New Zoom sessions for 2024 starting January 2nd will cover:
☑️SBA business acquisition loan FAQs
☑️Unbiased comparison of bank underwriting
☑️Default data
☑️New automated tools to build models & lender Q&A
☑️ Roadmap from search to close
Register here:
🎆I am excited to announce my new position as Owner of Viso Business Capital, a loan brokerage service dedicated to acquisition entrepreneurs nationwide.
I look forward to continuing to serve the community with a broadened ability to match you and your deal with the right
Great news! I was skeptical, but I just received confirmation from a lender that they've been able to get new $5 million loan SBA-approved for different NAICs for Personal Guarantors who've already maxed out their $5 million SBA.
Different NAICS, frees up another $5 million.
Many of you got to know me while I while I was the top lender at Live Oak Bank. While there, I did my utmost to represent their brand, which among many other great things, is as a conservative SBA lender.
Now that I've launched ☑️Viso Business Capital, I represent MY brand 👇
Here's a question we get asked often:
"Can I get a conventional loan instead of an SBA loan to acquire this business?"
If the business has EBITDA of less than $2 million, the answer is usually: "no" Here's why, and how knowing this ahead of time might help you. 👇
Exciting news! Effective May 10th, SBA will be relaxing the rule that had required 100% change in ownership, allowing employees to retain ownership and stay in the business in certain circumstances.
The affiliate rules are also being simplified.
Banks are just like other businesses in that they have high margin products and low margin products. It's helpful to know where your requests fall on that spectrum. 1/4
Financials are very important, yes
But we can get so immersed in mashing them into ratios, charts & graphs, that we minimize the importance of the qualities of a business that the financials don't cover.
We developed a new tool to help. The HLQ Scorecard. DM if interested.
Numbers📊 vs. Stories 📖
Let's say we have 4 different SMBs, each has $1 million EBITDA. Should we value ea. the same, is the same capital and leverage structure right for each of them?
Of course not, because the story behind that $1 mln is more important than the # itself 🧵
This post is for the limited few who have tried to use the SBA program, but learned they were not eligible because they had too much cash or wealth. That rule is going away as of August 1st.
Investors and exited searchers who want to do a deal with an SBA loan will be able to
Lately, we are often being asked what sort of trends we're seeing in the SMB market as bankers. With interest rates climbing, labor markets remaining tight, and economic uncertainty ahead, it's certainly an interesting time. Here are a few (anecdotal) observations on SMB M&A 👇
Let’s talk about working capital. In an SMB acquisition, the structure and financing of both the NWC peg and the post-close revolving line of credit are very important to get right. Your lender and QofE provider should be able to help guide you.
SMB acquisition public service announcement: It's probably time to start modeling larger seller notes and/or more equity % in your deals.
Submitted without further comment.
For those of you with existing SBA loans and excess cash, you can reduce your pmt by making an addt'l principal paydown and asking your lender to re-amortize your loan. You have to be sure to ask your bank's servicing group to do the re-amortization for you. It's a nice feature
We are in a very unusual place in time where equity capital for SMB acquisitions from experienced SMB investors is relatively abundant and on fairly reasonable terms.
I would love♥️ to see more buyers taking advantage of this, and fewer getting excited about max leverage. 👇
🚀We are starting Q2 with a total of *20* acquisition SBA loans in closing or underwriting. It's going to be a strong quarter!
Pretty good for a dot net. ;)
🥳I reached 6k followers and will commemorate by tweeting 6 things about me that I would like people to know. Some lender stuff, and some personal stuff.
#6
is very personal and I am sharing that one to encourage others who may be going thru challenges.
Let's have all of the women acquisition entrepreneurs / searchers say hello. We have a growing group of women jumping into the game.
Ladies of ETA, reply with anything you want SMB Twitter to know about you or your search, or tag someone I missed. I'll tag a few just to get
Hot take: A QofE from a well-regarded provider would have prevented a large % of SMB deals that are struggling. Anecdotal, but a strong trend I’ve seen.
Whenever a QofE kills a deal, a buyer, investors, lenders, employees and customers are spared.
If you are interested in buying, operating and growing a Service Contractor business (HVAC, plumbing, electrical), please join us for a special Office Hours Session on June 16th at noon EST. We will have the head of our Service Contractor vertical joining us. Registration 👇
I'm fortunate to be a lender who focuses exclusively on SMB acquisitions (both SBA and conventional Sr. Debt, nationwide) with a great bank (Live Oak Bank). I LOVE what I do. What are your burning questions / comments / even pet peeves about the financing process?
