however local businesses transactions have their own specific challenges, state dependent regulation, messier financials, emotional rollercoasters, a lot of secrecy, distrust, longer timeframes. It's really inaccessible for most people right now, and that's what we're trying to change.
We actually have that level of financial detail for many of our listings from our broker partners. The challenge has been figuring out the best way to present it. putting raw financials out publicly isn't the right move for the sellers.
So our next big build is a secure data room. The goal is to use that verified data to create richer, dynamic visualizations and financial summaries that a seller or broker can share securely with a qualified buyer. it's a big priority for us.
Great feedback, it's exactly where our heads are at.
& how are you getting the data / verifying from the businesses that are selling.
the real difference though is the monumental effort happening behind the scenes. We're building direct partnerships with brokerages, one by one, to sync their entire inventory onto Venturu.
For many of them, it's the first time they can put all their listings online without getting hit by massive per-listing fees. It might not sound like a huge deal, but we believe this will eventually reveal the true size of this hidden market.
It's a world still built on handshakes and business cards, and we're just trying to help pave the way.
we do use some generative models for mundane things like headlines to make that free discoverability possible, but our core tech, like the valuation tool, is "old school".
My cofounder, Luis, built that model over years in a spreadsheet from his experience buying businesses. My job was to turn it into code and supercharge it with historical data and location-specific variables.
Fun fact, the model was actually born first, Venturu came later
Right now, it's a mix. we do basic "I'm a human" verification with e-mails and phoone numbers, and our team manually reviews inquiries to filter out the obvious noise before it hits a broker's inbox.
Longer term, we're exploring a concept we're calling a 'Venturu Passport.' It would be an optional one-time-thing-setup for a serious buyer to verify their funds, experience and readiness upfront, so a seller knows they're talking to someone credible.
It's just an idea for now, but we are very much obsessed with solving this. Would love to hear your thoughts on an approach like that.
I think the main difference is our core philosophy on what should be free.
Their model is built around monetizing the buyer's access, with things like "locked deals" and daily inquiry limits on the free plan.
Our whole bet is that this market only gets unlocked if discovery is completely open and frictionless for everyone, buyers, sellers, and brokers.
So on Venturu, there are no locked deals, no paywalls to see listings, and no limits on inquiries.
We give all that away for free and will build our business by helping our broker partners succeed, similar to the Zillow model
lifenautjoe•3h ago
Imagine trying to buy a house before Zillow. That’s what buying a local business is like today. It's a massive market, but it's completely fragmented and stuck in the 90s.
My co-founder, Luis, discovered this firsthand by knocking on doors to buy six of his own businesses. I saw it at industry conferences, where at 29, I’m usually the youngest person in the room. The system is built on gatekept information and a wall of fees designed to keep people out.
For a small business owner, it starts with a gut punch: you have to pay thousands of dollars just to get an idea of what your life's work is worth. Then, you face thousands more in listing fees just to get it seen on an outdated platform.
This broken model forces brokers to be gatekeepers. The high costs mean they can only list a fraction of their clients' businesses, hiding the rest on thousands of separate, clunky websites.
We’re trying to fix this by building the single, open, and free platform this market needs. We got rid of the scary upfront fees by offering free, instant valuations, and unlocked the hidden market by making all listings free.
It’s one place for owners, buyers, and brokers to finally connect efficiently.
It seems to be working. We’ve welcomed over 1,300 brokers who have listed 3,800+ businesses across all 50 states.
It's still early days, but our goal is to build this into the definitive marketplace for local businesses, creating the first real source of truth for valuations and making the entire process, from discovery to closing, more straightforward.
We’re building in the open and would love your feedback. Ask us anything.
jon1628492•1h ago
How do you make money?
lifenautjoe•1h ago
on sales, it's still a bit early for us to know the final number of closed deals. The average business takes 6-12 months to sell, and we've only been seeing a real flow of leads for the last 4 months (we've been live for 6). what we can say is we've generated 182 qualified leads for sellers and their brokers.
You've actually hit on one of the core problems we're trying to solve. Right now, deals go offline into private systems and the data gets lost. Our long-term goal is to build the rails for the entire transaction.
As for how we make money, our model is basically zillow's. It's completely free for an owner to list their business and for buyers to search. We make money by connecting sellers with our network of professional brokers. Brokers can then choose to pay for more visibility in their local zip codes.
It lets us keep the marketplace itself open and free for everyone.
huherto•56m ago
lifenautjoe•43m ago
2Gkashmiri•52m ago
lifenautjoe•39m ago
That said, a long-term dream of ours is to explore ways to let people co-invest in businesses in their own communities. It's a ways off, but it's part of the bigger vision.