Over 15+ years I've led dozens of M&A and financing transactions worth over $3 billion at previous roles in Private Equity, Investment Banking, Consulting, and Corporate Finance.

Now my passion is to give insight about the private debt + equity financing markets, M&A, teach modern strategies to generate and analyze deals via content, automation, and AI, and use those strategies to connect firms with the right financing more efficiently than ever before.

My current focuses are:

The Financing Flow <> Join thousands of readers getting smart about debt + equity financing, M&A, and deal analysis + sourcing via content, automation, and AI.  Sign up at the link in my header.

CapFlow <> Get $1m - $30m financing via the intelligent platform + service that connects you to the best-fits among 500+ lenders, lessors, and factors within days.  Learn more and set an intro call at capflow.net.

🚨 THE SBA BLACKLIST - AVOID FINANCING LANDMINES 🚨

Your lender just called three days before closing. 

"We need another $200k in equity."

Sound familiar?  Unfortunately, it happens often.

I've seen this play out many times. Seller gets pissed. Deal falls apart. Six months of work down the drain.

Some banks with the smoothest sales pitch have the worst track records for actually closing deals, or retrading late in the process.

🔴 Week 1: "We love this deal, no problem on structure"
🔴 Week 4: "Committee has some questions, just need clarification" 
🔴 Week 8: "Actually we need 20% more equity and a full personal guarantee"

Meanwhile you've already paid for QofE, signed an LOI, and told the seller you're good to go.

The worst part? This happens with the SAME banks over and over. But borrowers keep walking into it because they don't know which lenders have a history of re-trading or pulling the plug at the 11th hour.

We track closing rates, turnaround times, and committee behavior across 100+ SBA lenders. Some banks close 85% of deals they issue term sheets for. Others are under 40%!

That information is worth WAY MORE than 50 basis points on your rate.

If you're financing an acquisition or growth capital, don't go in blind. Work with someone who knows which banks will actually perform, and which ones will screw you over.

Shaun Tiwari

CapFlow intelligently (via AI) connects middle-market corporate borrowers to interested lenders, with no up-front cost or obligation.

1. Financing available for firms with $5M to $200M of annual revenue located in the US.

2. Transaction sizes from $250K to $50M.

3. 60+ lenders on our platform and growing rapidly including national and regional banks, commercial finance firms, specialty lenders, credit hedge funds, and family offices.

4. Rates/pricing from the mid-single digits and up.

5. All types of structures including asset-based lending, cash-flow lending, term loans, lines of credit, project finance, acquisition finance, bridge loans, venture debt, revenue-based financing, asset and equipment leasing, etc.

Fill out our 5-min intake form at capflow.net, then we'll connect you to a lender whose deal and company criteria fits your need.

If you'd like to talk with us first, schedule a call at calendly.com/capflow/capflow-intro.

Or msg me on LinkedIn, email at shaun@capflow.net, or call me at 1-202-335-7350.
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About me:

I have 20 years of experience building, leading, and optimizing all aspects of the business lifecycle.  This is from founding to exit and everything in-between as an entrepreneur, investor, employee, and consultant.

In that time I've done over $2 billion in lower and middle-market M&A and Capital transactions.

The Financing Guy | $1m - $30m for Acquisitions, Refinance, Growth, or Working Capital | Follow for Daily Insights on LMM and SMB Financing

Jeff Arredondo

**SOCIAL POST:**

🚨 Your pitch deck just killed your SBA deal 🚨 

Seen this happen recently. A searcher sends their equity investor deck to an SBA lender and gets an immediate pass.

Why? Because the whole thing screams "passive PE investment" when SBA loans require full-time owner-operators.

Here's what I mean:

🔴 Your investor deck talks about your "portfolio approach" and "oversight strategy"
🔴 Mentions your advisory board running day-to-day operations  
🔴 Lists other investments you're pursuing simultaneously
🔴 Focuses on financial returns and exit multiples

All of that is great for equity investors. It's death for SBA lenders.

SBA underwriters are trained to sniff out passive investments. If your materials suggest you won't be boots-on-the-ground running this business full-time, they're moving to the next deal.

The fix is simple but most people miss it:

✅ Have separate materials for separate audiences
✅ SBA lender deck: emphasize your full-time commitment, relevant experience, operational involvement
✅ Equity investor deck: financial returns, growth strategy, your broader investment thesis

Don't make lenders guess which role you're actually playing. If they have to interpret whether you're an active operator or a passive investor, they'll just pass and save themselves the headache.

Your marketing materials should make the lender's job easier, not harder. 💰

💡Ever heard of this awesome financing program to get OVER $5m in gov't guarantees?

If you're buying a business in California (or Texas), there's a little-known financing tool that can stack on top of an SBA 7(a) loan.

It's called the State Small Business Loan Guarantee Program.

🔹 California's SBLGP can guarantee loans up to $5M (80% guarantee)
🔹 For larger deals ($5M-$30M), they'll still go up to 70%
🔹 Administered through 7 regional Financial Development Corporations

Texas has one too: the TSBCI Loan Guarantee Program
🔹 Loans up to $20M
🔹 Up to 80% guaranteed (capped at $4M guarantee amount)
🔹 $472M allocated to the program

Here's where it gets interesting:

An SBA 7(a) loan maxes out at $5M. But if you're in a state with an active loan guarantee program, a lender could potentially structure a conventional loan alongside your SBA loan with the state guarantee backing the conventional piece.

The result? Access to $8M+ in government-backed financing for the right deal and right borrower.

📍 Nearly every state has some form of SSBCI program now (50 states, DC, and territories received Treasury allocations). The quality and activity level varies wildly by state.

Most lenders don't bring this up. Most borrowers don't know to ask.

If you're looking at a larger acquisition and running into the SBA cap, ask your lender about state guarantee programs. Might open doors you didn't know existed.

💡 Structuring lower-middle-market acquisitions? Here's a simple formula of how to do it...

When you move beyond SBA financing into $3M+ EBITDA territory, everything changes. No more 4x leverage. No more 90% LTV. 

You need a different mental model.

I call it the "3+1+1 Rule"

Here's how it works:

💰 3 turns of EBITDA in senior debt at close
💰 1 turn EBITDA of seller note or earnout
💰 1 turn EBITDA of seller rollover equity

That gets you to 5x EBITDA total purchase price.

Why this framework?

Most conventional and private credit lenders cap senior debt around 3x EBITDA. Period. Doesn't matter how great the business is.

That leaves a gap you need to fill. And unlike SBA deals, you're not covering it with bank debt.

The seller becomes your partner, whether they like it or not.

Rollover equity is especially powerful because lenders view it differently than a seller note. Equity doesn't add to total debt load. A seller note does. And total debt usually caps around 4x.

So if you're evaluating a business selling at 5x or 6x and wondering "how do I actually structure this?"

Start with "3+1+1" and understand that the "3" cannot go up, so you need to use the remaining capital stack to reach the total purchase price.

Won't work for every deal. But it's a solid baseline for back-of-envelope math when you're sizing up larger targets.

🎯 Know the framework before you chase the deal.

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