Hi everyone, I wanted to share how I created a scheduled project in Claude CoWork to automate my business search every weekday. This has saved me hours of looking up each broker's website individually and reviewing deals. Happy to answer any questions. --- ## What you need 1. **Claude Pro** ($20/month). Cowork is included. The free plan won't work. 2. **The Claude Desktop app** for Mac or Windows. Download at **claude.com/download**. (Cowork isn't on the website or phone — desktop only.) 3. **Your buy box** — your acquisition criteria, written down. We do this in Step 2. One thing to know: the feature that lets Claude browse websites for you (called **computer use**) is a research preview. It works well on public listing pages, but it can struggle on sites that require a login or block automated visitors. Start with open, public broker sites; also create a list of broker sites that you visit today. --- ## Step 1 — Open Cowork 1. Install and open the Claude Desktop app, then sign in. 2. At the top, click the **Cowork** tab (next to Chat). This puts Claude in "do the work" mode. 3. Make a folder on your computer called `Acquisitions` and let Cowork use it when it asks. --- ## Step 2 — Write down your buy box In your `Acquisitions` folder, make a plain text file called `buy-box.txt`. Put your real criteria in it. Example: ``` WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR - SDE: $150K–$300K - Asking price: $400K–$1M - Location: Upper Midwest (MN, WI, IA, ND, SD) - Industries: service, B2B/professional services, insurance - Margins: 30%+ - Recurring revenue strongly preferred SKIP IF - One customer is more than 20% of revenue - Revenue is shrinking - Owner can't be replaced (licenses/relationships don't transfer) ``` This is what Claude scores every listing against, so be specific. --- ## Step 3 — Tell Claude which sites to review In Cowork, type a task in plain English. Copy this and paste in your broker sites: ``` Open these business-for-sale websites one at a time and review the current listings: - bizbuysell.com - bizquest.com - [any individual brokerage sites you follow] Read my buy-box.txt file first. For each site, find listings that match my criteria. Ignore the ones that clearly don't fit. Give me a simple table of the matches: business name, location, asking price, SDE, industry, and the listing link. Add one line on why each one fits. Don't contact anyone — just bring me the shortlist. ``` Claude will open each site in a browser window, scroll through the listings, and pull the ones that match. You'll watch it work and can stop it anytime. --- ## Step 4 — Review the shortlist You get back a clean table of only the listings worth your attention, with a fit note on each. A 45-minute manual scroll becomes a 5-minute review of pre-filtered matches. Click into the ones you like and go from there. --- ## Step 5 — Make it run on its own (optional) Once the task works the way you want, Cowork can run it on a **schedule**. Set it to review your sites every Monday morning and have your shortlist waiting when you sit down. Look for the scheduling option when you save the task. Note: your computer has to be on and the Claude app open for a scheduled task to run. --- ## A few tips - **Start with one site.** Get a clean result from BizBuySell first, then add more. - **Public listings work best.** If a site makes you log in to see details, Claude may not get past it — paste those listings in manually instead. - **Be specific in your buy box.** Vague criteria = a vague shortlist. The tighter your file, the better the matches. - **You stay in control.** Claude reviews and reports. It doesn't reach out to brokers or commit you to anything unless you tell it to.