Connecting Business Buyers and Sellers Since 2005

Cut through the clutter to find the business buyer (or seller) you’re looking for.

About us

Your Database for Relevant Business Deals

Mark Smock founded Business Buyer Directory in 2005.
With a goal of helping business buyers source good deals, he began creating a database that curates a list of businesses for each specific buyer’s interests.
In 2023, Marty Brown acquired Business Buyer Directory and focused on adding new technology to better connect businesses with relevant buyers.
Today, the proprietary database has nearly 4,000 buyers with contact information, along with granular industries of interest for each buyer.

Marty Brown

Owner, Business Buyer Directory

Our Team

See the people running Business Buyer Directory.

Marty Brown, OWNER

Marty comes from the middle market investment world, having spent the last eight years working for Lacy Diversified Industries (LDI), a family office in Indianapolis. As VP of Strategy and Operations, Marty led key initiatives and teams at LDI’s portfolio companies. Marty began his career at Deloitte Consulting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Wabash College and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Smock, Founder

Mark Smock founded BBD in 2005. He was fascinated by the M&A market and how private equity firms find and source add-on acquisitions for their portfolio companies. He saw the internet as an opportunity to help buyers source good deals for their acquisitions. He started with getting to know the buyers and building a proprietary database of buyer information, including, most importantly, granular detail on which industries each buyer has interest in. Today, BBD is a leading referral source for middle market M&A transactions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s how we help you find relevant buyers and sellers.

How does Business Buyer Directory create its buyer database?

BBD uses its own proprietary database of business buyers, along with granular industry, sector, and vertical criteria. We don’t do web-scraping. Instead, we communicate directly with each firm to understand their target industries. Finally, we validate and supplement our proprietary database with other 3rd party datasets.

How does Business Buyer Directory find businesses for sale?

We use a mix of publicly available and proprietary sources to find businesses for sale. Business owners and sellers can submit their business for sale for free at any time.

How does Business Buyer Directory make money?

Two methods:

Success-only Buyer Fees: If a business buyer has an interest in a specific business, we ask the buyer to sign an industry standard referral fee agreement with us (usually 1% of the transaction value). Once the buyer agrees to that, we send them more information on the company of interest and connect them to the company’s broker/advisor.
Customized Buyer Lists: BBD sells customized buyer lists to help sellers close faster. Sellers value BBD’s proprietary, granular coverage of private equity and family office industries of interest.

Is Business Buyer Directory a business broker?

Business Buyer Directory (BBD) is not a business broker. BBD is not FINRA/ NASD registered. BBD provides only seller contact information, no advisory or brokerage services.