How to Buy a Small Business With Main Street Index

Step 1: Shortlist industries on Best businesses to buy

Open Best businesses to buy. Industries are ranked by Buyer Fit, a score written down before any number was computed: median earnings yield, median asking price, margin, years in operation, the share of stated reasons that are a healthy exit, listings for sale, revenue per employee, and the shares that state seller financing or owned real estate. Each input is a percentile rank inside one currency and earnings basis.

Set a budget to keep only industries whose median asking price fits it. Every row shows its n and the components it rests on.

• Only USD/SDE has enough rankable industries to score today. UK, Australian and Canadian groups are withheld and the page says why.
• Buyer Fit sits beside the Software Gap Score, it does not replace it. It is a ranking of asking-price economics and supply, not an investment recommendation.

Step 2: Filter listings like a buyer

From an industry, open its listings and add the buyer filters: seller financing offered, real estate owned or included in the price, owner operated or absentee, franchise resale, home based, relocatable, price reduced (BizBuySell), a minimum earnings yield, and where the multiple sits against the industry median. Sort by yield or by multiple vs industry.

Silence is never no. A listing that does not mention seller financing reads Not stated, and every rate is the share of listings that state something.

Step 3: Read the Buyer panel on a listing

Each listing opens with a Buyer panel. Deal vs industry compares its asking multiple to the median for the same industry, currency, earnings basis and price band, with n. The bands run well below, below, in line, above and well above. It says priced below or above the industry's median asking multiple, never cheap or undervalued, because both sides are asking figures.

Earnings yield is earnings over price, and payback years is price over earnings, both before debt service, tax and capex.

Owner involvement, lease length, equipment condition, revenue model and similar fields are read from the description by AI. Each one shows the quote it came from. All 14 passed an 85% accuracy check on a fresh hand-checked sample (the lowest, revenue model, at 86%), so they are filterable; read the quote before you rely on one.

Step 4: Run the SBA 7(a) debt-service check

The calculator on the listing works out the loan, the annual payment and the debt service coverage ratio (stated earnings over annual debt service) against the 1.25 rule of thumb lenders use. Down payment, interest rate and term are all editable. The defaults (10% down, 10.5%, 10 years) are assumptions, not quotes. Nothing is stored.

Stated SDE is before a replacement manager's salary, tax and capex, so a lender will haircut it. SBA 7(a) is a US programme; on other listings read it as a generic debt check.

FAQ