@Jed Morris for Apify, what plan do you choose for the most bang for your buck for web scraping?

In the fall of 2021, I attended Harvard Business School's ETA conference- long before buying a business was "cool" and online guru's had flooded the space. I was blown away. Cambridge was beautiful and the people were incredible. I met traditional and self-funded searchers. Investors who had been active in the space for decades. The original ETA professors themselves: Rick and Royce. I was quickly drawn in by the possibility of acquiring a business of my own and soaked up as much as I could from the various conference sessions. But there was one huge question I couldn't seem to answer.... "How were they actually searching for businesses to buy?" I understood the theory but how is it done tactically? The actual day-to-day? It seemed like a huge secret. After meeting with successful buyers, industry professionals, investors, and other searchers I always got the same types of advice: - Build an off-market deal funnel - Teams of interns for cold outreach was effective (email, calling, etc) - Access databases of owner information to identify potential targets - Build a professional on-market profile so brokers, investors, and sellers take you seriously All of this made sense theoretically, but without a background in B2B sales I didn't know how to do ANY of it. It took me years or trial and error and over a dozen interns to finally make any progress. And we know how that turned out... 🫠 So, when I started Searcher School I wasn't sure what the response would be. But after, 10 months, 14 Live Challenges, and 100+ students who have attended the various live sessions the feedback has been overwhelming. (Just look at all the positive feedback!) You have the same questions, and challenges, I had as a new searcher: - Lack of deal flow - How to raise investor capital - Don't know how to set up systems to search effectively Plus- AI is here and the vast majority of searchers aren't using it. So here's my gift to you ... a 7-Day free trial to all Searcher School Challenges.

@Jed Morris or others, what are the top lenders for $1+ million in EBITDA that are NON SBA for Independent sponsors? I have an existing list but want to expand it if anyone knows of any private credit facilities that do this type of lending that are NON SBA.

Post your questions below!

Tell us three things: Tell me: 1. Search method (self-funded, traditional, sponsor, etc) 2. Your buy box (be specific so I can refer you stuff I see!) 3. Your biggest pain point in searching. What’s the one thing I (and this group) can help you fix I'll respond to every single one. And read each other's intros too because the person who's stuck on the same problem as you might already be in this thread. I'll go first. 🔹 I'm Jed; an independent sponsor at Sunset Coast Partners focused exclusively on government contracting firms. 🔹 My buy box includes companies with a minimum 35% government contracted revenue (federal or state & local), $2M - $10M EBITDA, and preferably in aerospace, defense, precision manufacturing, or IT/cyber software. 🔹 My biggest pain point is raising capital in a GovCon environment where SBA affiliation rules prevent traditional capital. Simply put, the majority of acquisition money needs to come from me personally or a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) fund. That's it. It's simple and gives you data on who's joining, what they're searching for, and keeps the feed clear for content that retains people past week one.