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Tools / Buying a business

Calculation tool · Screen a proposed purchase

Small Business Deal Sizer.

Put the asking price, borrowing, cash needed, and your income target into one picture. See where the numbers hold up—and where they need another look.

Buy Deal Sizer — $5 ↗

One-time purchase · Offline browser application + opening guide

Personal or one-organization use. Team and paid client work included; share completed work. Reusable product distribution requires separate permission. Read the product license

Compare the base case with the downside
Harbor Pet Supply: fictional figures checked against the Deal Sizer calculation.
What to bring
A proposed price, earnings, available cash, borrowing terms and your income and cushion targets. Keep unverified figures marked as assumptions.
What you keep
Three earnings scenarios, cash and funding checks, and a copyable deal memo.
Keeping & returning
Copy the memo into a document before closing. This calculator does not retain session entries; its memo is not an editable backup.
Reading, related tools & help

Read the guide

Keep claims, evidence, and questions separate.

Keep unverified inputs visible before relying on a screening result.

Choose related work

Find outside help

Find relevant people & guidance

Prepare to discuss a specific opportunity with appropriate advisers.

When this helps.

You have a particular business in mind and some numbers to examine. Before spending more time on an offer, explore whether the proposed borrowing, cash contribution, and earnings leave room for your income and a working cushion.

Use your best available figures and keep unverified seller claims marked as assumptions. Revisit the scenario when better information arrives.

Bring the numbers you want to test.

  • Asking price and annual owner cash flow, often called seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE).
  • Cash available, down payment, closing costs, and a working capital reserve.
  • Bank loan and seller note amounts, interest rates, and repayment terms.
  • Your annual income target, monthly cushion, and debt coverage target.
  • Weaker and stronger earnings assumptions to compare with the base case.

What you receive.

  • The Small Business Deal Sizer HTML application and a plain-English quick-start guide.
  • Debt-payment calculations and cash-to-close totals, with funding gaps and cash shortfalls called out.
  • Downside, base, and upside scenarios showing cash flow after debt, your income target, and a cushion.
  • Debt coverage and buyer-margin screens, with explanations of the pressures in your scenario.
  • Suggested changes to explore and a copyable deal memo containing your inputs and results.

Open it and keep your memo.

Extract the ZIP and open Small-Business-Deal-Sizer.html in your desktop browser. It works offline without Excel, installation, or a product account. Use Load example to see how it works, then replace the example with your own figures.

This calculator does not save your entries between sessions. Before closing or reloading, use Copy deal memo and paste it into a document you keep. If copying is unavailable, choose Show memo text and select the text yourself. The memo records the inputs and results; it is not an importable application backup.

A screen for your next questions.

Results depend on the assumptions you enter. The scores are the tool’s screening rules, not a lender’s decision or a verified valuation. Review the underlying figures and transaction terms with your advisers before relying on them.

Deal Sizer / Worked example

One deal, three earnings cases.

See why a base case can leave room while weaker earnings miss the same income-and-cushion target.

01 / The inputs

Begin with the asking price and the cash.

The fictional asking price is $240,000. The proposed purchase funding is $36,000 down, $180,000 bank debt and a $24,000 seller note.

Bank loan
$180,000 · 7% · 10 years
Seller note
$24,000 · 5% · 4 years
Down + closing + working capital
$36,000 + $6,000 + $12,000
Cash needed / available
$54,000 / $60,000
Annual earnings / income target
$110,000 / $48,000
Monthly cushion / DSCR target
$1,000 / 1.50×
Purchase funding and cash needed are different checks. Closing costs and working capital add to the cash requirement without changing the purchase price.

Rounded fictional figures from the standalone calculator. No lender decision or forecast is implied.

Keep your open draft?

Continuing will discard your unsaved changes. You can return to the draft and save or download it first.

Inside a real tool

The Cash Timing Planner

A screenshot from the working planner, using fictional figures. This example starts with $2,000, reaches a low of $300, and ends the eight weeks at $900.

Swipe across the preview to read the details.

Eight-week cash balance chart from October 1 to November 25, 2026. The lowest balance is $300; the expected end balance is $900. The dotted line marks the example's chosen $500 cash level.

The full tool lets you enter receipts and payments, try a change, and keep an editable copy.