Acquiry Buyer’s Toolkit
For first-time buyers, search funds, private equity and corporate development teams. Marketplaces, advisers, diligence tools, finance and integration, each checked against its own official source. Free, with no sign-up. Inclusion is editorial and never depends on a link or coverage.
Deal path finder
Pick a goal and answer one question. You get a three-step plan with the tools to use at each step.
Pick a goal above and your three-step route appears here.
25 resources
Buy-side acquisition origination
Turns a buyer’s acquisition criteria into direct conversations with the owners of matching businesses, including companies that are not on the market.
Best for: Buyers with a defined thesis who want access beyond listed deals.
Marketplace for online businesses
Open marketplace for buying and selling online businesses, websites, SaaS, ecommerce stores, YouTube channels, apps and domains.
Best for: Buyers of smaller online assets who are comfortable running their own diligence.
Marketplace for startups and SaaS
Marketplace for buying and selling profitable online businesses, with listings concentrated in startups and SaaS. Its site also lists advisory, legal and escrow support.
Best for: Buyers looking for small SaaS and startup acquisitions.
Curated marketplace for online businesses
Curated marketplace where online businesses are vetted before they are listed, covering content, ecommerce, SaaS and similar models.
Best for: Buyers who want a pre-screened shortlist rather than an open marketplace.
Technology M&A adviser
Technology M&A adviser acting for founders and business owners, so its sale processes are one route into adviser-run technology deals.
Best for: Buyers who want to take part in structured, adviser-led tech sale processes.
Recent acquisitions, analysed
In-depth analysis of recent mergers and acquisitions: deal value, terms, structure and buyer strategy, from primary sources.
Best for: Seeing who is buying in your sector and how deals are being structured.
UK company register
Free UK government register showing a company’s registered office, filing history, accounts, officers, charges and business activity.
Best for: Checking ownership, filed accounts and charges on a UK target before first contact.
Research on acquisition entrepreneurship
Stanford Graduate School of Business research on search funds, the investor-backed model in which an entrepreneur finds, acquires and runs a private company.
Best for: First-time buyers weighing a search fund or self-funded search.
Community for search fund buyers
Online community where search fund entrepreneurs, self-funded searchers and investors share deals, questions and resources.
Best for: Individual buyers who want peers and investors around a search.
Free ARR multiple model
Enter ARR, growth, margin, net revenue retention, churn, concentration and contract terms to see an ARR multiple and enterprise value range.
Best for: Sense-checking a SaaS asking price before an offer.
From P&L to adjusted earnings
Turns a profit and loss statement into seller’s discretionary earnings and reported and adjusted EBITDA, with a full add-back bridge.
Best for: Testing a seller’s add-backs on a smaller, owner-run business.
Search and backlink data
Marketing platform with large search and backlink databases, used to see where a site’s organic traffic and links come from.
Best for: Checking the durability of search traffic on content and ecommerce targets.
Search, paid and visibility data
Platform for measuring brand visibility across search, paid search and social, including a site’s keyword and traffic history.
Best for: Seeing how much of a target’s traffic is organic, paid or brand-driven.
Subscription analytics
Subscription analytics platform reporting recurring revenue, churn and retention, with benchmarks across subscription businesses.
Best for: Verifying MRR and churn directly, if the seller can grant read access.
Subscription analytics
Subscription analytics that connects to billing systems and reports metrics such as recurring revenue, churn and lifetime value.
Best for: Reading a SaaS target’s metrics from its own billing data.
39 items across seven workstreams
The buyer’s checklist across financial, commercial, legal, tax, people, technology and regulatory diligence. Free, no sign-up.
Best for: Structuring diligence requests to a seller.
What to check in a codebase
Covers the areas technical diligence on software turns on: open-source licences, technical debt, third-party API dependencies and security scanning.
Best for: Scoping technical diligence on a software acquisition.
What an offer is really worth
Breaks a letter of intent into its parts, showing what the headline price is worth after earnout, seller note, escrow and working capital.
Best for: Comparing offer structures before you put one forward.
Regulated solicitors in England and Wales
Free Law Society directory of SRA-regulated solicitors in England and Wales, searchable by area of law, including corporate and M&A work.
Best for: Finding acquisition counsel for a deal in England and Wales.
US small business lending
The US Small Business Administration’s primary business loan programme, delivered through participating lenders.
Best for: US buyers financing a small business acquisition with debt.
Online escrow
Online escrow service, operating since 1999, that holds the buyer’s funds until the agreed asset transfer has taken place.
Best for: Asset purchases of websites, domains and smaller online businesses.
Domain name escrow, attorney on board
Online domain name escrow service for buying, renting or lease-to-buy domain names, with an attorney on board.
Best for: Buying a domain name, or a website where the domain is the main asset.
Virtual data rooms
Virtual data rooms used by dealmakers to share and review diligence documents during M&A.
Best for: Larger processes with many documents, parties and advisers.
M&A operating system for buyers
Software that describes itself as an M&A operating system for buyer-led M&A, bringing pipeline, diligence and integration work into one place.
Best for: Corporate development teams running several acquisitions at once.
Acquisition route selector
Each route suits a different kind of buyer. Answer three questions and the best fit lights up.
Three ways to find a business
Listed online businesses come with standardised financials and a visible asking price, so you can compare many quickly.
Advisers run structured processes with prepared information and clear timetables, which suits buyers who are open on the exact target.
With a defined thesis, approaching the owners who fit it directly widens the field to businesses that are not for sale today.
Acquisition team sheets
Pick the deal you are working on. Each step lists what to do and the resources to use for it.
From first listing to the first hundred days, for a subscription software acquisition.
Marketplace, adviser-led and off-market routes side by side.
Ask for read access to billing analytics, not screenshots.
Anchor the offer in ARR, retention and growth.
Code, licences and dependencies alongside the financials.
Structure the offer, then run documents through one room.
Customers, people and systems from Day 1.
For asset purchases of traffic-led online businesses.
Open versus curated marketplaces.
Where visits and links really come from.
Rebuild earnings from the P&L and challenge each add-back.
Supplier, platform and account-ownership checks.
Release funds only once assets and domains have transferred.
For a share purchase of an established operating business in the UK.
Owners who are not marketing their business, and recent sector deals.
Ownership, filed accounts and charges before first contact.
Earnings quality and the full request list.
Regulated counsel, a clear offer and one document room.
Plan the hundred days before completion.
We turn a buyer’s acquisition criteria into conversations with the owners of matching businesses, including businesses that are not on the market.
Discuss your briefPublishers, specialists and buyers can suggest a tool, guide or service. Use the contact form and choose General Enquiry. Every suggestion is reviewed by our editors before anything is listed, and listing never requires a link back.
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