Issue 009 — SBA-range SMB Market, Week of June 8

Preheader: Twenty-seven listings in this week's sample, fourteen in the valid SBA-range count after four prior-issue duplicates, five borderline listings above the SBA-range floor, and four sub-floor listings. Median 4.29x. The endurance tracker recorded its first concrete example of "missed weeks, return at reduced price." Three multi-week endurance leaders persist unchanged. A telecom services pattern crosses Deal Diligence #004 and Issues 007, 009.

Twenty-seven listings were reviewed in this week's sample for the week of June 2–8, 2026. As established in Issue 008's methodology and reinforced going forward, the publication's weekly sample is a representative selection of new and reappearing listings rather than a complete market enumeration. The composition this week is a return to historical patterns after Issue 008's anomalous sub-floor concentration.

The filters this week:

The week-over-week directional move was upward, with the median rising from Issue 008's 3.62x to 4.29x. The nine-week rolling mean of weekly medians now stands at 4.21x and has held within a 0.08x band (4.20x to 4.28x) for six consecutive observations. This is the rolling figure's most stable stretch since the publication began and is the more reliable directional indicator than any single-week median.

Three findings warrant attention this week.

First, the Brooklyn medical practice reappeared at the reduced price established in Issue 007. The four-issue arc (Issue 006 at $3.2M, Issue 007 at $3.0M with the tracker's first documented reduction, Issue 008 absent, Issue 009 at $3.0M) provides the first concrete example of a pattern Issue 008 framed but did not yet have data for. Missed weeks do not always indicate transaction or withdrawal, and reappearance at the previously reduced rather than original price is itself informative about seller-side commitment to the new clearing level.

Second, three multi-week endurance listings persist this week at unchanged asking prices: the Advisory Practice in Harris County TX (Issues 008-009), the Surrogacy Consulting Agency in Phoenix AZ (Issues 007-008-009, three consecutive weeks borderline), and the Premium Resale & Lending Enterprise in Virginia (Issues 007-008-009, three consecutive weeks valid sample). These three listings now represent the longest unchanged-price endurance entries currently active in the tracker.

Third, a telecom services niche has now extended across three publication references. Deal Diligence #004 (May 17, telecom spam mitigation at 7.30x SDE) framed the original operating-model verification question. Issue 007 surfaced a telecom compliance and branded calling listing with similar specifications. Issue 009 introduces a telecom reputation management listing in Florida at $6.0M / 4.29x SDE on a 55% margin. The cumulative pattern across three weeks of separate observations is documented below.

The asking-price disclosure rate remained at 100%. Two listings did not disclose revenue (a medical billing SaaS provider at #7, a South Florida insurance agency at #13), which prevents margin calculation but does not affect the multiple computation against disclosed cash flow.

Valid SBA-range sample (n=14):

The category distribution this week is the most even across categories in the nine-week history. No category dominates beyond three listings. The within-category ranges remain tight in B2B Services (3.28x to 5.00x), Transportation (4.75x to 4.96x), and Ecommerce/DTC (3.28x to 3.52x), consistent with patterns from prior issues where these categories cluster within narrow within-category bands.

The single Healthcare valid-sample listing this week (Pain Clinic Laredo TX at 6.54x EBITDA) is discussed in the dedicated cross-reference section below. This listing's category placement and multiple basis raise the same sub-segmentation questions Issue 006 introduced and Deal Diligence #007 expanded on Florida pain management specifically.

Issue 008's listing-endurance tracker section introduced the methodological framing that single-week absences cannot distinguish between "listing transacted or withdrawn" and "listing remained active but not captured in the weekly sample." Two listings (Ed-Tech eLearning Tampa, Portfolio of 3 Gas Stations Barstow CA) provided the first concrete examples of "missed one week, reappears unchanged."

The Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary medical practice that reappeared this week provides the contrasting case. The four-issue arc:

The pattern is informative for two reasons. The reduced price held through one missed week and the subsequent reappearance, which argues against the interpretation that the Issue 007 reduction was a temporary discount or negotiation maneuver. The seller appears to have committed to the new clearing level. And the missed-week absence cannot be inferred as transaction or withdrawal, which validates Issue 008's "status unconfirmed" methodology rather than the simpler interpretation that absence means removal.

For an SBA-range buyer encountering this listing in week four, the read is direct. The asking price has been calibrated downward and held at the new level. The seller has not retreated to the original price after the reduction did not produce an immediate transaction, which suggests continued commitment to the reduced clearing level rather than a market-test that has now been abandoned. The diligence priorities remain the practitioner-dependent Healthcare framework discussed in Deal Diligence #007: who continues the practice post-sale, what proportion of revenue depends on the founding physician's personal patient relationships and referral network, and what the transition arrangement looks like.

