Pipeline Management

Understanding Pipeline Stages

Searcher OS uses a standard acquisition pipeline with 8 stages. Each stage represents a milestone in your deal evaluation process.

The Standard Pipeline

1. Interested: You're interested in this opportunity
2. NDA Signed: You've signed an NDA and are awaiting the CIM
3. CIM Review: You're analyzing the Confidential Information Memorandum
4. Conversations: Active discussions with broker and/or seller
5. LOI: You've submitted a Letter of Intent
6. Due Diligence: LOI accepted, you're in the DD phase
7. Closed: Deal successfully acquired
8. Dead: Deal terminated

How to Move Deals

You can move deals between stages in two ways:

Method 1: Drag and Drop

On the Pipeline page, simply drag a deal card from one column to another. This is the fastest way to update deal status.

Method 2: Deal Detail Page

Click into a deal to open its detail page. Use the "Advance Stage" dropdown in the deal's Quick Actions to change stages.

You can also move deals from the keyboard. See Search and Keyboard Shortcuts.

Seeing Where a Deal Went

When you move a deal, its card visibly travels to the new column (or row, in the list view), so you always see where it landed. When a deal is moved forward for you, for example by Mark or a matched broker email, the card gets a brief highlight where it lands on the board. If your device is set to reduce motion, you see an outline instead of the animation.

Undoing a Stage Move

After a move, a message confirms the new stage with an Undo button. Undo works for 10 seconds. Days in stage restart either way. Moves into Closed and moves out of Closed or Dead cannot be undone from that message; a Dead deal is revived from its deal page.

Moving a Deal to Closed

Closed means you bought the business. The first time a deal moves to Closed, you are asked "Did you acquire this business?" Choose Yes, I bought it to close it, or No, move it to Dead if the deal ended another way.

Milestones

Searcher OS marks the big steps in your search: your first saved deal, your first analyzed CIM, NDAs signed, LOIs sent, Due Diligence, and Closed. Each milestone fires once per deal (or once per account for your firsts), even if you move a deal back and forth. If a deal skips stages, you only see the highest one.

• Most milestones show a small note with a suggested next step. Only your first NDA gets a note; later NDAs are recorded quietly.
• Your first LOI and every Closed deal get a larger moment, with the option to make a share card: a downloadable image that never includes the deal name, price, broker, seller, city or financials. Industry and state are optional.
• A milestone appears once, on whichever device you see it on first.
• The example deal never triggers milestones.

Moved by mistake? Milestones that come from a stage move (NDA Signed, LOI Sent, Due Diligence and Closed) include a Moved by mistake? Undo link that works for 10 minutes, as long as the deal is still in that stage. It moves the deal back and removes the milestone.

Weekly Momentum

Your dashboard shows a momentum line, such as "You moved 3 deals forward this week." A deal counts as moved forward when it reaches a stage it has never reached before, so moving a deal back and forth, reviving it from Dead, or killing it does not count. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in your time zone. When you move at least one deal forward in consecutive weeks, you also see how many weeks in a row you have kept it up. If you moved at least one deal forward last week, the Monday Navigator email includes the same summary.

Dismissing Deals

When you dismiss a deal (moving it to Dead), you pick a reason for archiving it. This helps you learn from rejected deals and identify patterns.

Archive Reasons

• Too Expensive: Asking price or multiple is too high
• Bad Financials: Numbers don't add up or add-backs are unrealistic
• Wrong Industry: Not an industry you want to operate in
• Wrong Location: Too far or not a market you're targeting
• Already Taken: Deal went to another buyer or is under LOI
• Not Interested: Doesn't fit your criteria or just isn't the right deal
• Other: Any reason not listed above

Deal Activity Log

Every deal has an activity timeline where you can log:

• Email Sent: Outbound correspondence with brokers/sellers
• Email Received: Inbound correspondence with brokers/sellers
• Calls: Phone conversations (with notes)
• Meetings: In-person or video meetings
• Notes: General notes or observations

This creates a complete history of your interactions with each opportunity.

The timeline also records every stage change, for example "Moved from NDA Signed to CIM Review". When someone other than you moved the deal, it says so: by Mark, from email, or via AI assistant.

Stale Deal Warnings

If a deal sits in a stage for too long without activity, it will be flagged as stale. Each stage has its own warning threshold (and a later critical threshold):

• Interested: 3 days (critical at 7)
• NDA Signed: 2 days (critical at 5)
• CIM Review: 5 days (critical at 10)
• Conversations: 7 days (critical at 14)
• LOI: 5 days (critical at 10)
• Due Diligence: 21 days (critical at 45)

Stale warnings help you maintain momentum and follow up on promising deals.

Best Practices

Keep Your Pipeline Moving

Set a weekly goal to move at least 3-5 deals forward (or kill them). Deals that sit idle for weeks are opportunity cost.

Archive Liberally

If a deal doesn't pass initial screening, archive it immediately. Don't let "maybe" deals clog your pipeline.

Use Notes

Add notes to deals as you learn more. This is especially helpful when comparing similar opportunities or picking up a deal after a few weeks.

Need Help?

Questions about pipeline management? Contact support.