Small Business Acquisition (ETA) Underwriting Financial Model — SBA 7(a), SDE & DSCR

Description
A lender-ready model for buying a small business with an SBA 7(a) loan, built for a self-funded searcher or ETA (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) buyer. The broker hands you an adjusted EBITDA and an asking price; your lender underwrites something else. This model builds the deal the way the bank actually will.

The engine is the deal structure. Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) is built bottom-up from the tax return: reported net income plus interest, depreciation and amortization, the owner's full salary and payroll taxes, owner perks, and one-time items. Then a market-rate operator salary comes back out to get Adjusted EBITDA, the number a lender finances.
The capital stack has three parts: your cash equity, a seller note, and the SBA 7(a) loan that fills the rest, with the 10% equity-injection rule and the $5M cap checked for you. A single toggle puts the seller note on full standby or amortizing, the lever that often moves a leveraged deal from declined to financeable.
The DSCR gate is computed the bank's way: (Adjusted EBITDA minus maintenance capex) over total cash debt service, with SBA interest from a real amortization schedule, plus a debt-yield cross-check. A 3-way business-type toggle (B2B service, distribution, e-commerce/agency) reloads the multiples, working capital and capex.

10 sheets, Excel + Google Sheets, machine-verified by three engines. Includes an 18-page guide, a sensitivity grid and a sourced benchmarks sheet. Honest by design: DSCR, debt yield, cash-on-cash and equity multiple up front; no IRR, because on a single small deal it is hostage to the exit multiple you assume. Educational planning tool, not financial, lending, tax or legal advice.