Alan Peterson SBA

I help first-time #SMB buyers from start to finish, and guide existing operators through buying competitors or CRE—with $0 down through #SBA- I love what I do.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

BREAKING: @SBAgov Announces New “Made in America Loan Guarantee” to Restore Manufacturing Dominance - Here is what you need to know to move the needle. 🧵1/5

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

@SBA_Matthias Thank you my friend!

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Closed - $1.2MM acquisition of a Hydraulic Repair business here in Florida yesterday. First time buyer.

Reminder here: Insurance - it's needed before we close, and our buyer "had it handled".

The seller's agent had fifteen years of history with the seller - but stalled out with the new buyer, and that's something that happens more than you might imagine.

@MrJoshFro at @NewCoRisk jumped in to provide the correct coverages, with the right limits in place without having to move the closing date.

The part I actually care about is the policies he put in place are ones the business can carry next year. A policy bound to get a wire out and a policy that fits the business with sustainable appropriate coverages are different things, and the buyer only needs the second one.

SMB Buyers: Insurance diligence matters, regardless of industry - like everything else in our process, the earlier the better.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

@WalbridgeSMB 100%!!

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

The bank runs the returns and the interims , and every purchase gets an independent valuation.

For many of my clients on smaller transactions the proof-of-cash (tying the bank statements to the P&L) is often enough comfort for many borrowers. It's a lot quicker and cheaper.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

@ABNLLC "You may not control the lending rules, but you can control how prepared your business is when a buyer arrives." - this is great advice, and sincerely makes a difference.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

@SMBDealGuy Great reminder, and glad to have OAG on our approved list.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Three clocks struck on midnight.

SBA SOP 8.1 is live. Anything that got a loan number from today runs under it. Anything that got its number yesterday finishes under 8.0.

The FY27 fee notice went up September 3, effective today.

Appropriations passed early, funding runs through December 11. Last October 1 E-Tran went dark for 43 days. This October 1 it's open.

December 11 is the next clock worth watching if you’re searching and planning to use SBA financing.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Veterans own 1.6MM businesses in this country and employ 3.3MM people, per the SBA Office of Advocacy. GAO's last count had veterans at 2% to 5% of 7(a) loans.

That gap is the panel I'm on Friday. Veteran ownership is common. Veteran acquisition financing is rare. From my seat the gap is information: most of the people who could use it were never told the program covers buying a business as well as starting one.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

What I underwrite differently for a veteran buyer: nothing. Same coverage, same injection, same standby note.

What shows up differently: transferable experience. A logistics NCO who ran a 40-person shop with a seven-figure equipment budget reads, on paper, like a first-time buyer with no industry experience. On my desk he reads like a general manager. The credit memo has to say why, in words an underwriter who never served can follow. That's the part of the panel I care most about.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

3pm today, JW Marriott Tampa Water Street. Veteran Main Street Ownership: Growth, Exit, Search, and Acquisition, with Owners in Honor.

The two numbers I'm bringing: 1.6MM veteran-owned businesses, and 2% to 5% of 7(a) loans. If you're at MIC, the room is yours to ask questions in.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Florida's average 7(a) loan last fiscal year was about $545K. The national average was $534K. Same program, and the state writes a bigger check on average because more of its book is restaurants with buildouts and trades with trucks, and less of it is score-and-go.

5,440 Florida businesses got a loan. About 15 a day, every business day.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Hillsborough County is one of the five counties that carry most of Florida's 7(a) volume, with Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Orange. I've lived and lent here for years.

What Tampa Bay deals look like on my desk against South Florida: more trades, more manufacturing, fewer restaurants, and a buyer pool that skews corporate refugees from the relocation wave. The seller pool is retiring at the same rate as everywhere else, 72% of $1MM to $2MM sales last quarter.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Three things I'll say on the acquisition financing panel today, in case you're not in the room.

Coverage gets calculated on what the business did last year.

The seller note goes on standby, and the seller who agrees to that is telling you something about the business.

The buyer's balance sheet after closing matters more than the one before it.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

What I expect to hear about 8.1 this week at FLAGGL, from the lenders who have to run it October 1. Six things, in the order they'll come up.

The QoE at $3MM. Who can do one, what it has to include, and how many firms in Florida are actually set up for it. The answer to the third is fewer than the room wants.

1.25x on last year's numbers, no projections. The deals that die on this were being approved on year-one growth. The deals that don't were being written this way already.

Blended maturity. The 51% shortcut is gone. A $5MM deal with $2MM of building blends to about 16 years instead of 25. Payment up, coverage tighter, same deal.

Seller notes on full standby, and what standby means for the injection. This is where the reads in the room will differ most, because the language moved and the interpretations haven't caught up to each other.

Expansions. Four-digit NAICS is the test now for whether a purchase is growth of your existing business or a new one. Same four digits the size-standard rewrite uses.

What I'll be listening for: which of these SBA leadership in the room calls a rule and which they call a signal. The difference is what my credit team runs on October 1.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Plumbing and HVAC contractors are one of Florida's top five 7(a) uses by count. Lumos has construction at 3.81% default in 2025, the middle of the 19-sector table, and other services at 3.35%.

The home service deals that perform on my book have the same three things: a crew that runs without the owner, trucks that are paid for, and maintenance agreements that renew. The ones that don't have a founder who was the only licensed tech and a phone that stopped ringing when his name came off the truck.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

@EdWeeksJr Exactly correct - from our view we’ve got the piece that matters more than ever, experience, right away. Clients making this play quite simply are buying the labor in a lot of cases, to your point - stabilization is imperative before making the next move successfully.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Growth, Exit, Search, Acquisition. The four words in Friday's panel title, one line on each from the desk.

Growth: an existing owner buying a competitor in the same industry can finance it on the combined cash flow. The cleanest growth capital in the program and almost nobody uses it.

Exit: 60% to 90% of sellers had under a year of planning last quarter. The veteran-owned business that sells for full value is the one that started three years out.

Search: the searchers I close are self-funded, buying $1MM to $5MM businesses with a 7(a) loan and a seller note. The traditional search fund studies don't measure that group.

Acquisition: coverage on last year's numbers, a seller note on standby, and cash left in the buyer's account after closing. Same three things, veteran or not.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Orange County is one of the five counties that carry most of Florida's 7(a) money, with Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Hillsborough.

The people you move down here don't all go looking for a job. Some of them buy a business, and the owner selling it is usually retiring. 72% of the $1MM to $2MM sales last quarter were retirements, per @IBBAHQ

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Which state ranks third in SBA 7(a) dollars this fiscal year?

California and Texas are first and second.

[Alan Peterson SBA @AlanPetersonSBA]

Florida.

Third in the country in 7(a) dollars this fiscal year, $2.14B through July, behind California and Texas.

FLAGGL starts today. If you're in the room this week, the acquisition financing panel is the one I'm on. Come find me after.