Understanding the data

Where the numbers come from — and what they mean.

Every estimate in SoloSearcher is built from public records and clearly labeled as an estimate. This page explains the method, so you can decide how much weight to put on each number.

Where the records come from #

The companies in your workspace are the ones you bring — your own list, a company started from a CIM, or a ready-made dataset you buy from data.solosearcher.com. Those datasets are built from public PPP loan records — real businesses that reported real payrolls to the U.S. government — and arrive already enriched with our estimates. Everything you then add on a company — notes, ratings, contacts, documents, financials — is private to your account.

How the estimates are built #

Figures like estimated revenue and estimated SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) are modeled: a company's reported PPP payroll anchors the size of the business, and a per-industry financial template turns that anchor into a full estimate. They are not reported or verified financials, and they never will be presented as such. Open any company to see what went into its estimate. These estimates ship with the datasets we build; we don't compute them for a plain list you import yourself. Financials you enter yourself are stored separately and never blended into the modeled numbers.

What fit tiers mean #

Fit tiers are scored against one default screening profile — stable demand, recurring customers, ownable operations, and roughly $250k–$1M in estimated SDE — not yet against your own criteria. Treat them as a starting triage signal for ordering your attention, not a verdict on any individual business, and not a claim that this band defines a good company.

Default scoping #

Lists and summaries hide companies you've passed on, closed out, or excluded by industry, by default — so a plain count can read smaller than everything in your workspace. Every filter bar (and any AI you connect) can include them explicitly when you want the full picture.

Coverage and limits #

Fair warnings, all by design: SoloSearcher is a private workspace, not a national database — the national dataset is sold separately as territory-scoped CSVs at data.solosearcher.com, and you import what you buy. Distance filtering measures from your home base if you've set one, and from Charlotte if you haven't. The estimates are modeled, not confirmed. SoloSearcher is not a data-enrichment service and does not sync with your CRM. What it is: a private workspace over the companies you bring — real, honest records you can search, judge, and build on.