The Problem
Buying a small business starts with finding listings worth examining. You may already understand the acquisition thesis: established service businesses can be worth studying, particularly when owners are preparing to retire. But finding a listing is not the same as understanding it.
You open listing sites. Compare asking prices, revenue, and seller's discretionary earnings. Bookmark a few candidates. Open another dozen tabs. Then comes the harder question: what would you actually change if you owned the business?
Rollup Radar helps with both parts. We curate public listings so you have a focused starting point. Then we publish a worked example of how automation might change an operating process, including the assumptions, costs, and limitations that deserve scrutiny. We don't sell you the business. We help you study the work of evaluating one.
What You Get Each Week (Free)
One email, every Friday morning. Three sections. The same format each week.
- 5–7 curated businesses for sale. Real listings from public marketplaces such as BizBuySell, BizQuest, and similar sources. Each includes a link to the original listing and a short explanation of the business, the reported numbers, and what may warrant further investigation.
- ONE AI-margin teardown. A line-by-line educational example showing where automation might reduce manual work or affect operating margins in a particular business type. Assumptions are explicit. Figures are illustrative, not projections.
- One acquisition term, explained. A plain-English explanation of terms such as seller financing, SDE, or add-back, so you can read listings with more context.
What we don't send: Artificial urgency, invented deals, unverifiable listings, or promises about acquisition returns. Every featured listing must be traceable to a public source.
Sample Teardown
Here's what a Rollup Radar teardown looks like.
Teardown #0 — A hypothetical $800k plumbing company
This is an illustrative example using invented figures to demonstrate the teardown format. It is not a real listing, not a real business, and not investment advice.
The setup (all invented): A six-truck residential plumbing company in the Southeast.
- Listing price:
- $800k
- Stated revenue:
- $1.6M
- Seller's discretionary earnings (SDE):
- $380k
- Owner nearing retirement
- Phones answered by a part-time office manager
Where operations may be losing time or money, and what automation could change (illustrative only):
- Missed calls after 5 PM. Assumption: 30% of after-hours calls reach voicemail. Assumption: 60% of those callers book with a competitor. An AI receptionist could be worth evaluating as a way to handle those calls. But answering a call doesn't guarantee a booking, and the assumptions need to be checked against real call records.
- Dispatch and scheduling. Assumption: Technicians spend 45 minutes a day coordinating schedules and changes. A shared calendar and text-back automation could reduce some of that manual coordination. The real question is how much time the existing process consumes, what the replacement costs, and whether the team uses it consistently.
- Unanswered customer reviews. Assumption: The business has 40 unanswered reviews affecting its Google rating. A human-approved review-response system could make responding more consistent. Whether that changes visibility or customer behavior is uncertain and should not be assumed.
The caveat: Every figure in this example is invented for illustration. Real costs, margins, and operating improvements depend on the company's records, local market, implementation, and execution. These examples teach a method of analysis. They do not predict a business's performance.
Why we're showing you this: Every teardown follows the same structure: facts, assumptions, operational issues, possible changes, and caveats. The purpose is to make the reasoning visible so you can challenge it, not to present a speculative improvement as a guaranteed return.
Go Deeper
The weekly email is free, and it stays free. Two paid options exist for readers who want to do the work, not just read about it.
Deal Evaluation Kit — $79 one-time
The working tools behind every teardown, in one kit:
- The deal evaluation checklist — the pre-LOI, LOI, and diligence checks we run on every listing, in order
- The SDE scrub spreadsheet — normalize seller's discretionary earnings and spot add-backs that don't hold up
- The teardown workbook — the 7-part teardown template plus 2 worked examples, ready to run on any listing you're studying
- Buy-box + broker outreach templates — define what you're looking for and contact brokers in plain, professional language
Buy the Kit and the full $79 is credited toward a Pro annual plan when Pro opens.
Get the Kit — $79Rollup Radar Pro — founding cohort — $29/mo or $249/yr
Pro is the tool version of Rollup Radar:
- A weekly scored Deal Pack: 25–40 curated public listings, scored against the published criteria, not just the 5–7 in the free email
- The full Deal Pack archive — every Deal Pack we've published, searchable by industry, state, price band, and SDE multiple. Every entry is our own scoring and notes with a link back to the original public listing; we never copy or republish listing content
- Two Pro-only deep teardowns per month
- The templates library (everything in the Kit, kept updated, plus new templates as they're added)
- A monthly deal huddle — bring a listing you're studying, work it with the group
Founding terms, in plain words: Pro opens when the founding cohort reaches 100 paid members or 25 Kit buyers, whichever comes first. The first 100 founding members keep their founding price — $29/mo or $249/yr — for as long as they remain subscribed. Your first Deal Pack arrives the week Pro opens. If Pro has not opened within 90 days of your first payment, all founding payments you have made are refunded in full and no further charges are billed. Cancel anytime.
Who It's For
- Aspiring acquirers who want to buy an established business in the next 1–3 years and are learning how to assess opportunities.
- Searchers and self-funded buyers who want a regular set of public listings and a disciplined way to think about operations.
- Existing operators interested in examining business acquisitions and potential process improvements from a buyer's perspective.
Who It's Not For
- Get-rich-quick buyers. We don't offer secret deals, guaranteed upside, or shortcuts around due diligence.
- Anyone seeking personalized investment advice. We provide curated public information and educational analysis, not recommendations to buy a particular business.
The Disclaimer
Rollup Radar is an educational newsletter. We are not business brokers, lenders, or investment advisors. We curate publicly listed businesses for sale and publish illustrative margin teardowns for educational purposes. We do not own, broker, or sell any business we feature. Our teardowns are not financial advice, financial projections, or guarantees. They are worked examples built on stated assumptions. Buying a business involves real financial and operational risk. Conduct independent due diligence and consult appropriately licensed professionals before making a decision.
Get the listings. Learn how to read the opportunity.
One weekly email with 5–7 public business listings, one illustrative automation teardown, and one acquisition term explained.
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FAQ
Is the newsletter really free?
Yes. The weekly newsletter is free. Rollup Radar also sells two optional paid products — the Deal Evaluation Kit ($79 one-time) and Rollup Radar Pro (subscription) — and may later carry clearly labeled sponsorships and affiliate links to deal platforms. You don't pay to receive the newsletter or read the weekly teardowns.
Where do the deals come from?
Public business-for-sale marketplaces, including BizBuySell, BizQuest, and similar sources. We select listings, add context, and link back to the original public source. We never claim to own or represent a business simply because we feature its listing.
Are the teardowns real predictions?
No. They're educational worked examples using stated assumptions. They demonstrate ways to examine operating costs and possible automation opportunities. They are not financial forecasts, valuations, or investment recommendations.
How is this different from browsing listing sites myself?
You can browse the same public marketplaces. Rollup Radar organizes a smaller selection into one email, adds plain-English context, and pairs the listings with a structured operating analysis. You still need to verify listing details and conduct your own research.
Do you sell businesses or take commissions on deals?
No. Rollup Radar does not broker businesses or earn commissions from completed acquisitions.
When does Pro open, and what if it doesn't?
Pro opens when the founding cohort reaches 100 paid members or 25 Kit buyers, whichever comes first. If Pro has not opened within 90 days of your first founding payment, all founding payments you have made are refunded in full.
See how we evaluate a business before you subscribe to the weekly listings.
Join free and get Teardown #0 in your welcome email: the hypothetical $800k plumbing company, with every assumption and caveat laid out.
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