The Searcher's Playbook
Guides, strategies, and tools for entrepreneurs and teams acquiring small businesses.
Built for searchers. Get started with Searcher OS for free.
Automated deal sourcing, CIM analysis, pipeline CRM, and SBA calculators.
How to Buy a Small Business: The Complete 2026 Guide
End-to-end guide to buying a small business — from defining criteria and finding deals to SBA financing and closing.
SBA 7(a) Loans for Business Acquisitions: Everything You Need to Know
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.
Current SBA Loan Rates (June 2026)
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.
CIM Red Flags: 30+ Warning Signs Buyers Should Hunt For
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.
CIM Review Checklist: A Buyer's First-Read Walkthrough
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.
What is DSCR? Debt Service Coverage Ratio Explained for Business Buyers
DSCR in plain English — formula, thresholds, step-by-step calculation, and how it affects SBA loan approval.
How to Read a CIM: A Buyer's Guide to Confidential Information Memorandums
Learn to evaluate CIMs efficiently — key sections, red flags, green flags, and going from CIM to decision in 2 hours.
Best Business Acquisition Software in 2026: Tools Compared
Side-by-side comparison of Searcher OS, Kumo, ClearlyAcquired, Axial, and more. Pricing, features, and honest pros/cons for self-funded searchers.
7 Kumo Alternatives for Sourcing Deals (2026)
Honest rundown of deal sourcing alternatives to Kumo: Searcher OS, BizScout, DealStream, BizNexus, Clearly Acquired, Searchfunder, and the free DIY route.
What is Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA)? The Complete Guide
Everything you need to know about ETA — concept, origins, self-funded vs search fund paths, and typical deal profiles.
Deal Sourcing Strategies: How to Find Businesses for Sale
Complete guide to deal sourcing channels — broker sites, direct outreach, automated aggregation, and conversion rates.
Business Acquisition Due Diligence Checklist: What to Verify Before Closing
Due diligence checklist by category — financial, legal, operational, customer, and SBA-specific items every buyer should verify before closing.
How to Write an LOI (Letter of Intent) for a Business Acquisition
LOI process for business acquisitions — when to submit, what to include, key negotiation points, and common mistakes to avoid.
SBA Loan Calculator: How to Model Your Business Acquisition
Step-by-step tutorial for modeling SBA loan scenarios — inputs, DSCR interpretation, and what good numbers look like.
DSCR Calculator: How to Calculate Debt Service Coverage Ratio
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.
Personal Guarantee Insurance for SBA Buyers: What It Is and When to Use It
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.
Self-Funded Search vs Search Fund: Which Path is Right for You?
Economics, timeline, deal size, and control differences between self-funded search and traditional search funds. Decision framework for first-time acquirers.
How to Value a Small Business for Acquisition
Valuation methodology — SDE vs EBITDA, typical multiples, normalizing financials, and identifying mispriced deals.
Building Your Acquisition Pipeline: From Deal Flow to Close
Pipeline structure, conversion rates, stage management, and metrics to maintain search velocity.
The Searcher's Weekly Routine: How Top Acquirers Manage Their Search
Prescriptive weekly schedule for business acquisition — daily deal review, broker outreach, and tracking metrics.
Understanding the Business Broker Landscape: How to Work With Brokers
Broker ecosystem explained — types, commission structure, relationship building, and CRM tracking.
Business Purchase Agreement: 9 Key Sections Explained (SBA-Ready)
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.
SBA Loan Requirements 2026: Complete Eligibility Guide for Business Buyers
Business eligibility, buyer qualifications, financial thresholds, and documentation you need for an SBA 7(a) loan. Includes common disqualifiers to avoid.
What is MCP? How Model Context Protocol Connects AI to Your Deal Data
MCP explained for business acquirers — how it works, why it matters, and how to use Claude, ChatGPT, and OpenClaw with your acquisition pipeline.
How to Negotiate the Purchase Price of a Small Business
Business acquisition price negotiation — how asking prices are set, data-backed reasons to negotiate, the DSCR test, deal structuring, and when to walk away.
How the Deal Screener Works: Code Where You Can, LLM Where You Can't
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.
Inside The Prospect: How Outposts Get Found and Diamonds Get Ranked
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.
The AI Team That Runs Searcher OS
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.
Outpost Listings: The Hidden Tier of Deals Nobody Else Is Watching
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.
Inside the Business Broker Market: What 90 Days of Listings Reveal
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.
The Acquisition Funnel: What It Actually Takes to Close a Small Business Deal
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.
How to Choose an SBA Lender for a Business Acquisition
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.
Your Online Presence as a Buyer: Good, Better, Best
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.
How to Get Brokers to Take You Seriously as a Buyer
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.
Proof of Funds for Business Buyers: What Counts and When to Show It
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.
Is ETA Right for You? A Search Readiness Self-Assessment
An honest search readiness self-assessment across 7 dimensions: financial runway, risk tolerance, operator vs investor temperament, and the path that fits you.
The Buyer Profile That Gets You the CIM
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.
What Business Should You Buy? Matching Your Skills to the Right Acquisition
A framework for matching the buyer to the right business before chasing listings: your strongest skill, involvement, risk, capital, and good-first-deal traits.
Should a Searcher Have a Website? Building a Buyer Thesis Page
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.
The Searcher LinkedIn Profile That Attracts Deal Flow
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.
Writing Your Personal Investment Thesis as a Self-Funded Searcher
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 First Email to a Broker: What Serious Buyers Send
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.
Am I Overpaying? What 45,000 Real Listings Say About Your Deal
Every Pricing Report compares a deal against a pool of roughly 45,000 real listings with price and cash flow: comp quartiles, a histogram of where the ask sits, live named comps, and the max price a bank would realistically finance.
How Andrew Mattes Runs His Acquisition Search Through Claude
Andrew Mattes has a full-time job, two young kids, and less than a year of searching behind him. He connected Claude to his Searcher OS deal flow over MCP. Here is what his process actually looks like.