Will investors fund an SBA deal with passive ownership?

searcher profile

November 20, 2025

by a searcher from Georgetown University - The McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC, USA

Looking at acquiring "semi-passive" businesses (ie. healthcare clinic, laundromat, gas station etc), installing a office manager (60K salary) and then increasing customer base+retention while potentially acquiring more and pursuing a roll-up strategy. Are investors open to this kind of structure where I wouldn't necessary be the "full time operator"? If so, where can I find them? Thank you!
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Reply by an investor
from University of Illinois at Urbana in Chicago, IL, USA
IMHO, the issue isn’t interest, it’s cash flow. In my experience, SBA lenders don’t care whether you are there everyday, they only care about the interest coverage ratio, as measured by adj EBITDA/interest payments. And equity investors care about risk adjusted IRR, as measured by expected exit EV / invested capital. As long as the numbers work out and you have a reasonable story, all parties should be happy. The challenge will be in buying at a valuation and leverage that makes sense. That’s the hard part.
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Reply by a lender
from California State University, Sacramento in Seattle, WA, USA
I couldn’t disagree more with ^redacted‌ and equally encouraged to see the other comments so far concur that the first time acquirer has to be involved. And don’t get me started on buyers that don’t want to bring in any of their owequity. Maybe complimenting with investors makes sense, but this ain’t no free hall pass.
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