If you have a deal going through the SBA loan process now, and you want to understand how a potential government shut-down might impact your deal, read on:
1. The current government fiscal year ends on Sept 30th - in 5 days;
2. Ask your lender if they have already pulled your
ℹ️ If you've got deal financing and structuring questions, I've got bi-weekly Zoom sessions. I'll cover everything from the basics to more advanced topics and give my observations on the state of the debt markets.
Registration:
I’m not a good lender to choose if you want light underwriting, highest leverage, and someone who is working behind the scenes with the seller’s broker (and paying them a referral fee).
If you want a lender who cares about you and your interests, I’m a good lender to choose.
I've got some great content that I will drop this week on a topic I have been asked about a lot:
What is the probability of default for an SBA loan that was used specifically to acquire a business?
I've been collaborating with
@LumosData
, and we've sliced and diced the
🔔🔔Two loan closings today!
Both borrowers are now newly minted Acquisition Entrepreneurs thanks to great lending partners and magic of the SBA 7(a) loan program.
Just finished a fantastic interview with Katie Frost, who heads the SBA's loan programs and led the most recent SOP changes.
Here's a surprising highlight:
When the SBA revised the affiliate rules allowing circumstances where the $5 million cap is per project/NAICs, they had
Want to understand how SBA views their loan programs?
Please join us this Thursday where I will be moderating a discussion with the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access, Kathryn Frost, organized by Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs.
Capital Access for
🥳Wow, 11,000 followers - thank you, SMBTwitter (X, whatever)!
As a member of GenX, I often feel like the elder stateswoman on here. This platform has been truly pivotal for me, and I continue to enjoy the connections, the laughs, and insights I find here everyday.
Sure,
@MattPaulsonSD
His goals are not aesthetic, and he gives the knowledge gained from his effort out for free. I love what he’s doing. Lots of fitness gurus are focused on aesthetics over health and they look great but are often shortening their lifespan for the looks they desire. Putting that
Seller's sometimes hire attorneys that I can only describe as "Deal-Killers". Had a buyer just wisely cancel a deal that was in closing.
Among the list of unreasonable terms in their version of the PSA, were these 2 gems 💎:
Seller would provide 3 (whole) days of transition
🚨Debt markets for non-SBA cash flow loans are VERY tight, and almost non-existent if the biz is <$3million EBITDA.
So, if you are planning on including debt in your deal, you will need an SBA-eligible structure in your LOI (no seller rollover, no earn-outs, no seller >12 mos)
@shawngorham
I started a business at age 55 for the first time! I had those limiting beliefs too. There’s a stat somewhere (I’ll try to find and DM to you) that said one of the most productive decades of life is in our 50’s. That little stat helped me overcome my limiting thoughts.
There is one burning question every searcher wants to know, but is afraid to ask.
What are the odds of defaulting on an SBA business acquisition loan?
Find the answer here:
A broker sent me a CIM asking if any of the searchers in my network might be interested. Newly listed MSP in Dallas. Nice recurring revenue, TTM $4.3 Rev, $850K EBITDA Woman founder. DM me if you'd like to see the teaser. Would esp. love to hear from some women searchers
🙌I made it to 10k followers, thank you for the follows and comments and DMs along the way!
To celebrate this milestone, I'm tweeting about 10 of my most memorable clients 👇
🚨SBA is due to issue a revised SOP as early as next week. Rumors suggest that there will be a few changes that will increase flexibility in some areas 🙂- might help some deals.
Rules will go into effect 60 days after the release
@LisaGForrest
and I will report the news ASAP
6. Between 2008-2009 I went through these set-backs: my then husband lost his job, our son was dx w lymphoma at age 5, same child was then dx w T1D, we lost 7 figures of net worth, and we got divorced. But, we are all ok today. 🙏
So, when you need a line of credit, it will often be very difficult to get one from a bank as a stand-alone product. Easier to do when you are also taking out a more desirable/profitable product like the SBA term loan.
Bundle these requests together when you have the chance!
Numbers📊 vs. Stories 📖
Let's say we have 4 different SMBs, each has $1 million EBITDA. Should we value ea. the same, is the same capital and leverage structure right for each of them?
Of course not, because the story behind that $1 mln is more important than the # itself 🧵
We have a bank in our network that is now ok with partial buy-in/seller rollover equity (SBA funded) being structured as an Asset Sale instead of a stock sale (which is what most banks continue to require with this structure).
Let us know if you've got a deal!
