Stage 6 of 8
Screen & value
Kill fast, scrutinize add-backs, anchor value to financeability — and move decisively on the real ones.
Screening is a speed game: hard kill-criteria to clear the noise, then real work on survivors — CIM review with honest add-back scrutiny, customer concentration checks, and valuation anchored to what debt service can support rather than what the seller is asking. When a deal is real, move: good businesses at fair prices don't wait.
Questions to answer before moving on
- Does it pass my thesis and cover debt service at the asking price?
- What do earnings look like after honest add-back scrutiny?
- How concentrated are the customers — and why is the owner really selling?
- Can I get to a credible LOI before a faster buyer does?
Mistakes that cost searchers months
- Falling in love with a business before the numbers are real
- Anchoring on asking price instead of financeable value
- Slow-walking good deals — the good ones go fast
Best current resources for this stage
Verified against primary sources, pros and cons included. Full write-ups in the directory.
The largest US online business-for-sale marketplace (CoStar-owned, ~65,000 listings a year, mostly main-street and lower-middle-market), where buyers search listings and contact sellers or brokers for free. It also publishes sold-business comps, paid valuation reports, and free quarterly Insight Reports on transaction volume and multiples.
Our take: Set up free saved searches here on day one — it is the deepest on-market pool of SBA-size deals and costs buyers nothing — but treat listed financials as unverified marketing, expect competition on anything clean, and plan to supplement it once you target above ~$1M SDE.
Freemium · Free for buyers: registration, search, saved-search alerts, and inquiries cost nothing. Optional buyer membership "BizBuySell Edge" (buyer badge, listing popularity stats, benchmarks, up to 4 valuation reports/year) advertised "as low as $20/month" — full rate card only shown at signup. Seller listings (6-month term): Basic $74.95/mo, Showcase $99.95/mo, Diamond $199.95/mo; 3-month terms cost more per month, 12-month less; listings auto-renew month-to-month after the term; no commission or success fee (per vendor FAQ, July 2026 — up from $65.95/$89.95 in Sept 2025). Standalone valuation report $179.95, included free with any listing. Broker multi-listing subscriptions (BrokerWorks) are monthly memberships with early-termination fees; rates not published.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A long-running YouTube channel (mirrored as a podcast) with hundreds of videos on how small business deals actually work — valuation, seller financing, broker dynamics, deal structures — from a 20+ year broker-turned-advisor and author of seven books on SMB transactions.
Our take: Deep free library on deal mechanics — search it by topic when a specific question hits, rather than bingeing linearly.
Free · Channel and podcast free; Barnett sells separate online programs (multi-hour courses for a few hundred dollars) and advisory.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A marketplace and concierge service that matches small-business buyers with vetted independent professionals and boutique firms for quality of earnings, legal, technical, and operational due diligence, plus pre-LOI and post-acquisition work; you describe your project and receive multiple scoped proposals within roughly 36 hours to 3 business days. Buyers pay nothing to use it — DueDilio takes a commission from the service providers it places.
Our take: A legitimately free, founder-run way for first-time searchers to get competing QoE, legal, and diligence proposals in days — use it for speed and price discovery, but remember it's paid by the providers it recommends, so benchmark at least one outside quote.
Free · Free for buyers, per the vendor's own FAQ ("DueDilio is free for clients to use. Our revenue comes from the service providers in our network," homepage as captured Apr 2026; how-it-works FAQ adds it "earns revenue by taking a commission on the transactions facilitated"). No buyer-side subscription or platform fee is published; you pay only the hired provider's quoted engagement fee (DueDilio's own guides peg small-business financial DD at roughly $5k–$20k+). No dedicated pricing page exists.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A comparables database built exclusively from completed SBA-financed transactions — 16,000+ closed deals with roughly 100 added monthly — that generates comp searches and valuation reports filtered by NAICS, region, and financials.
Our take: The cheapest way to test an asking price against real SBA-financed comps — worth $99 on any deal you're serious about.
Subscription · One-time comps search $99; one-time business valuation $199; comps-search annual membership $495; all-inclusive annual (with valuation app) $995 (verified on gvalue.com 2026-07-10).
