CRM for Search: My Review of ETA IQ

About a month ago, I hosted a webinar titled “CRM for Search – A Practical Guide,” where I walked participants through how I structured and used HubSpot to organize my contacts and deals. My goal was to share what worked for me, in the hope of supporting fellow searchers and giving back to a community that I really like.

An action item from the webinar was to check out ETA IQ. Today, I’m closing that loop with a recap of the webinar and a summary of my thoughts on ETA IQ.

Disclaimer: I chatted with one of the founders of ETA IQ—he was awesome and so kind to show me around the platform. However, no money was exchanged and this is my honest review of the system based on how I searched.

Why I Decided to Use a CRM for My Search

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, my approach to search was a numbers game. I wanted high volume at the top of my funnel to increase the probability of finding the right business. That meant dealing with a lot of deals and a lot of contacts.

The only way to manage that volume was with a CRM. I also wanted to avoid mistakes. Once, I talked to a broker representing a tutoring school and mistakenly referred to it as a language school. Needless to say, he was not impressed. These things happen when you’re working on 11 active deals, but they don’t help your credibility and can easily kill your chances of moving forward.

A CRM helped me prep better for meetings, stay organized, and ensure I was talking to the right person about the right deal. It also helped me build momentum and keep it going. Being able to track deals and set follow-up reminders meant I could move fast, which helped me get under LOI in only ten weeks.

I Did My Homework

When I decided to use a CRM, I went down the research rabbit hole. I spent countless hours reading articles, checking out websites, and watching a probably unhealthy number of YouTube videos (typical high-achiever procrastination).

I realized that every CRM had its pros and cons, so I took a step back and defined what I needed as a broke, self-funded searcher: a free (or cheap) tool that let me track contacts and deals and was easy to use.

HubSpot quickly caught my attention: it was the only tool I found that was truly free forever. Once I created an account and started exploring, I saw it had what I needed (for free): a customizable contact list, a board to track deal status, and a very short learning curve.

During the webinar, people asked if I’d tested other CRMs. The honest answer is no, I didn’t. I realized that while a good CRM is helpful, it’s not the core value driver in a search. That comes from evaluating deals and talking to sellers. So I decided I had already sunk enough time into the decision and went with HubSpot.

My CRM Setup

I structured HubSpot into two simple parts:

• Contacts: where I captured basic contact information, company names, and type of contact (broker, fellow searcher, lender, etc.)

• Deals: where I stored links to listings, all relevant documents, and notes related to the deal

  
  

HubSpot also let me link contacts to deals, and connect my inbox so I could send and track emails directly from within the platform or my regular email.

If you're curious, I created a PDF recap of the HubSpot demo so you can take the scenic route through CRM land without watching the full replay.

Now On to ETA IQ

ETA IQ was developed by a former searcher who, like many of us, scoured the web for modeling tools and CRM hacks, only to end up with something that felt like it was stitched together from spare parts. So they built a platform specifically for searchers with everything in one place, simplified and purpose-built.

It’s the only CRM I’ve seen that was created specifically with ETA in mind.

Overview of the Tool

ETA IQ has three main sections:

• Contacts – A simple table view of your contacts. Click the (slightly hidden) link icon to open a contact card and add notes.

• Deals – A table where you can track all your deals and link them to contacts.

• Model – A financial modeling space built directly into the platform.

ETA IQ offer a 5 day free trial followed by a $35 per month subscription. This is definitely on the higher compared to other CRM tools out there.

What I Liked

Contacts

• The table has pre-built fields that are tailored for searchers. It only requires core information that is relevant so there is no need to customize the contact form like in HubSpot.

• Filtering by role is quick and intuitive.

• You can easily show or hide columns depending on what you want to see.

Deals

• You get just the columns you actually need. No clutter.

• The purchase multiple is calculated automatically.

• Checkboxes let you track whether you've received the CIM and NDA.

• The “status” field helps create a clear funnel and track where a deal stands.

• You can link deals to specific contacts so you always know who the broker or seller is.

  
  

Modeling

• This is the standout feature: you can build your financial model directly within the CRM.

• Helpful for both quick assessments and more detailed modeling later on.

• Covers everything from DSCR to investors, CapEx, real estate, and working capital.

• Includes guidance so you’re not just entering numbers blindly—great if you’re still learning the terms.

• Allows you to keep it simple early on and expand as a deal progresses.

  
  

What I’m Missing

My first impression of ETA IQ was very positive. It’s clear that it was built with searchers in mind. But after digging a bit deeper and using it more actively, I realized there were a few features I was missing, especially compared to HubSpot:

• Filters: The filtering options are very limited and there is not ability to create saved views like in HubSpot. Not essential, but I do like reducing the number of clicks.

• File uploads: I couldn’t find a way to upload CIMs or NDAs to individual deals. I liked having everything in one place in HubSpot.

• Kanban board view: I could not find a way to show the deals in a board where you can drag them through different stages. For someone like me who is more visual and quickly gets overwhelmed with tables, this made it harder to get a quick overview of my deals.

• Email integration: HubSpot’s Outlook sync was incredibly useful, especially for tracking conversations automatically. ETA IQ seem to offer this.

  
  

Beyond that, the tool isn’t quite as visually polished as HubSpot and can feel a little clunky at times. For example, if you double-click a cell in the financial model, it deletes the number you’re trying to edit. And in the contacts table, unless you click exactly on the link icon, you end up editing the field instead of opening the contact card. Not major issues, but they do add friction when you're trying to move quickly.

A Couple Reflections

1. Use the Modeling Tool Wisely

If you're anything like me, it's easy to fall into the trap of wanting to understand everything about a deal before you even speak to the seller. But it’s not worth spending hours on a model for a deal that’s going nowhere (I talk about that a bit here). Use the ETA IQ model in stages. Start with revenue, COGS, operating expenses, and seller adjustments, enough to understand DSCR and free cash flow. If the deal progresses, you can build out the details later.

2. Try It Alone Once

The modeling tool in ETA IQ is genuinely cool. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little sad that I spent all those hours building my own modeling tool in Numbers (which I don't love) when this was available.

But after taking a moment to mourn those lost hours, I realized that doing the work myself helped me deeply understand financial modeling. It forced me to learn what metrics like working capital actually mean and how they affect a deal. If you’re a finance guru, feel free to skip this advice. But if you’re more like me and had to learn these concepts along the way, I’d really recommend taking the time to understand how modeling works before jumping into automated tools. It’ll make you more confident in your numbers, and less likely to just plug things in and hope for the best.

Conclusion

All in all, ETA IQ is a strong, focused tool that shows it was built by someone who’s been through the search process. It’s simple, to the point, and includes everything I found essential during my own search. But it’s also missing a few features I came to appreciate in HubSpot, especially the board view and email integration.

The biggest consideration is cost. As a self-funded searcher, $35/month versus free isn’t a small difference. And while the modeling feature is excellent, it’s also something you can build yourself if you’re comfortable in Excel.

That said, ETA IQ might save you enough time to justify the price, and we all know that time is the most valuable asset we have.

Have you used ETA IQ, HubSpot, or another CRM in your search? I’d love to hear what worked (or didn’t) for you. Feel free to drop a comment, always curious to learn from others searchers.