SOP 47: Marketplace vs. Broker vs. Direct Outreach — Deal Sourcing

SOP 47: Marketplace vs. Broker vs. Direct Outreach — Deal Sourcing

Three sourcing channels. Each trades price for safety and effort.

— Marketplace (Flippa, Empire Flippers, Acquire): use for vetted, listed deal flow. Empire Flippers pre-vets revenue; you pay a premium multiple (often 35–45x monthly). Lower fraud risk, lower margin.
— Broker (Quiet Light, FE International): use for larger, curated deals above ~$100k where you want a managed process and the seller is serious.
— Direct outreach (cold-emailing site owners): use for the best multiples (often 20–30x) and zero competition — but you carry all diligence and fraud risk yourself, and most owners ignore you.
— Channel rule: beginners start on a pre-vetting marketplace to learn the checklist on someone else's vetting; scale to direct outreach only once your audit SOP is reflexive.

Pass criterion: matched sourcing channel to your diligence capacity, not just price.

Save this — run it every deal.