On: A venture-backed startup has quietly bought more than 80 mom-and-pop shops

[bitcurious]

If mom & pop doing the labor wanted to retire by selling the business, they can't. What might have been an asset isn't. So they either keep working even though they are of retirement age, or they close up shop with a smaller nest-egg.

[x0x0 → bitcurious]

The fundamental problem is they haven't built an asset, and now they're trying to sell a job and likely deluded about the value.

If all you have is a business that supports a good wage for 1-2 overworked owners, that's worth something not materially different from $0.