Young MBA graduate buys medical equipment firm and becomes its CEO

After completing an MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School, Ania Aliev arranged financing through a search fund to buy Life Support Systems, a Massachusetts medical-equipment provider, and took the helm as chief executive shortly after the birth of her son. She deliberately avoided imposing immediate changes, opting instead to watch and learn before directing staff. Entrepreneurship by acquisition, the term for this buy-and-lead approach, saw a record 94 new funds in the United States in 2023, backed by $682 million in capital.

Investment firms such as Search Fund Partners, Aspect Investors and Anacapa Partners back these ventures, attracted by strong reported returns. Aliev’s tenure has included a successful acquisition that doubled the company’s size, with many workers praising the renewed momentum, though some have departed or been dismissed for not fitting the growth agenda. The model provides a path for older owners to exit and for young entrepreneurs to pursue rapid expansion, yet it also entails significant challenges, as illustrated by other cases of failure.