This is part of our WordPress Agency Acquisition Series. Be sure to view more insights we’ve shared on selling your WordPress agency.
Most agency acquisition content focuses on what happens after you find a deal — how to structure it, how to do due diligence, how to transition clients. Far less is written about the step that comes before all of that: finding the right agency to acquire in the first place.
Sourcing is where acquisition strategies succeed or fail in the long run. A buyer who relies on a single channel, or who waits passively for deals to come to them, will close far fewer acquisitions than one who builds a systematic, multi-channel sourcing approach. Here’s how we think about it after more than a dozen acquisitions at CyberOptik.
Context: The Supply Side Is Growing
Before getting into tactics, it’s worth understanding the landscape. The web design industry is in the early stages of what some are calling a “silver wave” — a large cohort of agency owners who built their businesses in the early days of the internet, in the late 1990s and 2000s, and who are now approaching retirement age without a clear succession plan.
These are owners who have spent 20+ years building client relationships, developing recurring revenue, and establishing reputations in their markets. Many of them don’t have a natural successor. They haven’t thought carefully about exit options. And a surprising number of them would genuinely welcome a conversation with a credible buyer — they just haven’t been approached.
The supply of acquisition-ready agencies is only growing over the next decade. The buyers who build sourcing infrastructure now will have a meaningful first-mover advantage.
Channel 1: Direct Outreach to Competitors
This is our highest-ranked sourcing channel, and the most underused by first-time acquirers. The agencies most likely to be a strong fit for your acquisition are your direct competitors — they’re on the same platform, serve similar clients, and operate in a business model you already understand.
The fear most buyers have about reaching out to competitors is that it will be received badly — as aggressive, presumptuous, or tone-deaf. In practice, that’s rarely the case. Most agency owners are flattered that someone values what they’ve built enough to reach out. Even those who aren’t ready to sell tend to remember the conversation.
The key is personalization. A generic “I’m interested in acquiring agencies” email sent to a list will get ignored or deleted. A thoughtful, specific message that references their work, acknowledges what they’ve built, and opens a genuine conversation — not a pitch — lands very differently.
Maintain a set of outreach templates customized for different relationship contexts: local competitors, industry peers, agencies you’ve crossed paths with professionally. Personalize every one before sending. Never blast.
Channel 2: Your Existing Network
Warm introductions close faster than cold outreach — in acquisitions just as in sales. The people who already know you, trust you, and have seen how you operate are your most valuable sourcing asset.
This means being explicit with your network that you’re in the market. Tell peers at WordPress events. Mention it in the agency owner communities you’re part of. Let strategic partners — hosting providers, white-label development shops, IT companies you work alongside — know that you’re looking. These people talk to agency owners regularly and will surface opportunities you’d never find on your own.
The ask doesn’t need to be formal. “If you ever hear of anyone thinking about winding down or looking for a home for their clients, I’d love an introduction” is a complete sentence. Plant that seed widely and tend it patiently.
Channel 3: WordCamps and WordPress Communities
The WordPress community is unusually tight-knit for an industry of its size. WordCamps, online communities, and professional groups create repeated proximity with the same pool of agency owners over time — which is exactly the kind of relationship infrastructure that produces acquisition opportunities.
The approach here is not to show up to WordCamps looking for acquisition targets. It’s to show up as a genuine community member — helpful, present, and known. Acquisitions that originate in community relationships tend to be smoother, more trust-based, and more creatively structured than those that originate in cold outreach or marketplace listings.
Over time, being known in the WordPress community as someone who treats sellers and their clients well is one of the most durable sourcing advantages you can build.
Channel 4: Your Own Website
This one is simple and often overlooked: if you want to acquire agencies, say so publicly. A dedicated page on your website explaining your acquisition approach, what you look for, and how to reach you costs nothing to create and works for you around the clock.
Sellers who are actively researching their options will find it. Agency owners who are quietly considering their future and Googling “who buys WordPress agencies” will find it. The content you’re reading right now is part of that same strategy — a signal to sellers that CyberOptik is a serious, knowledgeable, and trustworthy acquirer.
You miss every inbound opportunity you don’t create infrastructure to capture.
Channel 5: Business Brokers
Brokers who specialize in digital agency transactions can be a valuable sourcing channel — particularly for larger deals that have already been professionally packaged. The key is finding brokers who have actually brokered agency deals before, not general business brokers who occasionally stumble into the space.
Get on the email lists of brokers who operate in your market. Be responsive when they reach out. Build relationships with the ones who bring you quality deals, and let the others know you’re active and interested. Brokers who trust that you’re a serious buyer who closes deals will bring you opportunities earlier and more often.
Channel 6: Marketplaces (Last Resort)
Flippa, Biz Buy Sell, Acquire.com, and Empire Flippers all list agency acquisitions. These marketplaces are worth monitoring for market awareness — what’s selling, at what multiples, with what characteristics — but they’re our last-resort sourcing channel for a few reasons.
Marketplace listings are available to every buyer simultaneously, which drives up competition and prices. They also tend to attract sellers who have already been through a process — which means the easy, relationship-based deal structure conversations have often already happened and failed. The deals that end up on public marketplaces are frequently the ones that couldn’t close privately.
That said, legitimate opportunities do appear on marketplaces. Keep email alerts active for relevant listings, and respond quickly when something interesting surfaces — quality listings move fast.
Build a Pipeline, Not a One-Time Search
The most important mindset shift in agency acquisition sourcing is treating it as an ongoing pipeline rather than a search you conduct when you’re ready to buy. The best acquisition opportunities — the ones that close smoothly at fair terms with sellers who are genuinely committed to a good transition — tend to come from relationships that were planted months or years before the seller was ready to have the conversation.
This means staying in touch with people who weren’t ready when you first spoke. Following up with a broker who had nothing for you six months ago. Checking in with a peer who mentioned they were “starting to think about” their exit at a WordCamp last year. Maintaining a simple CRM of potential sellers with a cadence for follow-up is one of the highest-leverage things an active acquirer can do.
Our post on what to look for in a WordPress agency before you buy is a natural companion to this one — once you’re finding potential targets, that’s the filter to run them through.
If you’re an agency owner who has been thinking about your own exit, we’d genuinely enjoy a conversation. No brokers, no pressure — just a straightforward discussion about what your agency is worth and what a transition could look like.