The endurance tracker will continue to monitor whether this listing transacts at the reduced price, sees a second price reduction, or persists at the current level. Each outcome would refine the publication's understanding of how Healthcare practitioner-dependent listings clear in the SBA-range market.

The endurance tracker this week records three listings persisting at unchanged asking prices across multiple consecutive observations:

The three-week endurance entries are both at the upper end of and at the boundary of the SBA-range sample. The Premium Resale & Lending listing sits in the valid SBA-range sample at 4.75x SDE, slightly above the cumulative median. The Surrogacy Consulting Agency sits in the borderline category (above the $12M asking ceiling, EBITDA basis, regulated-but-undefined Arizona category). Both have held asking prices unchanged across three consecutive observations.

The Advisory Practice in Texas at 99.6% reported SDE margin remains in the valid SBA-range sample, with the margin flag noted again here. A two-week persistence at the same elevated margin is not yet a pattern but is the second consecutive week the figure has appeared exactly. Whether subsequent weeks reveal recalibration, transaction, or continued persistence will inform whether the listing's margin reporting reflects a defensible operating reality or a broker-side framing that the market has not engaged with at the offered price.

Three previously-tracked endurance leaders remain absent for the second or third consecutive week:

The Issue 008 twin listings (Roofing/Siding Louisville KY and Charlotte NC at identical $1.7M / $489,818 / $1,675,400 financials) are absent in Issue 009. A one-week absence does not yet distinguish among the three hypotheses Issue 008 documented (franchise system pattern, broker template error, single multi-location business). The tracker will continue to monitor.

A pattern that began in Deal Diligence #004 (May 17) now extends across three separate publication references with three distinct but operationally adjacent listings.

The three listings occupy adjacent niches in the broader telecom services space: spam mitigation, compliance and branded calling, and reputation management with outbound call optimization. The revenue scales are similar ($2.25M to $2.55M), the reported SDE figures are similar ($1.015M to $1.4M), and the reported margins cluster between 45% and 56%.

Three interpretations of the cumulative pattern remain possible without further verification. The first is that the broader telecom regulatory and reputation services category has multiple comparable operators at this SBA-range scale, and the recurring appearance reflects industry consolidation activity as smaller operators seek liquidity. The second is that one or more of these listings is the same underlying business repositioned at different brokers or under different operational framing, which would produce similar specifications with different asking prices and titles. The third is some combination: a few related entities owned by a shared parent, listed separately with category-specific framing for different buyer pools.

The descending multiples across the three observations (7.30x at DD #004, 5.91x at Issue 007, 4.29x at Issue 009) are consistent with either category-wide multiple compression as new comparable listings emerge or with a single business being remarketed at progressively lower asking levels as the original pricing did not produce a transaction. The publication will not assert which interpretation is correct without verification but will continue to track for additional listings in the same operational niche.

For an SBA-range buyer considering any of these listings: the regulatory dependency framework introduced in Deal Diligence #004 (FCC enforcement actions, branded calling adoption rates, the post-2024 spam mitigation policy environment) applies to all three. The diligence priority remains the operating-model verification on the founder's stated involvement (Deal Diligence #004's "10-12 hours per week" claim was the original observation point), the revenue stability across regulatory change windows, and the customer concentration analysis.

Five listings this week sit outside the SBA-range sample boundaries, either by asking price ($12M+) or by cash flow ($2.5M+):

Lead Generation Marketplace for Local Service Pros, Tampa FL. Asking $12.5M against $2.37M reported SDE on $9.58M revenue. 5.28x SDE. The asking price approximates the SBA-financing ceiling with seller financing structure. The 24.7% SDE margin is consistent with established marketplace platforms operating at scale.

Medical Billing Software SaaS Provider, remote. Asking $12.5M against $1.35M reported SDE. Revenue not disclosed. Implied multiple 9.24x SDE, the highest in this week's full sample. The "90% recurring" framing indicates SaaS revenue characteristics that command premium multiples versus traditional service businesses. The 9.24x is in the range medical billing SaaS platforms have transacted at, with the diligence focus on revenue concentration, the underlying medical specialty mix of the customer base, and the platform's positioning against larger consolidated medical billing vendors.

Structural Metals Manufacturer, United States. Asking $14.0M against $3.40M reported SDE on $29.7M revenue. 4.12x SDE, 11.4% margin. The cash flow exceeds the $2.5M SBA-range ceiling. Industrial manufacturing at this scale typically trades at category-specific multiples reflecting fixed asset intensity, customer concentration, and the durability of the underlying contracts.

