Where the Numbers
Come From

Every "real deal" metric on BizBite — median loan amount, charge-off rate, deal momentum, lender activity, recent comparable sales — comes from the SBA 7(a) FOIA dataset published by the U.S. Small Business Administration at data.sba.gov. This is the most reliable proxy for actual small-business acquisition activity in the United States.

What we filter: we restrict to change-of-ownership loans only — transactions where an existing business changed hands — and exclude startups, expansions, refinancing, and working-capital lines. This is the population that matches what most BizBite users are trying to buy.

Pipeline: a GitHub Action runs scripts/sba/sync.sh on a schedule. It checks the CKAN API for the dataset's last_modified timestamp, downloads the CSV when there's new data, and runs a Python ETL that aggregates by 6-digit NAICS code, computes percentiles, time series, momentum, and lender rankings, and writes a fresh static dataset that ships with the next deploy.

Implied deal size assumes an 85% loan-to-purchase ratio — a common SBA change-of-ownership structure where the buyer puts 10% down and the seller carries 5% in seller financing or a holdback. Actual structures vary; treat implied deal as a directional estimate, not a quote.

Charge-off rate is shown only when at least 10 loans in a category have resolved (paid in full or charged off). Categories with thinner samples show a dash — small samples produce noisy default estimates and we won't put a number on it just because we have one.

The 340 business types in the directory — revenue ranges, profit margins, acquisition multiples, startup costs, pros, cons, operating notes — are researched and verified, not scraped. Each entry is built from a combination of IRS Statistics of Income data, BLS industry surveys, FDD Item 19 disclosures (for franchise-adjacent categories), industry trade associations, public broker listings, and primary research with operators.

Daily research loop: a daily automated process verifies a rotating subset of businesses against fresh sources, and adds new niches that aren't yet in the directory. Every change is committed to a public Git history so you can see exactly when and how a number changed.

What "average" means: Avg revenue and profit margin reflect median performance for an established business in the category — not top quartile, not strugglers. Acquisition multiples reflect typical broker asking ranges for healthy deals; actual closes vary based on geography, recurring revenue mix, and seller financing.

Caveat: directory data is benchmarks, not appraisals. A real acquisition target needs trailing financials, a quality of earnings review, and a working-capital adjustment. We give you the market context — your accountant gives you the deal.

The Acquisition Score on every business page is a single composite number meant to answer: how attractive is this category as an SBA-financed acquisition right now? It's deterministic and transparent — no machine learning, no opaque weights.

The formula sums five components:

• Margin (0–30) — profit margin scaled linearly. 45%+ margin earns full 30 points.
• Multiple (0–25) — acquisition multiple inverted. ≤2.5× revenue earns 25, ≥5.5× earns zero.
• Market depth (0–20) — recent SBA deal count. 150+ deals in last 24 months earns full 20.
• Risk (0–15) — SBA charge-off rate inverted. 0% earns 15, 10%+ earns zero.
• Momentum (0–10) — 12-month change in deal volume. +20% growth earns 10, neutral earns 5.

Categories without SBA mappings receive conservative midpoint values for the SBA-derived components (depth: 8, risk: 8, momentum: 5). The score is not a buy/don't-buy signal. A score of 45 in a category you understand cold beats a 90 in a category you don't.

The financing calculator on every business page uses standard SBA 7(a) amortization (monthly compounding) at a default 10% equity injection — the SBA minimum for change-of-ownership transactions. Default rate and term are pulled from the median of recent SBA loans in the same NAICS code; you can override either with the slider.

Estimate excludes: owner compensation, capex, working capital draws, taxes, the SBA guarantee fee, packaging fees, and any seller financing or earnouts. Margin assumes the average operating profit at full revenue. A real lender pre-qualification will incorporate your credit, equity sources, and trailing twelve months of the target's financials.

Honest about the gaps:

• Active listing prices. We don't yet aggregate live BizBuySell or BizQuest comps. SBA data shows what closed, not what's currently on the market.
• Geographic granularity. Coverage is U.S.-only. Canadian (Stats Canada) and global expansion is on the roadmap.
• Census market sizing. Number of establishments by NAICS (US Census County Business Patterns) is a planned enrichment — not currently shown per business.
• BLS wage context. Region-specific staffing cost data isn't baked into the calculator yet.
• FDD unit economics. Item 19 financial performance representations for franchise categories aren't yet integrated.
• Real-time updates. SBA data refreshes quarterly when the agency publishes a new FOIA snapshot. Mid-quarter, you're looking at the most recent quarterly cut.

If a number in the directory looks wrong to you and you have a primary source, we want to know. The repo is public; corrections become commits.

BizBite doesn't take money from any of the businesses, brokers, or franchises listed in the directory — entries can't be bought. Affiliate links to BizBuySell, Flippa, and SBA lender directories are clearly disclosed and don't affect rankings.

We don't collect personal data beyond newsletter email (handled by a hosted provider) and aggregated analytics (Vercel Analytics, no PII). No tracking pixels for retargeting, no data sales.