I reached 7k followers! 🙌
To commemorate, I'm tweeting 7 things about banks/lending since that is a 🔥 topic lately.
Banking is a poorly understood industry, and judging by what I've read on Twitter these last few weeks, it's now more misunderstood than ever. 🤦♀️
Many searchers make an assumption that SBA loans are similar to other common debt instruments (mortgages, etc.) as to the ease of refinance later on. Knowing the reality ahead of time might change some of your thinking on future plans with your SMB.👇
🎇Viso milestone report! In just under 12 months since we closed our first SBA business acquisition loan, we hit a big milestone:
🙌Today we hit over $100 million in funded loans across 40 deals.
Thank you to our clients and our network of awesome lenders!🥂
☑️☑️☑️Great week here at Viso, 3 acquisition loans closed!
💪A few more set to close next week and the week after.
Our lender partners are doing a fantastic job!
Our 4th acquisition loan of 2024 year is closing today!
The borrower is doing an industry roll-up and this is their 3rd and largest acquisition. They had 2 existing SBA loans for the prior acquisitions, and those lenders didn't want to lend above a certain $ amount without RE
A couple of years ago, we started our Office Hours program to help inform prospective SMB buyers on how to use SBA loans to acquire businesses. We took it a step further than just talk, we put together some worksheets and questionnaires to help buyers size up deals. 👇
We have 2 open positions to join our team (underwriter & analyst). Great opportunity for anyone who wants to be immersed in SMB M&A finance. Remote or at our beautiful campus in Wilmington, NC. Great benefits + culture that is second to none in banking. DM me or
@LisaGForrest
Women of SMB, let's talk about Clint's question.
I am personally going to make an effort to get the Women entrepreneurs from my network more active on Twitter because role models are so powerful.
What are some other ways to get more of us on this path toward ownership?
It was a very special experience to attend the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting for the first time. Thank you to
@plazure
for hosting a great networking event afterward.
It was great meeting some Twitter friends in person:
@UjwalVelagapudi
@SievaKozinsky
@BrockHBriggs
If all goes according to plan🤞, my last 3 deals of 2022 will be closing this week.
All 3 are SBA +companion loans (> $5 mln debt). 1 strategic add-on for a client, 2 others are exp entrepreneurs ("mid-career" searchers) buying 2 great cos.
Sellers launching into retirement
@ErikKaiser
This does not happen with SBA loans, thankfully. A defaulted guarantor enters into an offer in compromise and that’s the end. I’m so sorry to read what happened to you. Terrifying. Congratulations on getting through it and thriving despite of it.
For SMB buyers, the SBA loan approval process can be perplexing at times.
Here are a couple of lender nuances many borrowers are surprised by:
1. If you live far away from the business and will be relocating at close in order to run the business, the bank may become
@ClintFiore
I have been wanting to start "Women of SMB Wednesdays" to amplify the voices of the ladies on here, and to get more conversations going on this topic, thanks for beating me to it! :)
@MatznerJon
I will be posting an update on the SBA acquisition loan default data in early August. Check the blog post on my website for the previous data.
💪Searchers naturally assume that when they have an exceptionally "strong deal" under LOI, it will be easy to get an SBA loan approval with great terms.
But a lender's version of "strong" and a buyer's often look somewhat different. Let's explore:
@Levijameshere
I happen to be reading the chapter on currencies in this book now. His predictions (including this) are coming true in news headlines quite regularly: The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
Seeing and hearing more stories of SMBs starting to struggle with challenges of late. I think 2023 will reveal where the soft spots are in our economy, as challenging conditions always do. Still lots of opportunity, but also time to be extra careful with diligence and structure.
🚨New SBA SOP will be out next week (on or around May 3rd) according to what an SBA official said in a recent hearing.
We should get some clarity around the new equity rollover rule next week.
A searcher asked recently about where to go to compare an EBITDA margin to industry peers. RMA has been tracking financial ratios by industry and company size for decades. Might be a helpful resource in your search:
Lenders compete for the SBA term loan for your acquisition. This is because it is their "bread-and-butter"🍞🧈 loan, where they make the best returns for the lowest servicing costs.
But what about your line of credit needs?
Is this part of your financing getting ignored?🤷♀️ 🧵
3 (and counting, hopefully)
I've seen a LOT of QofE reports on SMB acquisition deals - hundreds.
Today was the 3rd time in memory that the QofE has adjusted EBITDA *higher* than what was reported by the seller. Dreams do sometimes come true.
What does it really mean when an SMB deal is marketed as "SBA Pre-approved"?
