Off-Market Deal Sourcing: The Personal P&L Review And Venmo Challenge
Your own credit-card and Venmo history is a pre-qualified list of small businesses whose owner you can already reach.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 92%
Because the online marketplaces for small businesses are poor — Sanchez calls BizBuySell shitty and full of trash, with no Zillow or MLS equivalent — most real deal flow is off-market, the small-business analogue of door-knocking. Her two most teachable off-market plays both start from data you already own. If you run a business, the personal P&L review means going down your own expenses and credit-card statements and asking which of your vendors are small enough and good enough that you might own part or all of them; you are already paying them, so you know the business works and you can reach the owner. If you are an individual with no business at all, the Venmo challenge does the same job: open Venmo or PayPal, because cash-app transactions imply a small business, and look at your landscaper, your cleaner, the farmers-market cheese seller. You approach with growth, not purchase — you cleaned my house, do you need more customers, could I get 20 more and own part of the business if I help you grow it. The critical filter in both is reachability of the actual owner, which is why Amazon does not count.
Origin
Bartlett asked what he should do if he cannot use a marketplace — just knock on his local laundromat's door? Sanchez said off-market is exactly right, that her team teaches 12 different sourcing strategies, and named the personal P&L review as one of the best, then offered the Venmo challenge as the version for people who have never bought or run anything.
Core principles
- 01Off-market is the small-business equivalent of door-knocking, and it still works here.
- 02You must be able to get to the owner — so not Amazon.
- 03You already have a verified list: you pay these people.
- 04Approach with a growth offer, not a purchase offer.
- 05Ask to own part of the business, not necessarily all of it.
How to run it
- 1
Pull your own spend data
If you are a business owner, go down all your expenses and credit-card statements. If you are an individual, open Venmo or PayPal — cash transactions there imply a small business on the other side.
Pro tip You are looking for vendors small enough and good enough that ownership is plausible.
Watch out Exclude anything where you cannot get to the owner. Sanchez names Amazon explicitly.
- 2
Filter for reachable owners
The whole advantage is that these are people you already have a relationship and payment history with. Landscaper, cleaning lady, farmers-market cheese seller — all reachable, all verified as functioning businesses.
Pro tip You already know the business works because you are the customer.
Watch out A great business whose owner you cannot reach is not a lead.
- 3
Open with growth, not acquisition
Sanchez's script: you cleaned my house, do you need more customers, maybe I could help you get 20 more and own part of your business if I help you grow it — would you be open to that? Partial equity is the ask.
Pro tip A partial shot at a business is a legitimate outcome and a far easier yes.
Watch out Leading with 'can I buy your business' from a customer relationship reads as an insult or a joke.
- 4
Price the equity from public averages
Look up the average revenue and profit margin for that business type in that location, compute rough profit, and construct a no-brainer offer around the increment you would add.
Pro tip Her structure: I will not touch your existing $30,000, but if I double it can I have 15-20%; if I do not double it I get nothing.
Watch out Asking for half to double a business is often rejected where 20% is accepted for the same work.
In the wild
Sanchez runs this with people who have never owned or run anything and believe they could never buy a business because they have no money. They open Venmo, scan their transaction list and identify the small businesses they personally pay.
→ The output is a partial shot at a real business — an equity stake earned by driving growth — reached without any capital.
Bartlett proposes the generational version: a young person tells a boomer laundromat owner they know how to make content on TikTok and asks for equity in exchange for that unique leverage.
→ Sanchez confirms this is exactly right, then insists on doing the maths first — you have to know what the business makes in order to ask for equity in it.
Common mistakes
Sourcing only from listing sites
Sanchez says there is no good way to find small businesses online — no Zillow, no MLS — and calls BizBuySell shitty with all this trash on it. Restricting yourself to listings restricts you to the worst and most competed inventory.
Targeting businesses whose owner you cannot reach
The entire mechanic depends on getting to the owner. Sanchez names Amazon as the counterexample — large vendors are unreachable and the play collapses.
Asking for equity without knowing the numbers
Sanchez is explicit that in order to ask for equity you have to figure out what the business is worth. Average revenue and margin data for the business type and city are public and take minutes.
Is it for you?
Best for
People who want to buy or partly own a business but cannot find deal flow, especially those with no capital and no network.
Not ideal for
Buyers targeting larger businesses where brokered processes and intermediaries are the norm.
From the transcript
“one of the best strategies I think is called your personal p&l review”
“we teach them the venmo challenge which is basically you open up your venmo or PayPal because that means you're doing cash transactions so it's…”
“if I double it can I have 15 20% of the business if I don't double it I get nothing great trade”
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