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A visual kanban sales CRM that searchers commonly adapt for acquisition pipelines — columns become your stages (sourced → contacted → NDA → CIM → LOI → diligence), with reminders and email sync keeping weekly outreach honest.
Our take: Any kanban CRM works — this is the common default. The weekly discipline matters far more than the tool.
Subscription · Per-seat subscription across several tiers with a free trial; Pipedrive's pricing page blocked automated verification, so treat specifics as directional (entry tiers have typically run ~$15–25/seat/mo billed annually as of mid-2026) — confirm current rates at pipedrive.com/pricing.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A membership-based online community for the search fund / ETA world where searchers, investors, SBA lenders, brokers, and service providers network, post deals, and ask questions. Membership also bundles licensed research — 15,000+ IBISWorld industry reports, ~50,000 transaction financials/multiples — plus monthly company-contact credits for proprietary outreach and an events/internship board.
Our take: Join it — it's the town square of the search world and effectively free if you post monthly, but treat it as a network plus research library, not a deal pipeline, and filter the service-provider noise accordingly.
Subscription · From searchfunder.com homepage (fetched 2026-07-10), verbatim tiers: Monthly $79/month; Annual $19/month (prepaid annually, ~$228/year); Lifetime $432 one-time. Unusual offsets, per the vendor's own FAQ: each post or comment earns at least 30 days of free access (bankable up to 12 months); accounts maintained 4+ continuous years get permanent free access; referrals give both parties a permanent 33% discount, and 3 successful referrals earn indefinite free access. No dedicated /pricing page — pricing appears on the homepage; registration is required before seeing member content.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A nationwide M&A law firm built specifically for small business acquisitions — representing searchers, sponsors, and investors — with a dedicated 'Main Street Express' offering for sub-$1M deals and fractional general counsel post-close.
Our take: The default shortlist for searcher deal counsel — just get the fee quote early, since pricing isn't public.
Custom pricing · No pricing published — the site claims 'transparent fees' but lists no figures; engagements are quoted on contact. Main Street Express targets sub-$1M purchases (verified on smblaw.group 2026-07-10).
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
A free letter-of-intent template for lower-middle-market acquisitions, rebuilt for 2026 from the firm's data across 500+ transaction outcomes and $1.6B+ in closed deals — designed to kill bad deals earlier and reduce post-LOI retrades.
Our take: Grab it — a battle-tested starting LOI beats a blank page; have your own counsel tune it before sending.
Free · Free (published via Searchfunder, which may require free registration to access).
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
Online marketplace for buying and selling profitable internet businesses — SaaS, ecommerce, agencies, newsletters, and content sites (expanded beyond SaaS-only in 2025). Buyers browse listings free and pay an annual membership to unlock financials and message sellers; the platform bundles LOI/APA document builders and free escrow through closing.
Our take: At $390–$780/yr it's easily justified deal flow if your thesis includes online businesses, but treat it as a supplement: most inventory sits below the size and SBA-financeability profile a $500k–$5M searcher actually needs.
Freemium · Buyer side (from acquire.com/pricing and help.acquire.com, July 2026): Basic is free (browse public listings only — no financials, no founder contact); Premium is $390/year billed annually, limited to startups up to $250k TTM revenue; Platinum is $780/year billed annually with access to listings of all sizes. Full refund within 7 days of initial paid plan; no pro-rated refunds after. Seller side (from acquire.com/seller-pricing): monthly listing fee plus success fee tiered by asking price — under $250k: $25/mo + 8% closing fee; $250k–$1M: $50/mo + 7%; over $1M: $100/mo + 6%; closing fee due only at a successful sale. "Guided by Acquire" advisory is included free for SaaS with $100k+ TTM revenue.
Verified Jul 10, 2026Full review →
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.
Our take: 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.
Free · Entirely free: 500+ episodes on all major platforms with no paywall or premium tier, and the weekly deal newsletter is free per acquanon.com/newsletter. Monetized via sponsorships (current sponsors listed at acquanon.com/sponsors include Acquisition Lab, BuyAndSellABusiness.com, Plane, and Acquire); sponsorship rates are 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 →