How Acquisition Entrepreneurship Turned Country Archer Into One Of The World’s Fastest Growing Brands

Entrepreneurship is often about celebrating the founder. Names like Phil Knight, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk can’t be separated from mentions of Nike, Apple, and Tesla. But there is a different sort of entrepreneur that made companies like McDonald’s a household name. They were able to identify an existing company with untapped potential, acquire that business, and then lead it to tremendous growth. It is called entrepreneurship through acquisition or ETA for short. Eugene Kang is just that type of entrepreneur. Kang is the CEO of Country Archer, a business that he bought for $500,000 in 2010 and over the last decade, has grown into one of the largest jerky companies in the world. I sat down with Eugene to talk about his journey, how retail is changing, and the challenge of driving innovation in a category.