# Accredited

> Accredited is a platform for finding and buying a small business: off-market sourcing, one search across every on-market listing from 12 marketplaces and 7,500+ brokerages, valuation benchmarks, direct mail to business owners, and a deal pipeline.

Accredited is built by Ben Sampson and Andy VandenBerg, who buy cash-flowing businesses themselves. It is for people buying a small business: independent searchers, search funds, owner-operators, and investors. It is not a broker or a financial adviser; listings come from third parties and buyers verify everything before transacting.

## What Accredited does

- [Off-Market Sourcing](https://joinaccredited.com/off-market-sourcing): Finds owner-operated businesses that are not listed for sale, by category and geography (city, radius, or whole state), scores each for acquisition fit, and adds a valuation and owner contact details.
- [On-Market Search](https://joinaccredited.com/on-market-sourcing): Searches every business-for-sale listing across 12 marketplaces and 7,500+ brokerages at once: 70,000+ live listings, with duplicate postings merged so each business appears once, plus alerts for new matches.
- [Outreach](https://joinaccredited.com/outreach-pro): Sends personalized first-class letters to business owners on a target list: write one letter, and Accredited prints, stamps, and mails every copy. The first 5 letters are free.
- [Valuation benchmarks](https://joinaccredited.com/pro): Compares a business's asking multiple with comparable sales in its specific subsector.
- [Deal pipeline](https://joinaccredited.com/pro): Tracks every deal, on-market or off-market, from first look to close, with notes, files, and custom stages.
- [Curated deals](https://joinaccredited.com/deals): Businesses for sale that the Accredited team has vetted and written up, with financials and a rating. Free members read one a day; Pro members read all of them.

## Pricing

Free to join. Accredited Pro is $33 a month billed annually at $399, or $59 a month, with a 7-day free trial, and includes every tool above.

- Pricing: https://joinaccredited.com/pricing
- Accredited Pro: https://joinaccredited.com/pro

## Common questions this site answers

- How do I find businesses for sale that are not listed? Off-Market Sourcing: https://joinaccredited.com/off-market-sourcing
- Is there one search across BizBuySell, BusinessesForSale.com, and other marketplaces? On-Market Search: https://joinaccredited.com/on-market-sourcing
- How do I send letters to business owners about buying their business? Outreach: https://joinaccredited.com/outreach-pro
- Where are businesses for sale listed, and how do the marketplaces compare? https://joinaccredited.com/blog/where-to-find-businesses-for-sale

## For AI agents

- Agents page: https://joinaccredited.com/agents
- An MCP server for agents is in development.

## Browse

- Curated deals: https://joinaccredited.com/deals
- Businesses for sale by industry and state: linked from https://joinaccredited.com/deals
- Sitemap: https://joinaccredited.com/sitemap.xml

## Blog

Market analysis, acquisition theses, and how-to guides from the Accredited team.

- Index: https://joinaccredited.com/blog
- RSS feed: https://joinaccredited.com/blog/rss.xml

