Observed arrival · 2026-11-14
SDE or EBITDA? — Small-business deal screener
A free screener estimates whether a small-business listing is worth pursuing, using deal price, earnings, debt payments, and other checks.
○Open
⊠Login
$Paid
†Ads
✦Pretty
●Pro
◎Niche
◉Human
⚑Risk
ƒJS
- For
- First-time small-business buyers using SBA loans
- Worth noticing
- It labels its multiple test a screening heuristic and notes that asking prices typically exceed closed-deal prices.
Field notes
The worked example separates owner salary from SDE before calculating cash available for debt service, then compares that figure with annual loan payments. A price slider recalculates the verdict across a 20% range in either direction. The rules page distinguishes listing asking multiples from closed-deal multiples and notes that one deal-size band is derived from closed-deal data rather than directly observed listings.
Observed signals
Read the marks
Editorial observations of this landing page, not a rating.
○OpenPublic substance visible
✦PrettyNotable craft visible
●ProPolished or operationally mature
◎NicheUnusually specific use
ƒJavaScriptBrowser-side code central
One card from the complete issue