There is no one way that all buyers will use to put a valuation on your business. So, a seller must perform a detailed valuation exercise to attract the right buyers for the business and defend their sale price.
A rudimentary approach is to take your SDE and multiply by an industry average multiple – the safe multiple is between 3x and 4x.
SDE = Seller’s Discretionary Earnings = (Total Sales – Total Expenses + Owner’s Salary & Draws).
Multiply the SDE by 3 to be on the safe side and you have a very rough number.
However, a lot of other factors go into a valuation and we are happy to provide you a detailed report and a free valuation.
With over two decades of small business lending experience, Michelle Orr joined the Live Oak team in 2021 as Vice President of General Lending. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from her previous role with one of the leading SBA lenders in the country.
Over the past 20 years of her career, Michelle has originated and closed over $400 million of SBA 7(a) and 504 loans, specializing in commercial real estate, business acquisitions, partner buyouts, expansion, and new construction. She’s deeply passionate about delivering an exceptional lending experience for her customers and is committed to serving as a reliable guide throughout the entire process. Michelle graduated from Johnson & Wales University with an associate degree in Marketing.
She resides in CT with her husband and daughter and serves the entire Connecticut/New York region, with an ability to fund loans Nationally.
Sundeep Gill is based out of New York. Prior to becoming a Business Broker, his experience included purchasing and operating 4 successful businesses. In addition, he was a Vice President at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch where he spent 17 years, overseeing the Research department’s ERP system.
While there he managed a large team of individuals and reported to the Chief Operating Officer, where he developed a reputation for successfully completing projects on time.
As a buyer of businesses, he has extensive knowledge of what buyers are looking for and how to successfully negotiate and close a deal. After running his businesses, he decided to divest and successfully sell his businesses and focus on the art of deal-making. Having gone through the process of buying and selling businesses, he understands the emotional attachments that owners have to their businesses. He considers this while searching for the right potential buyers who will honor the owner’s legacy while at the same time, negotiating the best terms.
Sundeep has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from NY Institute of Technology. Sundeep sells businesses worldwide including the US regions of the Northeast, Midwest, South, and more.
Suleman Emmanuel is based out of New Jersey. Suleman holds multiple higher education degrees in the fields of Biology, Computer Science, and Software Engineering. Prior to becoming a Business Broker, his experience included purchasing and operating 2 successful businesses. He also has extensive experience in the evaluation of businesses due to other business interests that were not consummated into acquisitions. In addition, he is a Senior Manager at a Fortune 500 company where he has 20 years of experience with program management and overseeing the schedule and staff for a multi-million dollar project. He has a keen eye for identifying risks that may impact the schedules for the project and instituting mitigations for those risks. In addition, he routinely performs projections for budget, workload, and staffing. As such, this makes him uniquely qualified for assessing and evaluating businesses and future viability.
Due to his experience in purchasing businesses, Suleman understand the needs of potential buyers for various businesses. Furthermore, the initial buyer interview performed by him provides invaluable details about the desires and motivations of potential buyers as they perform their business acquisition journey. Suleman understands the challenges that a business owner is faced with on a routine basis due to his personal experience. He chose to divest and successfully sell his business interests and focus on business brokerage since he is able to apply his professional and personal experiences into help buyers and sellers of businesses.
Jaime Aguilar is an M&A Advisor with over 20 years of experience managing Fortune 500 Retail Companies in Senior Management roles and close to 4 years as an Award Winning Real Estate Broker. As a Senior Manager, Jaime has been responsible for managing and driving sales in up to $200 Million business operations and also overseeing up to 2500 employees. As a Real Estate Broker Jaime has achieved sales of over $50 Million in inventory as well as received awards and accolades in the industry.
Over his business career Jaime has demonstrated that he is uniquely suited to market and structure the best possible scenario for sellers, buyers and investors in what is often the most personal and significant transaction they will make in their lives. Jaime understands that the process can be stressful, challenging and complicated, and makes it his top priority to take the stress off of his clients. As a professional Jaime is known for outstanding responsiveness, exceptional 5 Star client service, and for being honest and sincere with his clients.
