Self-funded searcher doing proprietary outreach. A few months in and I'm hitting a pattern that's becoming a real dilemma. The smaller end (~$500k EBITDA): My outreach is working. Owners pick up the phone, they're open to conversations, pipeline is moving. But the more I dig in, the more I see the same thing. The owner IS the business. No management layer. Growth avenues aren't obvious. Once I put myself in, service the debt, and try to de-risk the key man dependency, there's not much left to grow with. Starts to feel like buying a job. The larger end (~$2-4M EBITDA): This is where businesses actually look like businesses. Management in place, owner stepping back, growth trajectory, less key man risk. But I can't reach these owners through proprietary outreach. They're being circled by lower middle market PE, filtered by advisors, or running competitive broker processes where I'm one of 30. The deals exist. I just can't access them and struggle to make the right impression with the owner. The dilemma: The deals I can access don't excite me. The deals that excite me I can't access. Do I: (a) Accept the smaller deal, get in the game, and build from there. Take the key man risk as the cost of entry. (b) Be patient, keep pushing on the larger end, accept a lower hit rate and a longer search. (c) Something I haven't thought of. What matters most to me is getting into the game. But I don't want to buy something that traps me. For context: I'm self-funded, have no issue raising capital, and can fund an approx $500k earnings deal myself. This isn't a capital question. It's a strategy one. Anyone been through this? Did you go smaller and wish you'd waited, or hold out and search too long?