Business owners selling their companies have no transparent data on what comparable businesses actually sold for, leading to seller's remorse and uncertainty about whether they got a fair deal.
Crowdsourced and aggregated database of actual small business sale prices with filters for industry, region, EBITDA range, deal structure (earnouts, tie-ins), and buyer type (individual vs PE). Users submit their own deal anonymously to unlock full access.
Freemium — free basic benchmarks, $99-299/month subscription for detailed comps, filters, and deal structure breakdowns. Premium tier for advisors/brokers.
The Reddit thread and pain signals are textbook. 'Could I have got a better deal?' is an agonizing, high-stakes question — this is often the largest financial transaction of a business owner's life. Brokers gatekeep comp data, formal appraisals cost $3K-$10K, and rule-of-thumb multiples (2-3x SDE) are too broad to be actionable. Owners are making $500K-$5M decisions essentially blind. The pain is real, recurring, and emotionally charged.
TAM is substantial: 500K-750K small businesses change hands annually in the US. Even capturing a fraction at $99-$299/month yields significant revenue. Adjacent monetization (broker lead-gen, SBA lender partnerships, advisor tools) expands the TAM further. However, the core buyer persona (owner actively exiting) is transactional, not perpetual — they need the product for 6-18 months, then they're done. The advisor/broker tier offsets this. Estimated serviceable market: $50M-$150M/year.
Business owners in exit mode are already paying $3K-$10K for formal valuations and $10K-$50K+ in broker fees. $99-$299/month for transparent comp data is a rounding error in the context of a $500K+ transaction. The friction is not price — it's trust in data quality. The 'submit your deal to unlock access' model creates a powerful value exchange. Brokers and advisors who need this data daily will pay the premium tier without blinking. Risk: some owners may want a one-time report, not a subscription.
Core product is a searchable database with filters — technically straightforward. The hard part is NOT the code, it's the data. Building the initial dataset requires creative sourcing: SBA 7(a) loan data (partially public), broker partnerships, scraping state business transfer records, and the crowdsourced submission engine. A solo dev can build the MVP platform in 4-6 weeks, but populating it with credible data will take longer. Cold-start problem is real — you need data to attract users, and users to generate data.
This is a massive white space. No one serves small business owners with transparent, affordable, searchable deal comps. DealStats has the data but charges $5K+/year and targets professionals. BizBuySell has aggregate data but no drill-down. BizEquity offers algorithmic guesses, not real comps. There is literally no 'Zillow for small business exits.' The Glassdoor analogy (crowdsource to democratize opaque data) is proven and unoccupied in this vertical.
Mixed. The core buyer (exiting owner) needs this for 6-18 months max — it's inherently transactional. However, three audiences create recurring revenue: (1) M&A advisors/brokers who use comps daily ($299+/month, high retention), (2) owners in multi-year exit planning mode, (3) business appraisers and SBA lenders who need ongoing access. The advisor/broker tier is the real subscription business. Owner subscriptions will churn after their exit closes. Design pricing accordingly — consider annual plans or per-report pricing for owners.
- +Massive, validated competitive gap — no Zillow/Glassdoor equivalent exists for small business sales despite obvious demand
- +Timing is perfect with baby boomer retirement wave creating unprecedented volume of small business exits
- +Crowdsourced data model creates a defensible moat that compounds over time and is nearly impossible to replicate quickly
- +$99-$299/month is trivial relative to the transaction sizes owners are navigating ($500K-$5M+), making conversion friction low
- +Multi-sided revenue potential: owner subscriptions + advisor/broker premium tier + lead-gen for service providers
- !Cold-start data problem is the existential risk — without enough credible comps, the product has no value, but you need users to get comps
- !Data quality and verification: how do you confirm that crowdsourced deal submissions are accurate? Fake or inflated data destroys trust
- !Broker resistance: many brokers profit from information asymmetry and may actively discourage clients from using transparent comp tools
- !Owner churn: core users leave after their exit closes, requiring constant acquisition of new exiting owners
- !Regulatory risk: some deal data may be subject to NDA or confidentiality provisions, creating legal exposure around crowdsourced submissions
Largest US small business marketplace
Gold-standard private transaction database with 40,000+ deals. Granular deal-level data including financials, multiples, SIC codes, and deal structure. Used by CPAs, valuation analysts, and in litigation.
Automated business valuation engine claiming 30M+ US business valuations. Partners with banks
Transaction database focused on the lower middle market. Provides searchable comp data for M&A advisors and valuation professionals working on deals in the $1M-$50M range.
Exit advisory concierge that matches business owners with vetted, industry-specialized M&A advisors. Provides educational content about exit planning and the sale process.
Landing page + waitlist targeting the Reddit/forum communities where owners discuss exits. MVP is a simple searchable database seeded with 200-500 deals from public sources (SBA 7(a) loan data, state filings, published case studies, and your own outreach to recently-exited owners). Core features: filter by industry (NAICS/SIC), geography (state/region), EBITDA range, and deal type. Gate detailed results behind anonymous deal submission (the Glassdoor unlock model). Start with 3-5 industries where you can get the most data (dental practices, restaurants, e-commerce, professional services, home services). No advisor tier yet — prove the owner demand first.
Phase 1 (Months 1-3): Free with submission-gated access. Build dataset and validate demand. Phase 2 (Months 3-6): Freemium launch — free aggregate benchmarks, $99/month for detailed comps and filters. Phase 3 (Months 6-12): Advisor/broker tier at $299/month with API access, portfolio tracking, and client-facing reports. Phase 4 (Year 2+): Lead-gen marketplace connecting owners with vetted brokers/advisors (Exitwise competitor), SBA lender partnerships, sponsored industry reports, and data licensing to valuation firms.
3-5 months to first paying customer. Month 1-2: build MVP and seed initial dataset. Month 2-3: launch to Reddit communities, HackerNews, and small business forums to validate and grow submissions. Month 3-5: convert engaged free users to $99/month paid tier once you have 300+ searchable comps. Advisor tier revenue by month 6-8. Path to $10K MRR within 9-12 months if data quality holds.
- “could I have got a better deal?”
- “no competitive tenders this time”
- “6.7x seems about right in my industry — Obviously, I have no idea if that is good for you, your industry, your geography”
- “failed sale to a corporate 18months ago which was a 7.5 multiple”