Jaime enjoys pursuing a career that combines business and people. He brings genuine energy and comfort to the relationships he develops with his clients and strives to assist them with every step of the transaction process through closing.
Matt Putnam serves as a Business Lending Specialist and Vice President at Dogwood State Bank Small Business Lending. His areas of expertise are in business acquisition, construction, franchises, and start-ups.
With over 30 years of direct experience in lending to small business through the SBA programs, Matt is a valued resource for his clients and enjoys helping borrowers bring their ideas to life. By working in partnership with borrowers and getting to know their goals, Matt is able to structure loans within the SBA programs that meet their specific requirements. In addition to SBA training, Matt’s experience includes positions such as Sales, Sales Manager, and National Sales Manager. He obtained his formal education at Providence College where he majored in Marketing.
Outside of work, Matt enjoys spending time with his family, playing guitar, mountain biking, and volunteering within the community
I began my SBA lending career with an operational focus, responsible for all aspects of eligibility review, closing due diligence collection and review, and direct facilitation of loan closings between all parties related. Now, with more than 14 years in banking, I have held Business Development Officer positions for two National Top 5 SBA Lenders. SBA financing has been an incredibly satisfying way of helping my clients follow their dream of business ownership. Whether acquiring their first business or starting one from scratch, restructuring existing debt or purchasing more equipment for growth, I love to help clients get the financing they need to grow their business.
I obtained my undergraduate degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene University, and Master of Business Administration from Franklin University.
About Celtic Bank
Celtic Bank is a nationwide small business lender specializing in SBA 7(a) and USDA business loans. As of January 2020, Celtic was the 5th largest SBA Lender in the nation.
Primary lending interests include the financing of special-use property types, and Celtic is particularly competitive in the industries of Gas Stations/C-Stores, Car Washes, Assisted Living Facilities, Hotels, Daycare Facilities, Automotive, Restaurants, and Funeral Homes. We will consider start-up, ground up construction of commercial owner-occupied real estate, owner-occupied commercial real estate purchase & improvement, business acquisition and partner buy-outs, and asset-based lines of credit.
Deirdre Morrison is a CPA (NY) who brings over thirty years experience working with small to mid sized companies in the areas of bookkeeping, accounting and taxes. She is a graduate of the Lubin School of Business at Pace University and stated her career with one of the “Big 8” accounting firms in New York City. She has worked with clients in many industries – construction trades, manufacturing, breweries, charter schools, local governments, independent artists and many others.
Deirdre serves in an advisory role at GillAgency to assist sellers with tax planning on their exits and to work with buyers on due diligence. She will be able to help business owners by providing bookkeeping, accounting and tax assistance.
Roni Banerjee is an executive consultant and mergers and acquisitions advisor for small to medium scale businesses. Roni has started, grown and sold technology companies and advices business owners on how to scale and exit their companies. Roni’s strengths are closing sales, negotiating deals that work for all parties, making an impossible situation into reality during a transaction and the ability to speak as a hands-on-technologist and business operations manager. Roni’s strong acumen for business mathematics position him as an aggressive broker that can defend company valuations with reason, validation and market proof. Roni is easy-going, patient and lives to make a good deal that works for all parties.
Jamsheed Pesina is an accomplished Operations & Procurement Manager with 20 years at WESCO Distribution where he manages all aspects of MRO & Indirect goods procurement for fortune 100 manufacturing companies, implementation of new or expanded customer programs and Global procurement offices in the UK, EU, Canada and Mexico. He holds a B.S. degree in Business Admin & Marketing from NYIT located in Old Westbury New York. His experiences also range in customer contract reviews, supplier negotiations, managing his own business, all HR aspects, successfully marketing sales via social media, project management and a full-time family man.
Jamsheed serves in an advisory role at GillAgency to aid the business brokers when it comes to negotiations. He also helps the business owners streamline their HR, supply chain management and marketing. Throughout his successful 20 years where he managed expectations of clients with his skillful negotiations and have produced great results for WESCO. He is a great asset to GillAgency and our clients.