Luxury Flooring Company, Lee County FL. Asking $5.0M against $2.75M reported SDE on $8.75M revenue. 1.82x SDE, 31.4% margin. The cash flow is just above the $2.5M SBA-range boundary, placing this listing in the borderline category. The 1.82x multiple, if it were in the valid sample, would be the lowest valid-sample multiple in the nine-week history (lower than the Issue 005 Omaha outlier at 0.36x which carried data flags, and lower than the Issue 008 Custom Home Builder Idaho at 2.33x). The 30+ year operating history and "market leader" framing suggest the discount reflects either category-specific factors (luxury flooring as discretionary spend exposure to economic cycles) or operating questions the cover sheet does not disclose. Worth flagging for any reader specifically tracking sub-2x multiples on listings with otherwise plausible disclosures.

Highly Profitable Land Development Platform, Broward County FL. Asking $7.8M against $3.04M reported SDE on $13.5M revenue. 2.56x SDE, 22.5% margin. Cash flow above SBA-range ceiling. Land development platforms operate with cyclical revenue patterns, regulatory exposure to local approval processes, and capital intensity that distinguishes them from operating service businesses. The 2.56x multiple is consistent with land development category norms.

Ranked by asking multiple, ascending. Sample median 4.29x (valid SBA-range, n=14).

Asking $2.9M against $1.02M reported SDE on $2.72M revenue. 2.85x SDE, 37.5% margin. The lowest multiple in this week's valid SBA-range sample.

An intellectual property law practice differs structurally from the personal injury practice analyzed in Deal Diligence #005. IP law revenue is typically hourly-billing for prosecution work (patent applications, trademark filings) plus contingency or hybrid arrangements for litigation. The "Remote" location framing combined with the $1M+ SDE scale suggests an established firm with documented patent prosecution clients rather than a single-practitioner consulting arrangement.

The diligence priorities apply the same regulated-profession buyer pool framework discussed in DD #005 (legal practice ownership restrictions under state Rules of Professional Conduct 5.4) to a different practice category. The qualified buyer pool is licensed attorneys with IP practice experience, ideally with USPTO patent bar registration if the practice handles patent prosecution. The 2.85x multiple is consistent with the regulated-profession discount to general SMB norms documented in DD #005 and DD #007.

Discussed in the borderline section above. The 2.56x multiple in the borderline cohort.

Asking $3.22M against $1.1M reported SDE on $1.105M revenue. 2.93x SDE, 99.6% margin. The same listing analyzed in Issue 008 at the same figures. Second consecutive week. The 99.6% margin flag remains the dominant diligence question.

Asking $4.3M against $1.31M reported SDE on $4.0M revenue. 3.28x SDE, 32.7% margin. The multi-line description (e-commerce plus manufacturing plus distribution) combined with the relatively high margin warrants the buyer-side diligence focus on which revenue line is the actual earnings driver. Combined-category listings frequently mask category-specific risk profiles in the headline framing.

Asking $7.0M against $1.99M reported SDE on $19.97M revenue. 3.52x SDE, 10.0% margin. Tight margin consistent with DTC ecommerce at this revenue scale. The diligence priority for any DTC brand acquisition at this scale is customer acquisition channel concentration, the proportion of revenue from owned channels versus marketplace dependencies, and the recent trend in marketing efficiency metrics (CAC, blended ROAS, contribution margin by channel).

Asking $8.5M against $1.3M reported EBITDA on $3.0M revenue. 6.54x EBITDA, 43.3% margin. The highest valid-sample multiple in Issue 009 and a meaningful Healthcare cross-reference.

Deal Diligence #007 analyzed a Florida pain clinic at 2.50x SDE under a regulatory framework specific to Florida (Statute 458.3265 board-certified specialist ownership requirement, DEA Miami Field Division enforcement priority). This Texas listing at 6.54x EBITDA operates under a different state regulatory framework. Texas defines pain management clinics under Texas Occupations Code Chapter 168 with on-site physician requirements and DEA registration but with broader ownership criteria than Florida's specialist-restricted framework.

The headline multiple is not directly comparable to the DD #007 Florida listing for two reasons. First, the multiple basis differs (EBITDA versus SDE). EBITDA typically runs below SDE for clinical practices because EBITDA excludes the founder's reasonable compensation that flows to SDE. A 6.54x EBITDA may correspond to approximately 4.5x-5.5x SDE basis depending on normalized founder compensation. Second, the state regulatory framework differs materially, with Texas operating in a less aggressive enforcement environment than Florida's post-pill-mill regulatory infrastructure.

For a buyer considering the Texas listing, the diligence framework parallels DD #007 with state-specific adaptations: Texas Medical Board oversight of the practicing physician, Texas Pharmacy Board controlled substance prescribing review under Senate Bill 1340 requirements, the practice's Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) compliance history, and any DEA correspondence or audit activity. The Texas environment is less restrictive than Florida's, but the underlying clinical and controlled substance prescribing risks remain meaningful.

