At Osborne HomeCare Group, we have initiated more than 250 change of ownership transactions the past twenty years, mainly involving “Acquisition Entrepreneurs” that acquired our client’s home care agencies and assumed the CEO role.
In the first quarter of 2025, six of our seven change of ownership transactions were executed by Acquisition Entrepreneurs commonly referred to as “ETAs” (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition). This ever-emerging group of high net worth “Executives in Transition” is the fastest growing buyer segment in the home care industry. They are well trained, highly sophisticated investor-operators.
Who are these ETAs and what attracts them to the home care industry? Following are three examples.
Erik Reynolds: After more than twenty years in Corporate America, half of which was with Earnst & Young, Erik embarked on an acquisition search focused on franchise brands in the service industry. Since successful franchises come with a proven “playbook” and a national peer group of likeminded franchisees, Erik felt an established franchise was a lower risk investment. He was particularly interested in home care because of its essential, life changing services that have proven to be recession proof, pandemic proof and now tariff proof. In April of 2025, Erick acquired one of the top revenue producing Visiting Angels franchises based in Littleton, Colorado.
Chase & Taylor Crenwelge: In January of 2025, this husband-and-wife team achieved their career goal of company ownership by acquiring one of the top revenue producing Home Instead franchises based in Plano, Texas. Chase was a real estate and Mergers & Acquisitions attorney. Taylor was an operating room nurse for a surgery center. Since neither had home care experience, they bought a franchise to tap into the network’s in-depth training, knowledge & knowhow, and high brand awareness. They are now full-time employees with an employer they own and control. They have successfully escaped the confines of Corporate America.
Marc Lundeberg: As the former President & CEO of Miracle Ear, Marc knew firsthand the power of a trusted, highly recognized franchise brand. In January of 2024, he embarked on a search for such a brand in the high growth home care industry. As of February of 2025, Marc is the CEO and 100% owner of the Visiting Angels franchises in Warwick, Rhode Island and Groton, Connecticut. As such, he is in full control of building the culture and business with his unique experience, gifts, and leadership skills. He finds his new company ownership career the perfect place to achieve career fulfillment, flexibility and prosperity.
As a young corporate manager at Pepsico, when I studied entrepreneurship during my Executive MBA program at Case Western Reserve University, an entrepreneur was defined as an individual that launches a startup. I learned how to operationalize an idea, write a business plan, raise capital, and build an organization from scratch. It served me well in building our national brand and niche M&A firm. But it was many years in the making.
Today, the best schools and Universities teach Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). The investment thesis centers on one key question. Why incur the risk, uncertainty, time, and expense of creating something new when you can instead acquire an established, stable, and proven business from the founder and take it to new heights?
There is no shortage of lenders or investors ready and willing to back well-capitalized, high achieving managers pursuing company ownership careers in home care. Our vast national home care network is comprised of capital and talent solutions that enable our seller clients to pass the torch to highly capable Acquisition Entrepreneurs, a buyer segment that continues to evolve and grow and on which we are highly focused.
