# Acquisitions Anonymous

Four investors tear apart real listings.

A twice-weekly podcast in which four SMB investors/operators (Michael Girdley, Bill D'Alessandro, Mills Snell, and SBA lender Heather Endresen) break down real business-for-sale listings, discussing valuation, add-backs, red flags, and whether a deal is financeable. A free companion newsletter sends the deals reviewed each week. Its own feed carries 530 episodes on a twice-weekly cadence, hosted by Bill D'Alessandro, Mills Snell, Heather Endresen and Michael Girdley.

- Category: Podcasts & YouTube
- Pricing model: Free
- Where it fits: Learn & Choose Your Path, Source & Screen Deals
- Website: https://www.acquanon.com/

## At a Glance

The best free way to build deal-screening reps before and during a search. Listen for pattern recognition from credible operators and a real SBA lender, but treat it as education-entertainment, not diligence on any specific deal.

## What It Costs

Free, and ad-supported. The companion newsletter is free too. Note that the show's own episodes page runs months behind its feed, so read the feed rather than the page before calling it quiet.

## Best For

Aspiring and early-stage self-funded [searchers](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) who want to build deal-screening pattern recognition passively, learning to read listings, spot sketchy [add-backs](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/add-backs), and gauge SBA financeability by osmosis. Not for someone who needs a structured curriculum or hands-on help with a specific live deal.

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Free and prolific: 500+ episodes, twice-weekly cadence, still publishing as of July 2026
- Pro: Breaks down real listings with concrete numbers ([SDE](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sde), multiples, add-backs) in the $500k–$10M range [self-funded searchers](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/self-funded-search) actually target
- Pro: Co-host Heather Endresen is an active SBA lender (Viso Business Capital), so deals get a genuine lender's-eye view on financeability
- Pro: Host mix spans operator, e-commerce, and [private-equity](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/private-equity) perspectives, surfacing different red flags on the same deal
- Pro: Free weekly newsletter delivers the listings reviewed, useful as a passive deal-flow sampler
- Con: Analysis is based only on public listing [teasers](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/teaser), not real financials or [CIMs](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/cim), so conclusions are directional speculation rather than diligence
- Con: Random deal-a-week format means coverage of your specific industry or thesis is hit-or-miss; there is no structured learning path
- Con: Hosts and sponsors have commercial stakes in the ETA ecosystem (an SBA lender co-host, Acquisition Lab as sponsor), so recommendations are not fully disinterested
- Con: Some listeners say the newer shorter-format episodes sacrifice depth versus the older long-form breakdowns (Apple Podcasts review, Aug 2025)

## What Searchers Say

Broadly well regarded: 4.8/5 from ~256 ratings on Apple Podcasts as of July 2026, and Searchfunder members list it among the helpful ETA podcasts (searchfunder.com 'ETA podcasts' thread; the specific praise there is several years old). Recent reviews praise improved production quality (Apple review, Jan 2025); the main recurring complaint is that shorter episodes feel less deep-dive than the old format (Apple review, Aug 2025). Recent (past-12-month) discussion on Reddit and X is thin; sentiment comes mostly from podcast-platform reviews rather than active forum threads.

## Compared With

- Which acquisition podcast deserves your commute? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/acquiring-minds-vs-acquisitions-anonymous.md)

## Sources

- https://www.acquanon.com/
- https://www.acquanon.com/newsletter
- https://www.acquanon.com/sponsors
- https://www.acquanon.com/episodes
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acquisitions-anonymous-1-for-business-buying-selling/id1533153678
- https://www.searchfunder.com/post/eta-podcasts

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/podcast.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/acquisitions-anonymous
Last checked: 2026-09-07

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt