PORTWATCH

Live in beta

Find off-market businesses before anyone else.

Portwatch is an AI deal sourcing platform designed for buyers of SMBs, and built by industry experts. It builds your thesis, finds companies that match it, researches each one, and runs outreach — replacing the tools and retainers a search normally requires.

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Portwatch rating four nursing home companies against a buyer's thesis as Strong, Moderate or Weak, with the reasoning attached: owner age 63, 28 years tenure, and a declining review trend.

Why are so many small businesses changing hands right now?

An entire generation of American business owners is retiring at once, and most of them have no succession plan. The companies are sound; the infrastructure to route them to new buyers does not exist at scale.

$5T

in assets held by boomer-owned businesses

1,500

owners turn 65 every day, and only a third have a succession plan

6M

SMB ownership transitions projected by 2035

"Closed on 45-year-old family-owned Hopewell Sheet Metal... home with my family every night. It's great."

— Adam Kurzrok, Forbes, 7/2026

"Dairy Witch Ice Cream, open 74 years, will not reopen. No sale. No successor. Just a closed window."

— Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, 2026

How much does proprietary deal sourcing normally cost?

Either about two weeks of your own time per thesis, or roughly $45,000 to hire it out. Both scale poorly, especially in today's hyper competitive lower-middle market M&A environment.

Do it yourself

14 days

Per thesis, before a single conversation with an owner.

✓Scour industry reports and professional networks
✓Build and maintain spreadsheets
✓Hunt for contact details manually
✓Verify and clean the data

Hire it out

$45,000

Typical first-year cost of a managed sourcing engagement.

✗$7,500/mo typical retainer
✗6-month minimums
✗+2–6% success fees

How does Portwatch find and qualify companies?

In four steps, from a thesis to a sent email. Portwatch reads your criteria, searches primary records rather than listings, scores every company against your mandate, and drafts outreach under your name.

STEP 01 2 MINUTES

Say what you want to buy

Plain language, not a filter form. Portwatch asks the questions a broker would and turns the answers into a thesis you can save and reuse.

Tell me what you're looking to acquire — industry, geography, size, whatever you've got.

Nursing home in miami

That metro spans three counties. How wide should I search?
Tri-county Miami-Dade only All of South Florida

Describe your acquisition criteria, or paste a link

YOUR THESIS 76

INDUSTRYNursing homes

GEOGRAPHYMiami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach

REVENUE$2M – $5M

OWNERSHIPOwner-operated

Start search
STEP 02 RUNS WHILE YOU SLEEP

We research every company

Business directories, the company's own site, review history and contact records. Revenue and headcount are estimated from what we find, and anything we cannot corroborate is labelled instead of guessed.

Researching 1,284 companies 412 / 1,284

WHAT WE PULL

✓Public business directories

✓The company's own website

✓Estimated revenue and employee count

✓Contacts and owners at the company

✓Review history and trend

✗Scraped cold-call lists

EVERY CLAIM IS LABELLED

Glenn A. DuhlVERIFIED
Named as owner by the directory listing and the company site.

Nicholas J. GrelloLIKELY
Listed on the company site, with no second source to confirm.

Kyle A. McClainUNVERIFIED
Found on one page only, so we flag rather than assert it.
STEP 03 YOU DECIDE, NOT THE MODEL

Score against your thesis

Every company is rated Strong, Moderate or Weak against the thesis you wrote, with the reasoning attached. Keep the ones worth a call and pass on the rest.

COMPANY
EST. REVENUE
THESIS FIT

Sunrise Senior CareMiami-Dade, FL · 31 staff
$4.2M SCORING Strong fit

Palm Grove ResidencesBroward, FL · 24 staff
$3.6M STRONG

Coral Bay Care GroupPalm Beach, FL · 52 staff
$8.1M MODERATE

Northline Assisted LivingMiami-Dade, FL · 9 staff
$1.1M WEAK

WHY IT SCORED STRONG Owner is 63 with no named successor, revenue sits inside your range, and the entity is a corporation — transfer friendly.

Owner age63

Tenure28 yrs

Review trend−0.3 / qtr

Keep Pass
STEP 04 NOTHING SENDS WITHOUT YOU

Reach the owner in your voice

One email per owner, written from that company's research profile. Approve three samples and the rest send in the same voice.

SAMPLE 1 OF 3 GROUNDED IN 6 SOURCES
Sunrise Senior Care — a question about the next ten yearsSunrise Senior Care — a question

Maria, I came across Sunrise while looking at family-run senior care across Miami-Dade. Twenty-eight years with the same two owners is unusual — most operators your size have turned over their leadership twice by now. I buy and operate care businesses and I am looking for one in South Florida to hold for the long term. Not a roll-up, not a rebrand. If succession is something you have started thinking about, I would value twenty minutes.

Approve Regenerate Edit

AFTER 30 DAYS

24owners emailed

14opened

3replied · 2 want a call

SENDING MODE Approve samples, auto-send the rest Approve 3, and the remaining 21 send in the same style. Switch to reviewing every email at any point.

What is in a Portwatch company profile?

Six sections, built in minutes rather than days. Every profile covers what a buyer needs before deciding whether the company is worth a call, including who actually owns it and how to reach them.

·Executive Summary
·Financial Signals
·Ownership and Decision-Makers
·Technology Stack
·Contact Details
·Market Position

Questions buyers ask

What is Portwatch?

Portwatch is an AI deal sourcing platform for people buying small and mid-sized businesses. It builds an acquisition thesis, finds companies that match it, researches each one, and runs outreach, replacing the separate tools and retainers a search normally requires.

Who is Portwatch for?

Portwatch is built for SMB acquisition buyers: first-time searchers, searcher-operators running roll-ups, independent sponsors, family offices, and private equity firms.

How does Portwatch find off-market companies?

Portwatch draws on business registries, map data, professional network profiles, and automated web crawlers, then normalizes the results with large language models. Because it starts from primary records rather than listings, most companies it surfaces are not for sale on any marketplace.

How much does Portwatch cost?

Portwatch is free during beta. Pricing will be announced closer to public launch.

How is Portwatch different from a broker or a search fund service?

Managed sourcing services typically run about $7,500 per month with six-month minimums and success fees of two to six percent. Portwatch is software, so there is no retainer, no minimum term, and no fee on close.

How long does it take to build a lead list?

Minutes. Building a comparable list by hand takes roughly two weeks of scouring industry reports, hunting contact details, and cleaning data.

What is in a Portwatch company profile?

Each profile includes an executive summary, financial signals, ownership and decision-makers, technology stack, verified contact details, and market position.

Can I upload my own lead list?

Yes. Upload a CSV of companies and Portwatch will run enrichment and scoring across the entire list.

Can I upload my investment thesis?

Yes. Upload a PDF, DOCX, or PPT and Portwatch will extract the criteria and pre-populate the search filters.

Does Portwatch handle outreach?

Yes. Personalized outreach goes out under your own name across email, professional networks, and social channels.

How are companies scored?

Every company is scored against the specific criteria in your thesis, including industry, geography, revenue, and headcount, so the ranking reflects your mandate rather than a generic quality score.

Is Portwatch available now?

Portwatch is live in beta. Request access and the team will follow up.

Request beta access

Tell us about your acquisition search and we'll reach out with access.

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