If you've run the day-to-day at a small business for years, ownership can feel like something that happens to other people, people with capital, or connections, or a finance background you don't have. In practice, the SBA has a specific financing pathway built for exactly this situation, and the person best positioned to use it is usually the one already doing the work.

The core idea

An SBA 7(a) acquisition loan can finance the majority of a small business purchase, often 85–90%, based on the business's own cash flow, not your personal balance sheet. The remaining gap, the equity injection and any working capital, is where things usually stall for an employee-buyer. That gap is exactly what a seller note and a minority equity partner can close.

What the capital stack actually looks like

  1. SBA 7(a) loan covers the bulk of the purchase price, underwritten against the business's historical cash flow.
  2. A seller note, placed on full standby, meaning no principal or interest payments, for the entire SBA loan term (typically 10 years), can reduce how much new debt the business needs to carry and can count toward up to half of the required equity injection.
  3. Your own cash, even a modest amount, matters both financially and as a signal to the lender that you have skin in the game.
  4. A minority equity partner, like New Wave Capital, can fill whatever gap remains between the required injection and what you and the seller note can cover.

What actually changes about your job

Day-to-day, less than people expect. You're likely already handling the technical and customer-facing work. What's new is the business side the owner used to carry alone: pricing decisions, vendor relationships, payroll, and the occasional hard call about a customer or a hire. This is real, and it's worth being honest with yourself about, which is why a short shadowing period with the outgoing owner before closing is worth insisting on.

How to actually start the conversation

Most of these deals start awkwardly, because employees worry that raising the idea signals they're job-hunting, and owners worry that raising it signals the business is for sale. A neutral third party, an advisor who can frame it as one option among several, often makes the first conversation easier for both sides.