Stage 4 of 8
Define your thesis
Industry × geography × size. The filter that turns a firehose of listings into a manageable funnel.
A thesis is the screen every deal must pass: which industries, which geographies, what size range. Good theses match your skills and story, favor fragmented industries with recurring demand and retiring owners, and stay inside what your capital structure can actually finance. Without one, sourcing drowns you; with one, every hour of sourcing compounds.
Questions to answer before moving on
- Which industries does my background make me credible in — to sellers and to lenders?
- Is revenue recurring or re-occurring, and how fragmented is the market?
- What SDE or EBITDA range can my capital structure actually close?
- Is there an owner-demographics tailwind in this niche?
Mistakes that cost searchers months
- “Anything profitable” — no filter means drowning in noise
- A thesis so narrow that only ten matching businesses exist
- Chasing hyped sectors where asking multiples outrun financeability
Best current resources for this stage
Verified against primary sources, pros and cons included. Full write-ups in the directory.
The 2018 WSJ-bestselling book that argues for buying an existing profitable business instead of founding a startup, and walks a first-time buyer through self-assessment, target definition, search, valuation basics, SBA financing, and transition. The brand also sells a $99 recorded-Q&A mini-course and a $1,500 self-study Masterclass, and feeds into the author's separate Acquisition Lab accelerator.
Our take: Still the right first read before committing to a search — just treat its ROI math as motivation rather than underwriting, expect nothing current on post-2023 SBA rules, and know the book is also the top of the author's Acquisition Lab funnel.
One-time · Book is sold through Amazon at standard retail book prices; buythenbuild.com links out and does not publish the book price. On the vendor's own pages: Acquisition Insights mini-course $99 one-time; BTB Masterclass $1,500 one-time (listed at $3,000, discounted), lifetime access, Klarna financing at checkout. Acquisition Lab accelerator is a separate offering with pricing not published.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A paid, application-vetted membership program for business buyers founded by "Buy Then Build" author Walker Deibel, combining a structured onboarding curriculum, daily advisor office hours, live deal reviews, 80+ templates, 500+ broker mailing lists, and a private Slack community. Since a March 2026 "Acquisition Lab 2.0" rebrand it also houses a capital arm (dedicated fund plus an EIR program with $500k–$1M pre-committed capital) and separate paid post-close operations services.
Our take: The most credible brand-name accelerator for committed self-funded SBA searchers — the daily advisor access and live deal reviews are what you're really buying — but at $12,500 one-time with no financing, self-directed learners should start with the $20 book and free communities and join only if they want paid accountability and deal feedback.
One-time · $12,500 USD one-time for lifetime access (vendor pricing page, July 2026). No discounts or financing ("We don't have flexibility on pricing"; fee may be lender-reimbursable at closing); 30-day money-back window, non-refundable after, and refunds can be denied if a member "fully downloads materials, accesses substantial program content, or attempts to retain proprietary resources." Admission requires an application and a vetting call with a Membership Committee member. Separate paid add-ons at member-discounted rates: "Search Assistant" (during-search deal sourcing) and post-close "Operator Services" (finance/hiring back office, contact for pricing); basic Search Entity setup (~$600 value) is included with membership. Note: third-party reviews still cite $8,500–$10,000 — outdated; the fee has been raised repeatedly ($8,500 → $10,000 → $12,500).
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
Searchable database of 20M+ private companies with revenue/employee estimates, website-keyword search, and 10M+ verified executive contacts, used to build off-market target lists and run outreach with CRM integrations. Owned by Datasite since June 2025, which is merging competitor Sourcescrub's data into the platform.
Our take: The best off-market company data for thesis-driven sourcing if someone else is paying its ~$20k+ sales-quoted contracts, but most self-funded searchers under $5M get better ROI from a cheap DIY stack — Grata's estimates and contacts are weakest at exactly Main Street size.
Custom pricing · Pricing not published. grata.com/pricing shows three demo-gated tiers with no dollar figures: Growth (aimed at family offices and independent sponsors), Scale (buy/sell-side advisors, mid-market PE, corp dev), and Alpha (investment banks and mega funds), plus API and data-warehouse add-ons; all sales-quoted subscription contracts via "Book a demo" / "Talk to a specialist" — contract term length is not stated on the site. The only numbers on Grata's own site are on its referral page, whose worked examples use $20,000 and $30,000 contract values — a signal of typical deal size. No free trial or self-serve option.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →