[dhruvkar]

Here's a way that has worked for generations. It's paying it differently now, given the nature of business today:

1. Buy an asset, using bank leverage.

You need some capital. You need a business that's cash flowing or has fixed assets (so bank can pony up majority of the needed purchase capital).

Find a business that you can exponentially increase (e.g. through using code, marketing or some gap the business isn't fulfilling).

You can do this in the range of 100k, 1M or 10M depending on your risk appetite, ability to persuade and network.

2. Run business for growth (not cash flow) for 3-5 years.

If you had spotted the correct opportunity, with the right gaps, you can 3-5x the business in this timeframe with an intent to sell or leverage for a loan.

3. Sell or leverage the business

At this stage, your multiple for a sale will go up. If you paid, e.g 4x EBITDA, then with the with the higher revenue, you should be able to sell for a 7x. This number can vary wildly.

If you paid 1M for a business doing 250k in profit and you move the revenue to 5M with no change on EBITDA, you can now sell for 8.75M.

You could also use this valuation or LOI to raise money or bank debt to buy your next business in the next range over e.g. 10M.

4. Rinse and repeat.

0. Notes

HN crowd are typically solid programmers and thinkers (although there are a good many business people here). So ignore anyone giving limiting responses. They are only telling you what's true in their experience (career programming).

This type of path is done all the time in the business world to build wealth, especially real estate (slower but more stable). It has more pitfalls than anything and can be a brutal way to live.

This is just a blueprint for someone actually seeking.

Have at it and good luck!