Pre-Sale Prep  •  Free Tool

SBA Business Valuation Calculator

A buyer using an SBA loan can only pay what the loan will carry, and your profit sets that ceiling. Enter two numbers to see where yours lands, next to what businesses your size typically list for.

Step 1
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Seller's Discretionary Earnings: profit plus the owner's salary, perks, interest, depreciation and one-time costs. Banks only credit add-backs you can document. Aggressive ones get tossed in underwriting.
Step 2
$
A buyer has to pay themselves. Lenders almost always require at least $100,000, and we don't recommend going lower.
Pre-filled assumptions standard SBA terms ▼
The lender's cushion. SBA allows as low as 1.2×, but 1.4× is the safer planning assumption.
%
How much of the price you carry as a note. Expect to carry at least 10%. 20% is the norm and 30% is common.
%
Cash the buyer puts in at closing, on top of the SBA loan and seller note. 10% is the most common ask; some buyers bring as little as 5%. 20% and up happens but is less common.
%
Auto-set to the WSJ Prime Rate plus 2.75%, the typical SBA 7(a) rate. Adjust if your lender differs.
Step 1 of 2

Put your own annual profit in. The number showing now is only an example.

Cash flow available for debt service (SDE minus salary) 
Annual debt service the loan can carry (divided by DSCR) 
SBA loan size (10-yr term, present value) 
Plus seller note (20% of price) 
Plus buyer cash equity (10% of price) 
Less closing costs and SBA guaranty fee (~5% of price) 

What businesses your size typically list for

 
 

What a buyer's financing could support

 
 
1× 6×
 

Both numbers are ready.

Enter your name and email and they appear right here, along with a one-page PDF you can keep or hand to your CPA.

Your name and email. No phone number.

A buyer agreeing to a price isn't the same as a deal closing.

It's common for a buyer to want to pay a certain price. The bank still orders its own valuation, and the loan still has to cover its payments (the DSCR). If the appraisal comes back lower, or the cash flow won't service the debt, the deal won't close on those terms. It's great that you believe your business is worth a number, and great if a buyer agrees. The financing has to agree too.

Where you land in that range isn't luck.

Size and sell-readiness decide whether you're at the top of the range or below it, and both are fixable before you go to market. Book a free Exit Readiness Call to see where your business really stands.

For general education only. This is not a business valuation, appraisal, financing commitment, or offer. It applies standard SBA 7(a) acquisition math (10-yr term; ~5% allowance for closing costs and the SBA guaranty fee) to the figures you enter; it does not verify your SDE and is not a lending decision. The "typical" range shown scales with your SDE and reflects the 25th to 75th percentile of asking multiples for businesses near your size, from Pre-Sale Prep's Main Street Market Report (asking multiples typically run higher than closed-sale multiples). The financeable figure is a cash-flow ceiling on standard terms, not a prediction or a promise of price. Confirm everything with a qualified advisor and SBA lender.