Your entire acquisition journey, in one place.
Acquire Scout brings together business listings from across the web, scores them against your buyer profile, and guides you through every step — from first contact to closing day.
HVAC & Plumbing · Greenville, SC
Earnings disputedSummit Comfort Heating & Air
16 yrs · owner-operated · ~40% recurring maintenance revenue
$1.15M
Asking
$310K$400K
Verified SDE
3.7×
Multiple
Bookkeeping · Remote
78 · Good fitBrightleaf Books
Recurring monthly clients · ~80% retained revenue
$780K
Asking
$265K
SDE
2.9×
Multiple
Auto Services · Tampa, FL
64 · ReviewCoastal Express Wash
3 locations · real estate included · seller financing
$2.1M
Asking
$410K
SDE
5.1×
Multiple
The Problem
The numbers might be fiction.
Buying a business is the biggest check you'll ever write — on numbers you didn't prepare and can't yet trust.
The broker works for the seller
The P&L, the add-back schedule, the SDE — every number you're handed was prepared by the person who profits when you overpay. Nobody in the room is checking it for you.
Add-backs quietly inflate the earnings
A personal truck booked as “one-time.” The owner's full salary added back. Small adjustments stack up into an SDE that looks great — until it meets the tax return.
You find out after you've wired the money
It's 2am, you're staring at a broker's spreadsheet, and there's no one to tell you whether $400K SDE is real or $310K. A quality-of-earnings report answers that — for $15,000 and weeks you don't have.
Who It's For
Built for buyers like you
Acquire Scout is for serious buyers — people with the capital, experience, and intent to close a deal.
The Executive
Corporate experience. Ready to own.
20 years building divisions for other people. Now looking to put their capital and expertise to work acquiring a business they can run on their own terms.
The Operator
Already owns one. Looking for more.
A proven business owner with systems, capital, and a playbook for growth. Expanding the portfolio — the next acquisition needs to be the right fit.
The Career Changer
Trading salary for ownership.
A senior professional with capital, drive, and a clear vision. Done climbing someone else's ladder — buying a business is the move that changes everything.
Features
Built to catch what the listing hides
A second opinion on the seller's numbers — and the workspace to run the whole deal around it.
Document verification
Upload the P&L, tax return, and offering memo. We recompute SDE straight from the source documents and flag every figure the listing overstates — with a citation to the page it came from.
Add-back scrutiny
Every add-back is tested and marked accepted, questioned, or rejected — so the “one-time” expense that recurs every year doesn't quietly pad the earnings you're paying a multiple on.
Scout Score on verified numbers
A deal score built on the earnings we rebuilt, not the ones the broker typed — plus DSCR, payback, and the multiple against sector benchmarks.
Search & pipeline
Find listings across BizBuySell, BusinessesForSale, and more, and track every deal through each stage — the feeder that keeps deals flowing into the engine.
The Market
Businesses waiting to be found
Thousands of profitable businesses change hands every year. Acquire Scout helps you find the ones that fit your criteria.
Restaurants & Hospitality
$150K – $2MCafes, full-service restaurants, catering companies, and event venues with loyal customer bases.
Home & Trade Services
$200K – $3MHVAC, plumbing, landscaping, and electrical businesses — recession-resistant with recurring contracts.
Retail & E-Commerce
$100K – $1.5MEstablished storefronts and online shops with inventory, brand equity, and customer lists included.
Professional Services
$300K – $5MAccounting firms, marketing agencies, consulting practices, and staffing companies with retainer revenue.
How It Works
From documents to decision
Bring a live deal and know what's real in minutes.
Bring a deal
Upload whatever you have — the P&L, the tax return, the offering memo, even a saved listing page. The more you give the engine, the more it can verify.
Documents
Drop the deal's files
- 2023_tax_return.pdf
- P&L_2021-2023.pdf
- offering_memo.pdf
See what's real
We rebuild SDE from the documents, scrutinize every add-back, and show you exactly where the seller's number and the tax return disagree — with citations.
Verified SDE
Earnings disputedRecomputed from the 2023 tax return
Decide with the full picture
A clear pursue / pass read, the risks that actually matter, and the questions to put to the seller — so you negotiate from the verified number, not the listed one.
Recommendation
Pursue with conditionsA real business — at $310K, not $400K. Reprice before you sign.
- Listing revenue $120K above the tax return
- 16 years, ~40% recurring maintenance revenue
Stop taking the seller's numbers on faith.
Acquire Scout is the diligence engine that verifies a deal's earnings before you sign. A quality-of-earnings report costs $15,000; plans start at $39/mo.
Find BusinessesFree to start — no credit card. Your first deal verification is on us.