hether to buy an established franchise business is a question many acquisition entrepreneurs eventually ask themselves.

Often searchers begin their search not open to franchises, but as they go, they see opportunities to buy established franchises, they do some research, relax their biases, maybe listen to the Acquiring Minds episodes with Doug Johns or James Temple — and they not only open their minds to buying a franchise, they become excited by the potential.

And then other acquisition entrepreneurs set out to buy established franchise businesses, and not just a single location or territory.

They want to buy a portfolio all at once, often with the intention to add to that portfolio over time.

That is the subject of today's conversation, and 2 of my 3 guests today are just such entreprenuers.

Michael Horowitz acquired 7 WingStop locations in Ohio, and went on to buy or build 13 more. You may have heard my first interview with Michael in April.

Peter Mistretta has acquired 13 locations of The Joint Chiropractic, and intends to build a large portfolio of franchise businesses in that and other systems over the long haul. (I'll have Peter on in the next few months to get his full story.)

My third guess today is the esteemed A.J. Wasserstein, a professor at Yale's business school, the Yale School of Management.

You've heard his name mentioned by my guests many times.

A.J. publishes case notes about all aspects of entrepreneurship through acquisition, case notes that are considered required reading by many in the ecosystem.

One such case note is what we unpack today, the recent Ten Essential Questions to Consider When Selecting a Franchise Brand for a Search Fund Journey.

A.J., Peter, and Michael co-authored this note, which I found to be an authoritative, organized framework about how an entrepreneur who wants to acquire a franchise business, and particularly a portfolio of such businesses, should choose which franchise system to commit to.

It was such a valuable read, I thought I'd have the authors on to walk us through it.

Please enjoy this fascinating exercise in planning your franchise empire with A.J. Wasserstein, Michael Horowitz, and Peter Mistretta.