Sam Rosati is a name you've heard Acquiring Minds guests mention. Sam is a search bootcamp operator. A holdco owner. SMBash co-founder. Founding partner at SMB Law Group. Search investor. Publisher of the search investor list... ...and I'm probably forgetting what else. Through all of this activity, and particularly by running a bootcamp for entrepreneurs looking to buy a business, Sam has seen countless searches up close. And he's observed that not being clear on your target criteria can needlessly prolong your search by months or worse. So he developed a framework to get clear on your criteria for the business you aim to acquire. He calls it: Big 3, Little 2 Big 3, Little 2 achieves two things: It allows you to quickly qualify a business you see for sale so you know whether to invest more time pursuing it It strikes a balance to ensure you have enough deal flow, but not so much that you're looking at everything As Sam says in the interview, as a searcher, you are a pipeline manager. I'd not heard it put that way before, but that is an apt label for someone conducting an effective search to buy a business. Here is Sam Rosati on his framework, Big 3, Little 2. ???