$25k–$250k tickets. $1k+ MRR. Seller-certified 20%+ margin. The band where a solo operator can close with personal capital, seller financing, or a small SBA loan — and still take home meaningful monthly cashflow in year one.
Operators and MBAs who don't want to raise an investor group. Ex-founders looking for a smaller second act. Engineers who want cashflow, not a job. Anyone with $30k–$100k of personal capital and the appetite to run a small SaaS as an owner-operator.
We publish verified numbers so you can skip the NDA-and-CIM step. We don't run escrow, source financing, or write your APA. Use Escrow.com for funds transfer, an SBA-preferred lender for debt, and a small-transaction attorney for the paperwork.
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A self-funded searcher is an operator buying their own business without a traditional search-fund investor group behind them. They use personal savings, seller financing, SBA loans, or small angel checks to close deals in the $25k–$500k range — a band that's too small for formal M&A but produces meaningful owner income.
Search funders raise investor capital up-front and target $2M–$10M businesses. Self-funded searchers close $25k–$250k deals with their own money. This page filters for that lower band: $1k+ MRR (not $3k+), 20%+ margin (not 30%+), $25k–$250k asking price. The bar is lower and the runway to close is faster.
Roughly $500–$8,000 in MRR at typical 2–3x annual revenue multiples. At the low end, side-project SaaS with 20–200 customers; at the high end, established niche tools with a founder ready to move on. Expect to spend 5–15 hours a week operating during the first six months.
Three paths: SBA 7(a) loans finance software acquisitions from about $150k upward with 10–15% buyer equity, but require 2 years of tax returns from the target. Seller financing (30–50% down, remainder over 12–24 months) is common on sub-$250k SaaS. Personal capital + credit lines closes the smallest deals. Startup Index doesn't broker financing — connect with an SBA-preferred lender directly.
20% seller-certified is the floor on this page. Below that, you're buying a growth story instead of cashflow, and there's no investor cushion to absorb a bad quarter. 30–50% is the practical sweet spot — enough cashflow to pay yourself while still leaving room for operator improvements.
Three to eight weeks is typical. Faster deals happen when the seller has clean Stripe history and no messy contractor stack; slower deals happen when you need SBA financing (add 4–6 weeks for lender diligence). Sub-$50k deals often close in under two weeks with direct wire + a signed APA.
Yes — seller financing is common at this size. Typical structure: 50% cash at close, 50% over 12–24 months as a promissory note. Some sellers accept revenue-share deals (they take a % of MRR until paid off) but these are harder to enforce and complicate the operator relationship. A flat note is cleaner.
Buying too small. A $15k SaaS with $500 MRR nets $200–$400/month after your time — barely covers the acquisition. The math works better at $75k–$150k with $2,500+ MRR: enough take-home to pay yourself while still being financeable and diligenceable in a few weeks.
MRR is pulled live from Stripe / Paddle / RevenueCat via TrustMRR — it's the same number the seller's processor shows today, not a screenshot. Margin is seller-certified when this page's filter applies (we exclude listings that use the default 80% assumption). ROI and payback are computed from those two numbers. Traffic, code, and customer stickiness are still on you to verify with the seller directly.
Two reasons: speed and net proceeds. Brokerages take 8–15% commission on sub-$250k deals — that's $8k–$37k the seller keeps by selling direct. And a broker-run process often takes 3–6 months; solo-founder sellers frequently want out in weeks, not quarters. You pay a fair price and both sides win vs. a brokered timeline.