How to get comfortable with a personal guarantee?

The PG risk depends on the individual net worth. Lots of searchers have no significant net worth and shouldn't be worried about the PG. I things go bad and the borrower has no meaningful assets, the SBA will usually do a "offer of compromise" and just let the borrower of the hook without a bankruptcy proceeding. On the other hand, searchers who do have significant net worth should be very carful to evaluate the downside risk of signing a PE.

Unfortunately, the net result is that the SBA PG is "unfair" to later-career searcher who can't afford to lose everything due to having a house and needing to provide for family/kids etc. However, it is great for folks who don't have significant assets because there is de factor very little downside risk

This is a tough topic...If it's at all possible to avoid through patience of finding a deal where you can get a bigger seller note, raise more $, shop your loan, etc. try to do so. Maybe one of the lenders knows the industry stats, but if your deal goes sideways and the PG gets triggered, that's the only one that will matter. In a prior independent sponsor deal, company hit a tough patch, there was mezz and they didn't want to help. Can't say I blame them for that, but the only way to get the revolver to keep going was to sign a PG. As it started to look a little better, we were asked to move on. It took over 3 mos for the then "control" folks to get us off the PG. They ultimately did, but those 90+ days created a lot of stress and anger. So while it all worked out, the PG left a mark. Ironically, this topic happened to come up at a breakfast last week I had with a very successful investor. He shared that a top BK lawyer once told him when he was younger "Kid, you know what someone who signs a PG is? A fool with a pen. Don't be a fool..." I didn't tell him that I have one on a smaller-ish revolver at the moment : ) All that said, many get done and can be part of a successful transaction. I have a number of friends and colleagues who have done so, us included. Just understand what you are getting yourself into. Your partners and your spouses, if any.