Guides, strategies, and tools for entrepreneurs and teams acquiring small businesses.
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Automated deal sourcing, CIM analysis, pipeline CRM, and SBA calculators.
End-to-end guide to buying a small business — from defining criteria and finding deals to SBA financing and closing.
Current SBA 7(a) rates, 10-year term structure, DSCR minimums, seller note rules, and guarantee fees. The mechanics guide for buyers financing a $1M-$5M acquisition.
The current numbers on SBA 7(a) loans: Prime rate, variable-rate caps by loan size, what acquisition loans actually price at, FY2026 guarantee fees, and a worked monthly payment example. Reviewed monthly.
A category-by-category catalog of the specific red flags a buyer should hunt for in a CIM, with concrete thresholds: financial, customer concentration, owner dependence, addback abuse, working capital, and legal/contractual.
A section-by-section checklist for your first read of a CIM, from checking whether the financial picture is internally consistent to writing down the questions you send back to the broker.
DSCR in plain English — formula, thresholds, step-by-step calculation, and how it affects SBA loan approval.
Learn to evaluate CIMs efficiently — key sections, red flags, green flags, and going from CIM to decision in 2 hours.
Side-by-side comparison of Searcher OS, Kumo, ClearlyAcquired, Axial, and more. Pricing, features, and honest pros/cons for self-funded searchers.
Honest rundown of deal sourcing alternatives to Kumo: Searcher OS, BizScout, DealStream, BizNexus, Clearly Acquired, Searchfunder, and the free DIY route.
Everything you need to know about ETA — concept, origins, self-funded vs search fund paths, and typical deal profiles.
Complete guide to deal sourcing channels — broker sites, direct outreach, automated aggregation, and conversion rates.
Due diligence checklist by category — financial, legal, operational, customer, and SBA-specific items every buyer should verify before closing.
LOI process for business acquisitions — when to submit, what to include, key negotiation points, and common mistakes to avoid.
Step-by-step tutorial for modeling SBA loan scenarios — inputs, DSCR interpretation, and what good numbers look like.
Step-by-step DSCR calculation for business acquisitions — formula, worked example with SBA loan and seller note, threshold table, and how to improve your ratio.
A practical explainer on personal guarantee (PG) insurance — what it covers, what it costs, and how it changes the math when you sign an SBA loan or seller note.
Economics, timeline, deal size, and control differences between self-funded search and traditional search funds. Decision framework for first-time acquirers.
Valuation methodology — SDE vs EBITDA, typical multiples, normalizing financials, and identifying mispriced deals.
Pipeline structure, conversion rates, stage management, and metrics to maintain search velocity.
Prescriptive weekly schedule for business acquisition — daily deal review, broker outreach, and tracking metrics.
Broker ecosystem explained — types, commission structure, relationship building, and CRM tracking.
The business purchase agreement is the binding contract that transfers ownership. Asset vs. stock structure, reps and warranties, indemnification, working capital true-ups, SBA standby terms, and the clauses first-time buyers blow.
Business eligibility, buyer qualifications, financial thresholds, and documentation you need for an SBA 7(a) loan. Includes common disqualifiers to avoid.
MCP explained for business acquirers — how it works, why it matters, and how to use Claude, ChatGPT, and OpenClaw with your acquisition pipeline.
Business acquisition price negotiation — how asking prices are set, data-backed reasons to negotiate, the DSCR test, deal structuring, and when to walk away.
Why a trustworthy deal screener does as little thinking as possible: deterministic code for the exact work, the model only for genuine ambiguity, and where that line falls on a real CIM.
The methodology behind the free weekly deal email: what an Outpost is, the proprietary scraper data behind it, and the composite score that ranks the standout deals honestly.
How one founder runs a profitable SaaS for searchers with a team of named AI agents, what broke along the way, and what made them reliable enough to trust on your deal flow.
Data from 68,800 listings across 300 broker sites reveals a second tier of hidden inventory: 149 small broker websites carrying deals that never reach BizBuySell or any aggregator.
A data view of the US small-business broker market — 2,473 firms, 42,878 listings, $54.7B in asking price. Concentration, geography, industry mix, and what it means for buyers.
Athena Simpson's funnel benchmarks from AcquiMatch — 28,000 deals scanned, 650 NDAs, 291 CIMs, 81 serious reviews, 9–14 LOIs, 2–3 accepted. Why most searchers underestimate volume by 100x.
A practical framework for picking the right SBA 7(a) lender for an acquisition. PLP designation, deal-size fit, industry experience, close-timeline reality, and the data signals that actually matter.
Brokers Google you before they send a CIM. A Good, Better, Best rubric across the 9 things a business buyer gets judged on, plus the honest first-timer path.
Brokers screen buyers before handing over a CIM. Here is what makes a first-timer look real: a specific buy box, honest funding, and fast replies.
A broker asked for proof of funds. Here is what actually counts, when to show it, and how to share enough without overexposing your finances.
An honest search readiness self-assessment across 7 dimensions: financial runway, risk tolerance, operator vs investor temperament, and the path that fits you.
What goes in a buyer one-pager and why each piece earns its place, so a broker can vet you in about 30 seconds and decide to send you the CIM.
A framework for matching the buyer to the right business before chasing listings: your strongest skill, involvement, risk, capital, and good-first-deal traits.
When a personal buyer website helps a searcher, when it is overkill, and what a thesis page should contain to raise your credibility with brokers.
Build a LinkedIn profile that makes brokers take you seriously: a headline that states your buy box, an About section that proves capital, and a posting cadence.
How to write a personal investment thesis that earns better deal flow. Specific criteria make you legible to brokers, so they route real deals to you.
The opening email to a business broker, with a sample template. What to include, what gets ignored, and how to read like a real buyer in 6 lines.
