Your own deal flow,before anyone lists it

Already have a deal? Screen a listing or CIM

Market · Example

HVAC, Columbus metro

412businesses

Owners 60 or older (est.): 38%
Bought by platforms since 2024: 11
Still independent: 87%

Active hereBrightvale, Quillmark, Orrin (example names)

Census CBP 2023 · state filings · Dowser estimates (est.)

Built on public records

Census Geocoder
Census ZCTA-county relationship 2020
Maricopa County Assessor parcels

Dowser maps every small business in your markets, shows the facts that suggest an owner may be ready to talk and who fits you, and helps you reach them before the brokers do.

How Dowser works

The data

Fresh data,loading every day

Dowser joins public records and licensed data into one view of every business and owner, and keeps it current. Each source shows when it was last updated.

Census GeocoderUnited StatesNot loaded yet
Census ZCTA-county relationship 2020United States · data as of Jan 2020Not loaded yet
Maricopa County Assessor parcelsAZ · data as of Oct 2026 · last updated Oct 26, 2026This week

From Dowser's source registry. Dates only; no business or owner names appear here.

Where to look

See every ownerin every market

Business counts, owner age, competition and who's already buying, for any U.S. market, with the source under every figure.

HVAC, Columbus metro · Example2023 data

HVAC businesses in the metro: 412
Owners 60 or older (est.): 38%
Bought by platforms since 2024: 11
Still independent: 87%

Platforms active here · example namesBought here since 2024

Brightvale Comfort GroupPE-backed · latest Aug 2026 · press release
5
Quillmark Home ServicesRegional · latest May 2026 · state filing
4
Orrin Trade PartnersPE-backed · latest Jan 2026 · DOL Form 5500
2

Brightvale, Quillmark and Orrin have bought 11 HVAC businesses here since 2024.

Most owners are still independent, and many are nearing retirement.

Example figures and platform names. Sources: Census County Business Patterns 2023; American Community Survey 2023; state business filings; acquisition announcements; DOL Form 5500. Figures marked (est.) are Dowser estimates, not records.

Who to call

Who to call first, and why now

Dowser lists every business of the type in your market, sets aside the ones a platform or PE firm already owns, and shows the facts that suggest an owner may be ready to talk, each with its source.

Ownership status for every business, with the evidence behind it.
Signals with sources: years in business, owner age (estimate), no successor on record, platforms buying nearby.
Ranked against your buy box and your background.

Target list · Example52 owners

HVAC owners, Columbus metro

9 set aside · platform-owned or PE-backed

Commercial HVACIndependent

Westerville, OH

31 years in businessNo successor on record

Residential HVACIndependent

Grove City, OH

Owner 60+ (est.)24 years

Commercial refrigerationIndependent

Dublin, OH

Platform bought nearbyOwner 60+ (est.)

HVAC and plumbingIndependent

Hilliard, OH

Owner on record28 years

Reach them first

Reach ownersbefore the brokers do

Letters, calls and email in your own words, from your own address. Nothing goes out without you.

Draft · Commercial HVAC, Westerville · Example

I spent 12 years running field service crews, and I'm looking to own one HVAC business in central Ohio for the long term.

Uses your profile and the business's own facts (31 years in business). Never personal details, never a score. Example.

In your own words

Every first note draws on your background and the business's facts, so owners hear from a person, not a template.

Commercial HVAC, Westerville · Example

Day 31 of 120

LetterDay 0Sent
CallDay 10No answer
EmailDay 14Sent
LetterDay 31Due today
CallDay 45Scheduled

A reply stops the sequence and moves the owner to Talking.

A sequence that keeps going

Letters, calls and email on a schedule, each one a draft or a task for you. Opt-outs hold across every list.

Platform-owned

State filingBenefit plan

Manager matches a known platformPlan sponsored by the parent · DOL Form 5500

Website“A member of a national services group” · Example

Already taken, set aside

Businesses a platform or PE firm already owns leave your list, with the evidence one click away.

Built around you

Ranked by what you bring

Upload your resume and confirm your profile. Dowser ranks targets by how well they fit your experience, and tells owners in plain words why you are the right person to take over.

Every strength links to the resume line it came from.
Gaps are named, with the kind of hire that covers them.
Your resume stays private, and anything you mark private never appears in a draft.

Your profile · from your resumeExample

What you bring

Ran field service crews12 years · resume line 4

Owned a P&LRegional operations · resume line 9

Gap to coverNever owned a business; plan a strong office manager

HVAC · strong fitPlumbing · good fitDental · weak fit

Why you, for ownersI've spent 12 years running field crews and know what it takes to keep good technicians and loyal customers.

When an owner says yes

Screen the deal in minutes

Paste the owner's numbers, a listing or a CIM. Dowser checks it against your buy box, shows where every figure came from and lists the questions to ask next.

A verdict: pursue, look closer or pass.
Listed deals arrive by forwarding the alerts you already get. Dowser never scrapes listing sites.
Ask about any of it from Claude.

Use Dowser in Claude

Deal screen · ExampleLook closer

Commercial HVAC, Westerville

Asking$1.4M

SDE$410K

Multiple3.4×

Inside your buy box
Price in the usual range
Earnings cover the loan 1.6×
Add-backs not itemized

Every check links to the page it came from.

Questions from searchers

Where does Dowser's data come from?

Public records and licensed data: state business filings, licence rosters, places data, Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics releases, and acquisition announcements. Every fact shows its source and date, and Dowser's own estimates are labelled as estimates.

How does Dowser know an owner might sell?

It doesn't claim to. It shows the facts that often come before a sale, such as years in business, an owner age estimate, no successor on record and platforms buying nearby, each with its source. There is no combined score until one has been tested against real sales.

How do you know a business is already owned by a platform?

From state filings, benefit plan records, the business's website and acquisition announcements. The evidence sits next to the status, and you can report a status you think is wrong.

Do you scrape listing sites?

No. Listed deals come from alerts you forward, text you paste and files you upload. A listing link is kept as a reference and never fetched.

Does Dowser contact owners for me?

No. Dowser drafts letters and emails and schedules calls as tasks; you approve every one and send from your own address. Opt-outs and do-not-contact requests hold across every list and import.

Can I use Dowser in Claude?

Yes. Once your workspace is set up, connect Dowser from Settings › Connections and ask Claude about your markets, lists and deals. You can make the connection read-only, and every change Claude suggests waits for your approval.

What does it cost?

Pricing isn't set yet. Request access and we'll tell you the plans before you pay anything.

Get started

Start withone market

Tell us your buy box and where you want to look. We review every request and set up your workspace.