The First AI Search Firm for Off Market Businesses for Sale

Far too many buyers tell us the same thing… searching for a small business to buy feels like having a second full-time job. They’re scouring multiple listing sites every day, they are on all of the latest deal newsletters, they are chasing deals that dozens of others have already seen, and many are even trying to run their own off-market outreach. It’s exhausting. It’s expensive. And, it’s often discouraging.

Introducing SMB.co - the first AI Search Firm for small business deals. Powered by both AI and humans, our buyers & partners let the AI do the heavy lifting of search, reviewing all 33M+ small businesses in the U.S. to find matches to their ideal business to purchase profile (aka buy box), and humans to make real connections and guide you through the process. In other words: the intelligence of data, combined with the judgment and relationships that make deals actually happen.

How does it work? It’s simple. You tell us what your ideal business looks like… the industry, location, revenue, cash flow, whatever matters most. Our AI then works around the clock to match you with both on-market and off-market businesses that fit your profile.

And, if you want to take even more of the searching off your plate, you can try our set-it-and-forget-it search feature. We’ll automatically send intro requests to on and off-market owners for you. All you have to do is show up for the conversation with a qualified owner who’s interested in talking.

Since what we are building has never been done before at this scale, we often get the question... why off market businesses for sale? The answer is easy: most businesses never hit the public listings, and those that do are often over-shopped and overpriced. Off-market is where real opportunities live… the hidden gems, the businesses that weren’t on anyone else’s radar until you started the conversation. That’s the gap SMB.co was built to close. But, we will talk more about that in this post!

Why do AI search for off market businesses for sale?

The problem with the current small business buying and selling landscape is clear:

• Most small businesses never make it to the open market. Owners don’t know where to start, buyers don’t know how to find them, and brokers can only work so many deals.
• Marketplaces are noisy and stale. Listings get recycled. Buyers pay for newsletters with the same tired deals. Owners get lost in the crowd.
• The process is fragmented. Buyers juggle multiple systems for outreach, evaluation, and closing, wasting both time and money.

That’s why we created SMB.co: to reinvent small business search with AI at the core.

How does SMB.co work? Let’s review how to search, buy, and sell.

Search

‍At SMB.co, we’re building the most transparent marketplace for small business acquisitions. Think of it as the Zillow for buying and selling businesses. Just like Zillow made it possible to see every home on the market (and even get a sense of homes not yet listed), our goal is to list all 33M+ small businesses in the U.S., whether they’re officially for sale today or not.

And here’s the bigger picture: Zillow didn’t just change the way buyers found homes. It gave every homeowner the ability to understand their home’s value, what their neighbors were priced at, and how to prepare for a potential sale, whether that was now or even five or ten years down the road.

We’re doing the same for small business owners. By giving them visibility into their business’s estimated value, showing how they compare to others in their industry or geography, and providing tools to manage offers and prepare for an eventual exit, SMB.co becomes not just a deal platform, but a long-term planning tool. Owners can track their “equity” in real time and be ready when the right buyer comes along.

For buyers, that means a broader, more transparent view of opportunities, both on-market and off-market. For owners, it means clarity, preparedness, and ultimately, a better outcome when they decide to sell.

Why does that matter? Because again, most small businesses never make it to the public market. They don’t know where to start, or they quietly sell through private networks. Buyers, meanwhile, end up wasting time scouring multiple sites or chasing stale deals.

That’s where your Ideal Business Profile comes in. You wouldn’t go onto Zillow and just say, “I want a house” without giving it a location, price range, or number of bedrooms. You’d get a bunch of irrelevant results. The same is true here: the more you define what matters most (industry, geography, revenue, cash flow, team size, etc.), the better our AI can refine your matches.

But SMB.co goes further than just showing you what’s out there:

• On-Market: If a business is already listed, you’ll know,  but so will everyone else, which means more competition.
• Off-Market: This is where we change the game. Our AI + team privately reaches out to owners who match your profile but haven’t listed yet. Suddenly, you’re seeing opportunities no one else is seeing, at scale.

Instead of digging through noisy, recycled listings, you get dynamic, personalized deal flow in real time. And if you want to go completely hands-off, our set-it-and-forget-it search will even send intro requests to owners for you and all you have to do is show up when they’re ready to talk.

Buy

‍Finding a business is just the start. The real challenge is evaluating it, engaging with the owner, and moving a deal forward with confidence. SMB.co gives buyers the kinds of tools that used to be reserved for private equity and corporate deal teams: AI-powered diligence insights, automated document sharing, secure collaboration spaces, and outreach at scale.

Instead of cobbling together emails, spreadsheets, and endless back-and-forth, you can manage the entire acquisition process in one place. That means less guesswork, fewer missed steps, and more confidence that you’re moving closer to closing, without doing it all alone.

Sell

‍For owners, we’ve flipped the traditional process. Instead of relying on a single broker or hidden networks, sellers can list privately, test the waters, or go fully public, with AI helping maximize visibility. Buyers searching our platform aren’t just casual browsers; they’re qualified, active acquirers. That means better exposure, faster conversations, and smarter exits.

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The first AI Search Firm

Just as investment banks were built to help companies raise capital, SMB.co is built to help small businesses search, connect, and close deals. But instead of hiring a traditional firm, you’re tapping into an AI-powered platform designed for speed, scale, and transparency.

We are not a listing site.

We are not a broker. Rather, we partner with brokers to amplify their reach and bring them more qualified buyers.

We are an AI Search Firm, where buyers, sellers, and brokers all plug into the same intelligent network.

Our Mission at SMB.co

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, yet buying or selling one has long felt like a confusing, closed-door process. At SMB.co, our mission is to change that. We’re building the first AI Search Firm designed to make small business acquisitions transparent, accessible, and scalable, so more entrepreneurs can step into ownership and more owners can exit on their terms.

Whether you’re an owner planning for your next chapter, a first-time buyer searching for the right fit, or a broker working to serve clients better, we’re here to make the process smarter, faster, and fairer.

SMB.co is where small business meets AI… uncovering off-market businesses for sale, surfacing hidden opportunities, and helping entrepreneurs everywhere take their shot at ownership.

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