u/Extra5638

I’m actively looking to buy a business and figured I’d put exactly what I’m looking for out there.

Target is $1.1M–$1.6M in SDE.

That range isn’t random. Below roughly $1.1M, SBA debt service starts eating up too much of the cash flow for the deal to make sense to me. On the other end, once you get much above $1.6M SDE at a normal multiple, you start running into the SBA lending cap and the structure becomes a different conversation.

I’m not married to exactly 3.5x or any specific multiple. Obviously it depends on the business, growth, margins, customer concentration, how clean the books are, etc.

One important thing: when I say SDE, I mean actual SDE, including owner comp and legitimate add-backs. If you're quoting EBITDA instead, that's totally fine, just tell me what's included so we're talking about the same number.

More importantly, I want real cash flow. Money the business actually generates. Not a beautiful P&L where all the cash is permanently tied up in inventory or sitting in receivables for 90+ days.

Financing

Most likely SBA, seller financing, or some combination of the two.

The business needs to have books clean enough that a lender can actually finance it. I'm open to seller notes, including standby if it helps make a good deal work.

I'm also realistic about timing. An SBA deal can easily take 90–120 days from LOI to closing. I'm not expecting everybody to magically close in 30 days.

Location

For businesses that are truly location dependent, employees, equipment, local customer base, etc., I'm mainly looking within roughly 75 miles of the lower Hudson Valley / NYC area.

If the business is remote, digital, relocatable, or could realistically be operated from somewhere else, I'm open to anywhere in the U.S.

What interests me

I like businesses with good margins and real demand.

Manufacturing interests me. Product businesses can interest me. Some inventory is completely fine.

What gets me most interested is a business that's already good but still has obvious room to improve.

Maybe pricing hasn't been touched in five years.

Maybe the sales process barely exists.

Maybe nobody follows up with old customers.

Maybe operations work, but they're held together with spreadsheets and someone's memory.

I'm buying something because I actually want to operate and grow it. I'd much rather buy a $1.3M SDE business that I can see a path to $2M on than something that's already been optimized to death.

Probably not for me

Restaurants.

Businesses where the owner basically is the business.

Anything extremely inventory heavy where most of the cash flow has to keep getting shoved back onto a warehouse shelf.

Heavy customer concentration is also tough. If one customer represents 30%+ of revenue, that's going to be difficult for both me and the lender.

I'm also thinking pretty hard about AI risk. I'm not interested in buying something today where there's a realistic chance the core service becomes a commodity over the next few years.

I'd rather own a business with some kind of moat, equipment, licensing, specialized knowledge, difficult relationships, distribution, infrastructure, or simply something that's hard to recreate overnight.

Brokers: I'm happy to work with you. I don't need education on how buying a business works. If you have something that genuinely fits the above, send it over and let's talk.

Owners: Feel free to DM me directly as well. I'm happy to have a confidential conversation even if you're only starting to think about selling.

I've noticed something strange this week, and I'm curious if anyone else has too. It feels like a lot of people around me who are normally pretty steady have been unusually stressed, moody, anxious, or just emotionally off. It's not just one person either. Several family members and friends, who usually aren't the type to complain, all seemed to be having a rough week. Maybe it's just a coincidence, maybe I'm paying more attention than usual, or maybe there's something bigger going on that people are picking up on. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?

We already have the Haverstraw to Ossining ferry, and it seems to work well for connecting people to Metro north. So why has Nyack never gotten a similar service?

With all the complaints about hudson link and commuting headaches, a short ferry ride seems like a pretty obvious alternative. It could give commuters another option while also bringing more visitors to Nyack, Tarrytown, and both waterfronts, especially during the spring and summer.

I know there have been proposals over the years, but is there a real reason it hasn't happened?

It just seems like one of those ideas that's so obvious I'm assuming there's something I'm missing. Curious if anyone here knows the history.