Asking $5.0M against $900K reported SDE on $6.0M revenue. 5.56x SDE, 15.0% margin. Sub-floor cash flow ($900K < $1.0M floor) places this listing in the sub-floor cohort rather than the valid SBA-range sample. The multi-unit Five Guys franchise pricing is consistent with established QSR multi-unit category norms (Issue 007 documented Jimmy John's East Coast multi-unit at 4.39x SDE; this listing's higher multiple reflects Five Guys' typical premium against Jimmy John's in franchise valuation comparables).

Advisory Practice Mission-Driven (99.6% margin): discussed in endurance section.

Telecom Reputation Management Coral Springs FL (54.9% margin): B2B services category with the elevated margin warranting the diligence framework documented in Deal Diligence #004 for the original telecom listing. The recurring pattern of high-margin telecom services listings continues to warrant cross-referencing rather than independent analysis.

The nine-week rolling mean of weekly medians stands at 4.21x and has held within a 0.08x band (4.20x to 4.28x) for six consecutive observations. This stability is itself a finding. The 90-day rolling median commitment from Issue 003 will be introduced formally in Issue 010, next week.

The Brooklyn medical practice at $3.0M (reduced price held through one missed week) will continue to be tracked. A subsequent transaction at this level, a second reduction, or continued persistence at $3.0M will each provide additional refinement to the publication's understanding of how practitioner-dependent Healthcare listings clear in the SBA-range market.

The three multi-week endurance leaders (Advisory TX, Surrogacy AZ, Premium Resale VA) will continue to be tracked for either transaction, price reduction, or continued persistence at unchanged levels.

The telecom services niche pattern across DD #004, Issue 007, and Issue 009 will be revisited if additional listings emerge in the same operational space. Three observations across separate weeks at adjacent specifications now constitutes a tracked pattern.

The Construction sub-segmentation framework remains targeted for formal introduction at approximately n=15 cumulative observations, which the publication is approaching but has not yet reached.

Healthcare sub-segmentation now stands at n=12 cumulative observations across Issues 004-009 with practitioner-dependent and systematized medians holding at 3.18x and 6.24x respectively (excluding the analyzed Med Spa outlier from DD #003). The Texas pain clinic at 6.54x EBITDA basis is noted in the cumulative observations with the appropriate cross-basis caveat documented in the anomaly section.

The five borderline listings this week (Lead Generation Marketplace, Medical Billing SaaS, Structural Metals Manufacturer, Luxury Flooring, Land Development Platform) represent the highest borderline count to date. Whether this reflects sample composition variance or a trend toward larger listings appearing in the broker monitoring used to assemble the weekly sample will be tracked.

The weekly sample reviewed in each issue is a representative selection of new and reappearing listings from broker monitoring, not a complete enumeration of all market activity. Statements about "sample" reflect the listings observed and analyzed; statements about "market" are not made from sample-level observations alone.

SDE refers to Seller's Discretionary Earnings. Most listings in this cash flow range are priced against SDE. The broker's stated metric is used. Where a broker discloses EBITDA but not SDE, EBITDA is substituted for the multiple calculation and labeled accordingly. Multiples are computed against broker-disclosed cash flow figures at listing time, presumed but not independently verified to reflect trailing twelve-month measurements.

Sample median is computed from US listings with disclosed financials at or above the $1.0M cash flow floor and disclosed asking price, with cash flow below the $2.5M ceiling for SBA-range buyer pool fit. Listings appearing in prior weekly samples are excluded from the median to avoid double-counting and are tracked in the listing-endurance tracker. Listings with internally contradictory financials are excluded as data-integrity exclusions.

Healthcare sub-segmentation distinguishes practitioner-dependent clinical practices from systematized operations based on whether earnings depend on a specific named professional. The framework was introduced at n=5 cumulative in Issue 006, expanded at n=8 in Issue 007, and now stands at n=12 in Issue 009.

Listing-endurance tracker records each listing's first observed appearance, subsequent reappearances, price changes across observations, and absence patterns. One-week absences are recorded as "status unconfirmed" rather than "removed," supported by Issue 008's Ed-Tech and Gas Stations cases (reappeared at unchanged prices) and Issue 009's Brooklyn medical practice case (reappeared at the reduced price established in Issue 007). Multi-week absences shift to "extended absence; treated provisionally as withdrawn or transacted pending external verification."

The EBITDA Report compiles public listing data. Not legal, financial, medical, tax, or investment advice. Independent verification and professional diligence are required before any acquisition decision.

Published Tuesdays. Deal Diligence published Sundays.