Your first business, one decision at a time.

Start with the life you want to own

Write down the geography, industries, purchase-price range, capital available, operating role, and constraints that are actually fixed. A useful buyer profile excludes businesses you cannot responsibly run.

• How much equity can you invest without exhausting your reserve?
• Do you need to stay in one market, and how far can you travel?
• Which customer concentration, licensing, or owner-dependence risks are unacceptable?

Turn the thesis into a repeatable search

Explore maintained company and brokerage sources, but keep the two signals distinct. A public-record company is a research lead, not a business represented as being for sale. A listing carries its publisher, observed facts, and freshness.

Save only the businesses that deserve work. Add an opportunity manually when it arrives through a broker email, an owner introduction, or your own network.

Research enough to ask a better question

Before outreach, understand what the company does, who appears to own it, why it might fit, and what you still do not know. Use your connected agent to gather context and draft outreach, then review the language yourself. SoloSearcher never contacts an owner or broker for you.

Get answers before you price the deal

Ask for source financial statements, tax returns, customer concentration, working-capital history, debt, and owner adjustments. Keep reported facts separate from estimates and proposed adjustments. Unknown inputs stay unknown.

Questions your case should answer

• What earnings are reported, and which adjustments can the evidence support?
• Can debt service, working capital, and a replacement salary coexist?
• Which assumptions would change the decision if they are wrong?
• Does the offer still work when the current financial and terms versions are used?

Use the LOI as the start of verification

An accepted LOI opens Close. Preserve its submitted basis while financial, legal, tax, financing, insurance, operational, and transition diligence develops the current case. Bring qualified attorneys, accountants, lenders, and insurance advisors into the work before you become obligated.