Every Reviewed Resource

The Books shelf carries more on each one.

• Buy Then Build (Walker Deibel) The case for buying instead of starting.
• HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business (Ruback & Yudkoff) The HBS guide to buying and running a company.
• Built to Sell (John Warrillow) The classic on making a business sellable.
• The E-Myth Revisited (Michael E. Gerber) Why the business cannot run without its owner.
• The Messy Marketplace (book) How smaller companies actually get sold.
• The Outsiders (Will Thorndike) Eight CEOs judged on where the cash went.
• The Sweaty Startup (book) The case for simple service businesses.

The Podcasts & YouTube shelf carries more on each one.

• Acquiring Minds Interviews with people who bought a business.
• David C. Barnett (YouTube) Hundreds of videos on buying and valuing SMBs.
• Acquisitions Anonymous Four investors tear apart real listings.
• In The Trenches (Steve Divitkos) A podcast about the part after the wire.
• Owned and Operated Running and growing home-service companies.
• Think Like an Owner Interviews on growing the company after the buy.
• UpFlip Interviews with owners on how the business works.

The Communities & Networks shelf carries more on each one.

• Searchfunder The main online community for searchers.
• Booth-Kellogg ETA Conference The largest annual ETA conference.
• Main Street Summit A three-day gathering for owners and investors.
• SCORE Free one-on-one mentoring from volunteers.
• Search Fund Fellows Hire search interns from a dedicated ETA job board.
• SMBash The annual summit for the acquisition community.
• Women's Search Network The community for women in search.

The Education & Programs shelf carries more on each one.

• Stanford Search Fund Primer Stanford's free primer on the search fund model.
• Stanford Search Fund Study (2026) Stanford's biennial study of search fund returns.
• Acquira An accelerator for home-services acquisitions.
• Acquisition Lab A paid program for self-funded buyers.
• Contrarian Thinking Codie Sanchez's media and training on buying SMBs.
• IESE International Search Fund Center European search fund research and data.
• LatAm Search Fund Primer The Latin American numbers nobody else counts.
• Permanent Equity (Free Library) Essays and letters from a 30-year-hold firm.
• Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) Free consulting from nearly 1,000 centers.
• SMBootcamp Operator-taught training for buying a business.
• Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC) Free consulting and training for veterans.

The Newsletters shelf carries more on each one.

• SMB Deal Hunter Curated deals in your inbox each week.
• Big Deal Small Business An operator's essays on buying and running.
• Chenmark Weekly Thoughts Weekly essays from a holding company's founders.
• EBIT Community Weekly deal-flow digests and searcher content.
• The Business Inquirer A weekly roundup of small-business M&A.
• They Got Acquired Coverage of online-business exits.

The Valuation & Modeling shelf carries more on each one.

• GCF PeerComps Comps from completed SBA-financed sales.
• DealStats (BVR) Private transaction comps for valuation work.
• ProjectionHub CPA-built financial projection templates.
• Peak Business Valuation The SBA appraisal your lender will require.

The Franchise Brokers & Research shelf carries more on each one.

• Franchise Business Review Franchisee satisfaction surveys and rankings.
• FranNet Local consultants who match you to a franchise.

The CRM & Pipeline shelf carries more on each one.

• Pipedrive (as a search CRM) A kanban CRM searchers adapt to a deal pipeline.
• Affinity Relationship-intelligence CRM for funded teams.
• HubSpot CRM A free CRM tier that covers a solo search.

The Listing Marketplaces shelf carries more on each one.

• BizBuySell The largest US business-for-sale marketplace.
• Axial A private deal network for lower-middle-market M&A.
• Baton Market A marketplace of verified deals, free valuations.
• BizQuest A long-running business-for-sale marketplace.
• BizScout Map-based search of on-market listings.
• DealStream The oldest online business-for-sale marketplace.
• FE International M&A advisory for SaaS and ecommerce exits.
• Quiet Light An advisor-led brokerage for online businesses.
• Rejigg Connects owners directly with vetted buyers.
• Route Consultant The specialist in FedEx and bread route deals.
• Sunbelt Business Brokers The largest business-brokerage network.
• Transworld Business Advisors One of the largest brokerage franchises.

The Deal Aggregators shelf carries more on each one.

• Kumo Broker listings from thousands of sites, deduped.
• BizNexus Vetted broker listings plus off-market outreach.

The Off-Market Data & Outreach shelf carries more on each one.

• Apollo.io Company search and outreach with a free tier.
• Grata Search 20M private companies for off-market targets.
• Hunter Turn a target list into owner email addresses.
• Instantly.ai Send owner outreach without burning the domain.
• RocketReach Find an owner's email and phone from a name.
• SourceScrub Private-company data built from lists and events.

The AI Deal Analysis shelf carries more on each one.

• DealOrb AI deal aggregation with a Chrome extension.
• DEALPRINT AI data-room review and red-flag reports.
• Devaland Reads a data room and cites what it found.

The Operating Resources shelf carries more on each one.

• The First 90 Days (Michael Watkins) A playbook for taking over a business you bought.
• Traction / EOS (Gino Wickman) The operating cadence behind EOS.
• Aspen HR Payroll, benefits and HR under one contract.
• Bookkeeper360 Books, payroll, and tax in one shop.
• Decimal Done-for-you back office at a flat fee.
• More Staffing Remote hires for a business you just bought.
• OnPay Full-service payroll priced per worker.
• Pilot Outsourced books, tax, and CFO help.
• Ravix Group Outsourced accounting and CFO help after close.
• System Six Bookkeeping and CFO help after you take over.