Far less than one might think, unfortunately. Here's how this "pre-approval" process typically goes. 🧵
We're looking for new ways to connect w aspiring Strategic SMB buyers and would love your ideas & intros. We'd like to develop an Office Hours session designed specifically for existing entrepreneurs/CEO's of SMBs to explore Growth by Acquisition.
More exciting news: SBA is going to allow new licenses to be issued to non-bank lenders for the first time in 40 years.
It will be very interesting to watch how this develops and which non-banks step in.👇
Over the past 10-15 years the ease and volume of equity and debt for SMB acquisitions has increased dramatically, effectively “assetizing” SMBs for the first time.
As with other asset classes where this has occurred, it brings many new positive opportunities, but also…
Great day today for Viso!
🏁Nice deal got a commitment letter in record time with no changes in terms.
💪Another very strong SBA + Pari Passu deal (strategic add-on) got their term sheet from a great bank. Client is very happy.
☑️Make us your first call after a signed LOI!
🚨Trend spotted: MSP acquisition activity is up, so much so that Live Oak Bank has now established a new industry vertical dedicated to MSP lending.
Here are some characteristics we look for to determine which MSPs are high-quality - & pls chime in with your observations🧵
There are more flexible options than ever to put together an SMB acquisition with SBA financing.
At the very same moment, conventional acquisition financing is tightening sharply.
It's a good time to be in the SMB space! This end of the market will continue to be active.
Noticing a trend lately (anecdotal).
SMBs making investments to grow (larger sales teams, new products, etc), are having a harder time achieving the growth. It could be execution, but it feels more like a macro-economic cause
Perhaps flat rev/earnings for now is a safer bet?
@SMB_Attorney
I've been successfully baited once again.
So here comes my friendly lender disclosure:
Maximizing leverage and minimizing equity this way can be great in ROIC models, but it has *very few* good use cases from a *risk* perspective, imho.
#seenthings
How's Your Search Going?
Please join
@LisaGForrest
and I along with lots of other active SMB searchers for a special chat on May 6th. We'll take input from all of the participants to highlight trends, interesting stories, and good ideas.
Register here 👇
🙌Shout out to everyone still pushing on deals that are set to close in 2023!
Lenders, lawyers, loan closers, insurance all pushing hard these days to get the final items wrapped up for the closing table! It's hard to do during the Holidays, but the pro's are getting it done.
Josh Levine and I discussed the new SBA procedural notice that came out yesterday. I gave my best take on it, based on what we know so far. It appears there will be lots of new and interesting SBA-eligible ways to structure SMB deals starting August 1st.
📖 Story Time.
I have a cautionary tale about why it can be a bad idea for a buyer to work with the lender the seller's broker directs you to.
Real story, just happened👇
❓When should you approach a bank for your SBA acquisition loan?
Lenders will politely tell you "anytime" but should you believe them?
They and their grumpier colleagues (who you don't usually meet), the Credit Officers 😟 are prone to sticking with their first impressions 👇
The new seller rollover equity rule from SBA sounded great until we learned that another older rule, which was not changed, forces these sellers to have to give a PG even if they will own less than 20%. Here's the issue:
SBA-eligible structure:
* Sell 100% of the business (no rollover equity);
* No earn-outs, or other forms of seller-upside post-close.
* Seller will vacate their role(s) in the business within 12 months
☑️Viso is focused on 3 things:
1. ☑️Getting the loan structure and terms YOU want;
2. ⏱️Saving you TIME - spend less time with lenders, and more time on diligence
3. 🧩Creative trouble-shooting - managing through the loan challenges as only and experienced ex-banker can.
@TheRealKBarrett
Tesla did it all in their app, and it was super fast and easy. So there's proof it can be done. But I literally gave my last used car away because I dreaded how much of my weekend would have been burnt up trying to sell to a CarMax or similar.
If you're searching for an SMB to buy and want to have the assessment tools lenders use to make credit decisions, then join our weekly Office Hours calls. We give you the models, teach you how to use them, and prepare you to search more efficiently 👇
@SMB_Attorney
I felt trapped (rightly so) in W2 land until that happened because my son had previously had pediatric cancer and has type 1 diabetes. He was uninsurable outside of a large health plan through a big company. Those “pre existing conditions” would have been excluded from any
@rledbetterCPA
Waaay back when I started in banking, employees were required to take 2 consecutive weeks of vacation (and of course remote access did not exist) for the purpose of detecting embezzlement. I recall a certain manager who was caught that way.