US trades businesses·$500K–$10M revenue·Release 24 Aug 2026
Exclusive off-market seller leads, each sold once·For searchers, sponsors and brokers·Own the business? Start here
An owner who wants to sell, and no other buyer calling them
ExitSource finds owners of US trades businesses who genuinely want to sell, verifies what can be verified, and releases each owner’s name and number to exactly one buyer. Then the file is sealed and can never be sold again, to anyone. The owner consented to that one introduction in writing, on a date we can show them.
The Board is thin on purpose. A file comes off it the moment one buyer releases it, and it never goes back on. Owners: six questions, no email, free.
The terms, in full
- Buyers per owner
- 1
- Times a file is sold
- 1
- Price per file
- $249–$899
- Cost to the owner
- $0
- Subscription or retainer
- None
Owners are never charged, and never will be. Buyers pay once per file.
You own the business·Nothing here costs you anything, at any point
Find out what your business is worth before anyone asks you to sell it
Six questions about your trade, your state and your numbers. The range is on the next screen, with the earnings we valued, the multiple we applied and the three things a buyer will ask you for. We do not ask for an email address to show it to you, and we never charge an owner anything.
Or start with the market rather than with us: what HVAC, plumbing and electrical businesses actually sold for, from published closed transactions, with every figure sourced.
- Time it takes
- 2 min
- Email needed to see your range
- None
- What an owner ever pays
- $0
- Buyers who ever learn your name
- 1
- Listing agreement or exclusivity
- None
01/The problem
Everyone in the lower middle market is hunting the same owner
One owner of a $500K–$10M revenue business who actually wants to sell and is not yet represented. Searchers spend 12 to 24 months and tens of thousands of dollars looking for one. Here is what is on the market to help them.
Shared seller-lead programs
$50 per lead
The same owner is matched to up to 3 brokers, the contact details are withheld, and you may only message inside their platform.
Appointment-setting agencies
$2,000–$10,000 per month
Meetings on a retainer, with a scope and a notice period. When you stop paying you own nothing.
Contact databases and scraped lists
Per seat, per year
Millions of companies and no intent. Not one of those owners said they want to sell.
Listing marketplaces
Free to browse
By the time a business is listed it is represented, shopped and picked over.
Prices are each provider’s own publicly stated terms as we recorded them on 24 Aug 2026. We did not audit them, and they can change.
02/The Seller File
One record, redacted, until one buyer releases it
This is the unit we sell. A buyer reads everything except the identity, then releases the file at the price on the button. Try the release below: the withheld lines fill in and the seal stamps underneath.
- Trade
- HVAC — residential service and replacement
- State
- Texas
- Revenue, owner-stated
- $2.4M
- SDE, owner-stated
- $610K
- Employees
- 14
- Years operating
- 22
- Readiness
- Ready — selling within 6 months
- Confirmed on
- 21 Aug 2026
- Why they are selling
- “I am 63. Neither of my sons wants the business and I would rather hand it to someone who will keep my guys employed.”Owner’s own words, 4 Aug 2026
- Owner name
- withheld
- Business name
- withheld
- City
- withheld
- Website
- withheld
- withheld
- Phone, owner-provided
- withheld
Verification Record
- Email confirmed by double opt-in from the owner's own addressVerified
- Business matched to its website, state registry and Google profileVerified
- Not listed for sale on any public marketplaceVerified
- Written consent to one introduction, timestamped and IP-loggedVerified
- Revenue, owner's compensation and profitOwner-stated
- Phone number belongs to the ownerNot checked
Available until released. The first release seals this file.
Demonstration. Nothing is charged and this owner is fictional. The real files are on the Board.
Read a full example fileHow every figure on it is calculated
03/The rule
The rule is the product
A shared name is worthless to a buyer and insulting to an owner
Exclusivity is the owner’s protection and the buyer’s product at the same time. It is also the one thing the incumbents cannot copy: a shared-lead program’s economics depend on selling the same owner three times.
01
Released once
A file is released the moment one buyer pays. The owner's name, business, phone, email and their full intake answers go to that buyer.
02
Sealed forever
The file is then stamped with the buyer's ID, the price and the UTC timestamp. It can never be shown, matched or sold again. That is a database constraint and an audit trail, not an adjective.
03
On the record
Every owner wrote, in their own words, why they want to sell, and signed a consent to exactly one introduction. Both carry the date they did it.
04/Verification
We will only claim what the system can prove
Every line on a file carries one of exactly three labels, and there are no others. Verified means we checked it. Owner-stated means the owner told us and we did not audit it. Not checked means what it says.
- ✓Email double opt-in from the owner's own address
- ✓Owner and business cross-checked against the company website, state registry, Google Business profile and public listing sites
- ✓A check that the business is not already listed for sale
- ✓Intent captured in the owner's own words, with the date they said it
- ✓Written, timestamped, IP-logged consent to a single introduction
- ✓A freshness check: the owner replied to confirm within the last 14 days
We have no phone line at launch, so a phone number is owner-provided and the file says so on its face. Anything an owner told us about money is labelled owner-stated and is never presented as diligence.
05/Price
Three Bands, one fixed price, no retainer
Band
Owner revenue
Per file
Band 1
Owner revenue under $1M
$249
Band 2
Owner revenue $1M–$5M
$499
Band 3
Owner revenue over $5M
$899
Replacement Guarantee
If the contact details are wrong, the record is a duplicate or fabricated, the owner denies submitting an inquiry or withdraws consent, or the business turns out to have been listed or represented already, you get a same-Band replacement file free. If no replacement exists within 14 days, a full refund.
We do not replace a file because the owner chose another advisor. That is written in the terms in exactly those words.
What you are buying
A named, consented, dated asset. Not a meeting, not a seat, not a monthly programme. No scope, no notice period, and you read the redacted file before you spend a dollar.
Prices shown are per file. Every file is sold once.
06/For the owner
Two minutes for a Value Range, and no listing agreement
Six questions about your trade, state and numbers, and a range on the next screen. No email needed to see it. You also get the plain truth about what a buyer will actually ask you for.
Then one offer, free: we introduce you to exactly one vetted buyer or advisor, and we never shop your name around. One click withdraws you, at any time, with no reason required.
What an owner gets
One owner, one buyer, one time
Buyers: read what is open, release one file, and never be one of three again. Owners: six questions and a range, with no email and no listing agreement.