Walking away is part of the process of buying a small business.

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Frequent asked questions:

What is Searchfunder.com?

Searchfunder.com is an online community of searchers, investors, lenders, brokers and other professionals. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder account to help them network, hire, and mentor others.

What are the benefits of membership?

In addition to accessing the most active online network of business buyers, Searchfunder licenses research that is simply not cost effective for individuals. Access over 15,000 industry reports and 50,000 transaction financials. You also get monthly credits for contact information for your company sourcing campaign with the option to purchase more at drastically discounted rates. Searchfunder has pre-purchased access from these data providers in order to empower individual buyers and to help searchers level the playing field versus private equity.

Do you have deals?

While we are primarily a buy-side network, we do have hundreds of brokers that regularly post deals to the community.

Can I find an internship on Searchfunder?

Absolutely! We have the industry's largest intern job board. If you are considering a search, the first step is to help another business buyer so you can hit the ground running.

What does it cost?

Searchfunder is a subscription service. We offer flexible monthly, annual and lifetime memberships.

Monthly

$79 / month

Annual

$19 / month

Lifetime

$432 / once

Those who maintain an account with us for over 4 continuous years are permanently added to the community without the need for a membership.

Do I need an MBA to join?

While a large number of our members come from dedicated programs at Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth, and other top programs, searching is no longer reserved for the elite. With the current abundance of dry powder in private equity, and an increasing number of business owners reaching retirement age, good deals rarely go unfunded.

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by a professional
in Janesville, WI, USA

11mos ago

Walking away is part of the process of buying a small business.

You pay for good diligence to challenge what you understand about the business not confirm what you hope to be true. Here are real stats from the first 5 months of 2025 at Midwest CPA. 35 Quality of Earnings (QoE) engagements (Deal Size $2-15MM EV) in the first five months of 2025. Closed: 9 Dead: 13 Still in Progress: 13 (we estimate 85% of these will close) Projected Overall Close Rate: ~60% We’re seeing roughly 6 in 10 deals make it to the finish line a reminder of how vital solid diligence is when evaluating a business. Here are strategies to reduce dead deal costs: 1. Learn how to spot initial red flags yourself 2. Phase your QoE 3. Phase your service providers 4. When it's time to kill a deal, don't hesitate 5. Learn from your mistakes

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reply by a professional 11mos ago
in Janesville, WI, USA

Issues with the financials is the most common. In Q1/Q2 we had a few deals die from SBA changes and tariff impacts as well.

reply by a professional 11mos ago
in Janesville, WI, USA

Thanks Brad