Law, Focus Social Club