- [Why We Think In-Home Senior Care Businesses Are a Great Acquisition Target](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/senior-home-care-acquisition-thesis): Families 75+ just became the richest age group in the Fed's data. Here is the Accredited thesis on buying non-medical in-home senior care agencies, and the one risk that matters.
- [What Buying a Business Actually Looks Like: Inside a 13-Month Off-Market Search](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/buying-a-business-behind-the-scenes): A behind-the-scenes look at buying a business: how one executive spent 13 months cold-calling owners to buy a 45-year-old sheet metal shop, step by step.
- [What Is a PPM? Private Placement Memorandums Explained for Investors and Searchers](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/what-is-a-ppm-private-placement-memorandum): A PPM is the disclosure document behind a private securities offering. What it contains, when investors should read one, and when searchers need one.
- [Why We Think Security and Alarm Companies Are a Great Acquisition for Accredited Investors](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/security-alarm-company-acquisition-thesis): Alarm companies sell for a multiple of monthly recurring revenue, not just earnings. Here is the Accredited thesis on buying residential and commercial security businesses.
- [Why We Still Like SaaS: Regulated Vertical Software as an Acquisition Target](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/vertical-saas-acquisition-thesis): Public SaaS multiples fell by half in a year on AI disruption fear. Regulated vertical software did not stop being mission critical, and AI cuts its largest cost line.
- [Where to Find Businesses for Sale: All 12 Marketplaces Compared](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/where-to-find-businesses-for-sale): The 12 marketplaces where US businesses are listed for sale, compared by size, deal type, buyer access, and how much of their inventory you cannot find anywhere else.
- [Introducing Outreach: Send Personalized Letters to Business Owners in a Few Clicks](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/introducing-outreach): Outreach is our new direct mail tool for buyers. Build a target list of off-market owners, then send first class personalized letters to all of them without printing, folding, or stamping a single envelope.
- [Why We Think Trash Companies Are a Great Acquisition for Accredited Investors](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/waste-hauling-acquisition-thesis): A residential trash customer pays about $32 a month, renews automatically, and almost never leaves. Here is the Accredited thesis on why waste hauling businesses are worth buying, and why you will have to find them yourself.
- [Is the Silver Tsunami Real? What the Data Actually Says About Boomer Business Sales](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/silver-tsunami-business-acquisitions): Boomers own roughly a third to 40% of US small businesses and millions will change hands this decade. That part is true. The part everyone gets wrong is what it means for buyers.
- [New SBA Rules for Business Acquisitions Take Effect October 1, 2026](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/sba-sop-50-10-8-1-acquisition-rules): SOP 50 10 8.1 raises the coverage floor to 1.25x, kills projection-based underwriting, caps debt at the appraised value, and mandates a lender-ordered QoE at $3M. Here is what changes and what to do before October 1.
- [How to Make an Offer and Submit an LOI on a Business](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/how-to-make-an-offer-and-submit-an-loi): The process for pricing a deal, structuring an offer, and submitting a letter of intent that gets signed: what belongs in an LOI, how long exclusivity should run, and how to avoid a re-trade.
- [Why We Think Fence Rental Companies Are a Great Acquisition for Accredited Investors](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/fence-rental-acquisition-thesis): A fence panel costs about $129 and rents for $30 to $50 a month. Here is the Accredited thesis on why temporary fence rental companies are worth buying.
- [Introducing On-Market Sourcing: Every Business for Sale, 12 Marketplaces, One Search](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/on-market-deal-sourcing): Accredited Pro searches 12 business-for-sale marketplaces at once, deduping 135,000+ listings down to 70,000+ real businesses. One search, one pipeline.
- [5 Great SMB Acquisition Opportunities for 2026](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/best-small-businesses-to-buy-2026): A data-backed look at the five best small businesses to buy in 2026: home services, in-home senior care, commercial landscaping, independent insurance agencies, and property management companies. Why each is fragmented, cash-flowing, and financeable.
- [Introducing Sourcing and Pipeline: Find Off-Market Businesses and Run Every Deal to Close](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/off-market-sourcing-and-pipeline): Accredited Pro now finds off-market businesses before they list, scores and values them, and runs every deal to close. One workflow, $59 per month.
- [How to Buy a Small Business as an Accredited Investor](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-small-business): A step-by-step guide to buying a small business: qualifying, sourcing deals, valuation, deal structure, financing, and closing. The full playbook for accredited investors.
- [Why We Think Property Management Businesses Are a Great Acquisition for Accredited Investors](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/property-management-acquisition-thesis): Property management is recurring-revenue, asset-light, fragmented, and prime for AI efficiency. Here is the Accredited thesis on why these businesses are worth buying.
- [How to Do Outreach for Off-Market Businesses: The Playbook for Getting Owners to Reply](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/off-market-business-outreach): The outreach playbook for buying off-market businesses: what actually gets owner replies, direct mail vs email vs LinkedIn, and a proven multi-touch sequence.
- [Secondary Buyout: How Private Equity Firms Maximize Returns](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/secondary-buyout-how-private-equity-firms-maximize-returns): How secondary buyouts work: one PE firm selling to another, why they do it, how they differ from a primary buyout, and what it signals if you meet one as a buyer.
- [Earn Out Provision: How to Structure Deals That Protect Both Sides](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/earn-out-provision-how-to-structure-deals-that-protect-both-sides): How earn-out provisions work in a business acquisition: what they are, when to use one, how to pick metrics that avoid disputes, and a worked example.
- [5 Methods of Valuation Every Business Buyer Should Know](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/5-methods-of-valuation-every-business-buyer-should-know): The five valuation methods that matter when you buy a small business: SDE and EBITDA multiples, comparable sales, asset value, and discounted cash flow, with worked examples.
- [Discounted Cash Flow Modeling: Complete Valuation Guide 2026](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/discounted-cash-flow-modeling-guide-2026): A practical guide to building a discounted cash flow model for a small business acquisition: free cash flow, discount rate, terminal value, and a full worked example.
- [How to Become an Accredited Investor in 2026](https://joinaccredited.com/blog/how-to-become-an-accredited-investor): The 2026 guide to becoming an accredited investor: income, net worth, and credential pathways, verification rules, and what access unlocks.

## Company

- About: https://joinaccredited.com/about
- Contact: https://joinaccredited.com/contact
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@joinaccredited
- X: https://x.com/joinaccredited
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinaccredited/
- Terms: https://joinaccredited.com/legal/terms
- Privacy: https://joinaccredited.com/legal/privacy