How to quickly build a list of 500+ acquisition targets

Happy Thursday!

One question I keep hearing in the acquisition space is: “How do I actually start finding off-market deals?”

Today I’m walking you through the practical, step-by-step process for building a list of hundreds of acquisition targets.

Community Spotlight

Darwin watched 300+ recorded calls in Acquisition Ace before closing on a digital marketing agency.

👉 Want access to hundreds of recorded calls and live weekly coaching on buying your first business? Book a call with our team here.

Finding off-market deals starts with building a targeted list of businesses that fit your criteria.

You can pay lead generation services thousands of dollars to do this.

Or you can build the list yourself for free in a few hours.

Here’s the exact process.

Step 1: Get specific on what you’re looking for

Having vague criteria leads to wasted time, so before you start searching, make sure to define these three things:

• Industry or business type (landscaping, accounting, manufacturing, etc.)

• Geographic region (within 2 hours of your city, specific states, etc.)

• Minimum cash flow required (what do you need to replace your income?)

For example:

“Plumbing companies in Texas generating $150K+ annually” is specific enough to build a focused list.

Without these parameters, you’ll waste weeks reviewing businesses that don’t make sense for your situation or financing options.

Step 2: Use free tools to build your list

1. Apollo.io

Apollo pulls data from LinkedIn and lets you filter by industry, location, company size, employee count, and revenue estimates…

Letting you export hundreds of contacts in minutes.

2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator (or regular LinkedIn)

Use this to search for business owners in your target industry and location.

It’s more manual than Apollo, but often surfaces owners who are active and engaged online.

3. Google Maps + Yelp

Search your target industry in specific cities and export the results.

And while you’re at it, check the reviews.

You want to reach out to well-run businesses with strong reputations, not struggling operations with 2-star ratings.

(Inside Acquisition Ace, members learn the ins and outs of off-market deal sourcing. If you want an unfair advantage in acquiring your first business, book a call with our team here.)

Step 3: Clean your list

Every list will have irrelevant entries that slipped through your filters.

Make sure you remove:

• Large corporations that won’t respond to cold outreach

• Franchises (unless you specifically want franchises)

• Businesses outside your size criteria

• Companies with terrible reviews or obvious red flags

Outsource if you want to save time

Once you understand the process, you can hire a VA on Upwork or Fiverr to build lists for $50-$200.

Give them your exact criteria and the tools to use, and they’ll deliver a clean list in 24-48 hours.

This frees you up to focus on outreach and deal analysis instead of data entry.

What comes next

Building the list is step one.

Step two is crafting outreach that actually gets responses, which means personalizing your message and leading with value, not a sales pitch.

Most buyers send generic templates that get ignored.

The ones who succeed treat outreach like the beginning of a relationship, not a transaction.

To learn the ins and outs of acquiring your first business in the Acquisition Ace community with 2,000+ other members…

👉 Book a call with my team here.