u/Live-Revolution3902

I’m trying to understand how people buying businesses decide where to focus before looking seriously at individual deals.

Before reviewing targets, how do you choose which industries, business types, or acquisition criteria are worth pursuing?

I’m especially curious about:

• what sources, tools, reports, brokers, databases, or conversations you rely on
• what makes you reject an industry or business type early
• what part of the search criteria process is slow or uncertain
• whether you’ve ever wasted time looking in the wrong category

Not selling anything — just trying to understand how buyers actually make this decision before committing time to a search.

I’m trying to understand how agency owners actually decide which niche, vertical, or ICP is worth pursuing.

When you last chose, changed, or considered narrowing your agency’s focus, what did you actually look at?

I’m especially curious about:

• whether you used client history, competitor research, demand signals, keyword data, communities, or paid advice
• what made a niche look attractive or unattractive
• what was hard to judge before committing
• whether you’ve ever picked a market that turned out to be a bad fit

Not looking for generic “niche down” advice — more interested in the actual decision process.