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�³�����Spencer Rogers (MBA’25) went back to business school after a decade working in technology, ETA — MBA-speak for�� — wasn’t really on his radar.

An entrepreneurship model that came out of Stanford University in the 1980s, ETA formalized a structure through which business owners can pass the entrepreneurial torch to another single owner or small team instead of closing up shop or selling to a larger firm. New owners get to skip the tricky start-up phase, and the business itself gets a fresh sense of momentum. Over time, the ETA ecosystem has evolved to include a range of approaches and financing structures that have made business ownership more accessible to entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds.

“ETA isn’t one-size-fits all,” said��Peggy Fasano��(MBA’17), an ETA investor with��. “Different entrepreneurs have different goals. Some raise capital for the search while others pursue a more self-funded path using tools like government-backed financing to give them more flexibility and ownership.”

However, Rogers, who moonlighted as a bartender throughout his 20s, was hellbent on making waves in hospitality, an industry largely too risky to be considered by ETA investors. Since his pursuit was driven as much by passion and community impact as it was financial return, he knew he’d have to get creative.

“I started thinking about it in a slightly different way. … I realized I could adapt the parts of ETA I really liked — preserving an existing business, building community and creating long-term impact — into the hospitality world.”

Thanks to mentorship from faculty and a budding��ETA program at CU that focuses less on convention and more on creativity, Rogers followed that intuition. He explored alternative acquisition structures and financing options that ultimately helped make the deal possible.

In 2025, one whirlwind year later, a deal went through, and Rogers stepped into co-ownership of��, a beloved cocktail bar in Denver’s buzzing LoHi neighborhood. His goal is to not only preserve the original owner’s vision but amplify its impact as a welcoming space where locals can build community outside of work and home. This year, Lady Jane received the��, which went to only 20 bars in the country.

“Creating and maintaining a sense of community really matters to me,” said Rogers. “That’s effectively what I get to do with this type of ETA — I can take this bar that I know and love and make sure that it keeps being independent, successful and thriving. That’s really impactful for me.”

Care for Communities

ETA deals like these — stacked with relational ties and personal passion — are what��Erick Mueller (MBA’99), executive director of the��Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, calls “transitioning with soul,” a process rooted in both good business sense and community care. As the next decade of business transitions unfurl, these kinds of handovers have the potential to fundamentally alter the small business landscape in the United States.

Today, small business ownership stands at a tipping point. Over half of all privately held businesses in the U.S. (which generate��) are currently owned by people over the age of 55 — and��

In other words, an impending “silver tsunami” of retirements brings with it one giant question: What will happen to Main Street (or Walnut Street, or Pearl Street)?

“The stakes are higher than most people realize,” said Shannon Jones,��creator and instructor of the ETA courses at Leeds. “If this generation of owner-operators does not find good stewards, much of Main Street will disappear or be rolled up by financial buyers whose goals are not always aligned with the communities those businesses serve.”

This, he said, is where ETA comes in: “Done well, ETA is a way to keep great small businesses in the hands of committed owners who will reinvest in employees, customers and towns.”

Riding the Wave

Though the ETA model has been around for decades, its pertinence has reached a watershed moment in recent years as the silver tsunami begins to swell. �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder, with one of the earlier business schools in the nation to focus on self-funded search in its ETA curriculum, is riding the wave.

Mueller remembers when ETA first came onto his radar. About three years ago, a handful of MBA students started “bugging” him about ETA. Rogers was one of them.

“Spencer was literally chasing me down the halls,” Mueller laughed. “He was like: ‘Erick, what about that ETA thing?’ We listened.”��

When faculty approved the initial course, taught by Jones, enrollment filled to the brim.

“It was one of the top-enrolled MBA courses,” said Mueller. “The students were flocking to us. We thought: ‘Maybe this is something that’s really valuable.’ Quite frankly, we’ve been hanging onto the bumper with our pinky since we launched.”

Another course was added, and last year the Deming Center hosted the inaugural��Rocky Mountain ETA Conference, bringing together anyone interested in ETA — entrepreneurs, investors, students, faculty and more. Other offerings — including an executive education program and ETA certificate — are also in the works.

“The energy is real, and it’s compounding,” said Jones. “The classroom is the tip of the iceberg.”