About
StarForge Advisors
An open resource library for self-funded searchers and ETA acquirers — the people who put their own equity, sweat, and reputation at risk to buy a small business and run it.
Why this exists
Most M&A content for sub-$50M-EV deals sits behind paywalls, requires a login, or is buried inside a sales process. Self-funded searchers can't afford that friction. Decisions get made anyway — often with thin information.
StarForge publishes the playbooks, calculators, templates, and current-data feeds that searchers should be able to find without trading an email address.
What's here
- Insights — long-form analyses of how SBA underwriting, deal structures, and diligence actually work in lower-middle-market transactions.
- SBA & ETA news — a daily-updated feed of news that matters to acquirers, filtered for self-funded relevance.
- Current SBA rates — the WSJ Prime base rate plus the SBA-allowed maximum 7(a) spreads, computed daily and shown with a transparent methodology.
- Free tools — working calculators for SBA 7(a) loan payments, DSCR / global cash flow, and working-capital pegs.
- Templates — LOI starter docs (asset purchase, stock purchase, partner buyout, with seller financing, with earn-out) and a QoE scope checklist. All downloadable, all editable.
Editorial principles
- No paywalls, no logins, no email walls. Anything published here is readable without an account.
- Show your work. Calculators have methodology footnotes. Rate tables have source citations. Templates have plain-English explainers of when to use them.
- No third-party tracking. Self-hosted fonts. No ad networks, no behavioral cookies, no retargeting pixels.
- SBA SOPs change. When rules update, we re-verify and republish. Methodology pages list the SOP version we're tracking against.
What this site is not
- Not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice. Templates and calculators are starting points; engage qualified professionals before acting on any specific deal.
- Not a registered investment adviser or a broker-dealer.
- Not a deal-listing platform or a buyer-seller marketplace.
- Not a search-fund accelerator. Our specialty is self-funded acquirers; "search funds" with committee structures and cap-table investors operate under different constraints we don't focus on.
Updates
New insights, tools, and templates are published as they're written and verified. The RSS feed covers all long-form content.
Start with the free tools and templates, or browse the insights archive.