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How to Buy a Business
Timeless Growth Strategies
for
Small and Medium Business Owners

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A Review of The Tycoon Playbook
The rules are there are no rules. ‐ Aristotle Onassis
It seems that almost every budding entrepreneur these days is coding away with the
dream of improving on the latest Internet hit, whether it be a Facebook or Pinterest,
despite the long odds against success created by the intense competition. For this reason
I found the Tycoon Playbook to be a refreshingly different take on business building and
wealth creation. The Playbook provides an in‐depth analysis of the strategies or “plays”
that have been used by many of the great tycoons since the 1850s right up to today. It
teaches ambitious entrepreneurs the timeless strategies of tycoons to aggregate cash
flows in order to create great wealth and leave behind a legacy.
The standard tycoon strategy has relied heavily on acquisitions to accumulate numerous
businesses which are then either passed on to heirs or sold off as a bundle to a large
corporate buyer for a fortune. If you suggest acquisitions to your average entrepreneur
or business owner chances are high that they will dismiss the idea as too complex for
their skills set. Most people mistakenly believe that it’s a growth strategy only for the
affluent, Harvard MBAs, or the extremely well‐connected.
The creator of The Playbook, a former business broker and life‐long entrepreneur, set out
to demonstrate that almost anyone with basic business operating experience can adopt
at least some of the tycoon plays as either their primary or secondary growth strategy
and realize dramatic improvements in growth and performance. He has succeeded
admirably.
This was achieved by having the three‐month course focus in on how the complete
M&A rookie can enter this lucrative game and close his first couple of deals. The
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3. sections on finding opportunities, assessing which ones are do‐able for you, and how to
finance them, are all laid out in painstaking detail.
In addition to the mechanics of acquiring companies, The Playbook reveals lesser known
but highly effective fast growth strategies that are typically not well covered by the
media and academics but used by tycoons. Once you find out what they are you will
understand why. Machiavelli himself would have been impressed by some of these.
Once you have completed a couple of small deals to become a credible player in the
tycoon game, the next step is to develop systems for accelerating the pace at which you
find, negotiate, and close more deals. Again The Playbook teaches the basics of setting up
cookie‐cutter systems which are then fine‐tuned over time to your specific needs.
The Playbook also reveals some of the dirty tricks sharp deal‐makers use so that you
reduce your chances of being burned. It’s fascinating to peer behind the curtain and see
how the big boys do things. They are most certainly playing the game of business at
another level from mere mortals.
One of the most eye‐opening revelations provided by The Playbook is that many of the
tycoons started from fairly humble backgrounds and had little more than the grit and
raw ambition to do something great with their lives rather than playing it safe. They
then followed the basic path laid out in The Playbook.
The course also shows how tycoons naturally think differently from the rest of us. They
see the big fast growth opportunities most of us are oblivious to and jump on them long
before others realize what is even happening. The Playbook reveals the four drivers that
telegraph emerging opportunities early on so that you can use them too. Now you can
finally step inside their minds and see the world and opportunities as they do.
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4. Tycoons have minds that can generate a solution or workaround for almost any deal‐
killing obstacle. Mere mortals, in contrast, tend to fold at the first bump in the road. This
is the biggest difference between the greats and mere mortals. By studying The Playbook
you can rewire your mind to think more like self‐made billionaires.
Think of The Playbook as the modern equivalent of Machiavelli’s The Prince and Sun
Tzu’s Art of War rolled into one.
All in all, the creator of The Tycoon Playbook, Peter Ireland, has done a splendid job of
revealing how any business‐person can use the same timeless plays that billionaires and
tycoons have used and continue to use to amass fortunes.
Is there a catch to the Playbook strategy? Yes, there is. You need to supply the
determination and grit, needed to follow the Yellow Brick Road as presented in it. Do
you have what it takes to succeed at a high level?
Paul Denlinger
Paul is the CEO and owner of China Business Strategy and has held senior level positions
with such Internet giants as Sina.com and China.com. He works from both Silicon Valley
and China, where he consults with Internet companies and other new businesses in the
fields of strategic marketing and market positioning globally. Paul is also a well-
respected blogger at both Forbes and Business Insider.
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