Run the SBA 7(a) capital stack on the deal you’re shopping — in under a minute. Personal cash plus a seller note covering the equity injection, SBA loan covering the rest, debt service against EBITDA. Built for self-funded searchers and ETA buyers. Not a CPA-grade tool — but enough to know whether the deal is fundable before you sign the LOI.

Sovyrn Advisory · Acquisition Capital Tools

The Target

Purchase price ($) Annual EBITDA ($)Use the seller’s normalized EBITDA, not their stated profit. Add back owner comp above market.

Your Capital Stack

Personal cash available ($)Liquid cash you can put into the deal as buyer equity injection. Seller note (% of purchase price)Up to 50% of the SBA-required 10% equity (i.e., 5% of purchase) can come from a seller note on full standby. Seller note interest rate (%) Years on full standbyNo payments to seller during standby. SBA requires minimum 24 months.

SBA Loan Terms

SBA loan interest rate (%)Typically Prime + 2.25–2.75%. Variable, adjusting quarterly. SBA loan term (years)10 years for goodwill-heavy deals. Up to 25 if real estate is included.

Post-Close Operating

New owner salary ($)What you’ll pay yourself as the operator. SBA expects market comp. Maintenance capex (% of EBITDA)Reinvestment to keep the business running — equipment replacement, software, etc.

The verdict

Run the numbers…

Capital Stack

SBA 7(a) loan—

Seller note (on standby)—

Your cash equity—

Total project—

Stack assembled.

Year 1 Cash Flow

During seller note standby

EBITDA—

SBA debt service—

Owner salary—

Maintenance capex—

Free cash to owner—

DSCR—

Year 3+ Cash Flow

After seller note standby ends

EBITDA—

SBA debt service—

Seller note service—

Owner salary—

Maintenance capex—

Free cash to owner—

DSCR—

What this calculator skips

SBA loan guarantee fees (~3.5% of guaranteed portion, financeable into the loan), working capital adjustments at closing, escrow holdbacks, search fund operating expenses, taxes on owner draws, and lender-specific covenants. DSCR shown is EBITDA-based; lenders may also test against cash flow after capex and working capital changes. For deal-specific structuring, talk to us.

Want a structured analysis?

Sovyrn Advisory will model your specific deal, run the lender comparison, and structure the capital stack tuned to your timeline and risk tolerance. Then we hand the execution to Caliber.

Apply through Caliber 5-minute intake. No pitch deck required.

How this calculator works

The capital stack follows SBA 7(a) acquisition rules: total project requires 10% buyer equity injection, of which up to half can come from a seller note on full standby for at least 24 months. The SBA loan covers the remaining 90%. We amortize the SBA loan over the term you specified at the rate you specified.

Year 1 cash flow models the standby period — the seller note has no debt service yet, so only the SBA loan is being paid down. Year 3+ cash flow models post-standby, when the seller note begins amortizing over its remaining term (we assume the note term equals the SBA term).

DSCR is computed as EBITDA divided by total debt service. SBA lenders typically require 1.25x to 1.50x for an acquisition; we flag below 1.33x as a yellow zone.

How to use the verdict

The verdict tells you whether the deal is fundable on the structure you specified. A red verdict means either you’re short on cash for the equity injection, or DSCR doesn’t cover SBA requirements. A yellow verdict means it’s tight — the deal could fund but you have little margin for surprises (working capital adjustments, slow Q1, a key customer churn). A green verdict means the structure works on paper.

None of this replaces a real lender process. Lenders will scrutinize the seller’s normalized EBITDA, the customer concentration, the management transition risk, and a dozen other factors that don’t fit in 10 inputs. Use this to decide whether a deal is worth taking to a lender, not whether you should sign the LOI tomorrow.

Want the framework behind these numbers?

See The Real SBA 7(a) Closing Timeline for Self-Funded Searchers for the phase-by-phase breakdown of what actually happens between LOI and wire — including the 30 to 45-day underwriting reality, what compresses the timeline, and what blows it up.