Frequently, when people hear the words “SBA loan,” they picture paperwork, delays, and a process that feels better suited to another decade than today’s business environment.
It’s a perception that has lingered for years. For some advisors, it’s enough to steer clients toward conventional financing before even exploring what SBA lending can offer.
But as Marie Eskew, Senior Vice President at Live Oak Bank, explained during a recent XPX Northern California event, that perception no longer reflects reality.
Modern SBA lending has evolved significantly. Technology has streamlined the process, lending structures have become more flexible, and new regulations have expanded what’s possible for buyers pursuing acquisitions. While SBA financing won’t be the right fit for every transaction, it’s increasingly becoming a strategic option that advisors and business owners should understand.
One theme became clear: sometimes the biggest obstacle isn’t the financing itself. It’s the assumptions we keep making about it.
The Reputation Hasn’t Kept Pace With Reality
Marie opened her presentation with a story about her father, a commercial contractor who would cringe whenever a client mentioned an SBA loan. To him, it meant bureaucracy, paperwork, and endless delays.
Many professionals around the room could relate.
That reputation wasn’t entirely undeserved. Years ago, SBA transactions often involved manual processes, physical paperwork, and multiple layers of approval that slowed deals considerably.
Today, however, the landscape looks very different.
Cloud-based technology now allows lenders, underwriters, legal teams, and credit specialists to work on the same transaction simultaneously, rather than passing files from one department to another. For experienced SBA lenders, this can significantly reduce processing times and create a much smoother experience for everyone involved.
The lesson isn’t that every SBA loan is now fast.
Rather, it’s that advisors shouldn’t dismiss the option based on experiences from ten or twenty years ago. Like many areas of business, the systems behind the scenes have changed.
Financing Is Only Part of the Equation
One of the many interesting discussions during the session wasn’t about lending at all.
It was about people.
For several years, entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) attracted a wave of first-time buyers, many of whom had impressive academic credentials and strong investor backing. On paper, they often looked like ideal candidates.
In practice, lenders have learned that credentials alone don’t build successful businesses.
As Marie explained, many banks are placing greater emphasis on operational experience. Buyers who understand the realities of running a business, managing employees, serving customers, and making decisions under pressure often represent a lower risk than someone with an outstanding résumé but little hands-on experience.
It’s an important reminder for everyone involved in succession planning.
Buying a business isn’t simply a financial transaction. Once the papers are signed, someone still has to lead the team, make payroll, retain customers, and solve problems that weren’t uncovered during due diligence.
Experience doesn’t eliminate risk, but it often improves a buyer’s ability to navigate it.
Bigger Opportunities Than Many People Realize
Another misconception is that SBA financing only applies to smaller transactions.
Marie shared several examples of how today’s lending structures can support substantially larger acquisitions than many advisors expect.
Recent regulatory changes have expanded the amount of government-backed financing available for qualifying transactions. Creative lending structures can also help buyers finance deals that would previously have required significantly more upfront capital.
The technical details matter to lenders and deal teams, but the bigger takeaway is much simpler.
Business owners considering an acquisition may have more financing options than they realize.
Likewise, advisors who understand these evolving structures can often help clients overcome obstacles that once seemed insurmountable.
Sometimes the deal doesn’t fall apart because the opportunity isn’t good enough.
It falls apart because nobody explored all the available financing options.
Every Industry Isn’t the Same. Lending Shouldn’t Be Either.
One point that resonated throughout Marie’s presentation was the importance of specialization.
A manufacturing business, an accounting practice, a childcare center, and a technology company all operate differently. They face different risks, different regulations, and different challenges.
Yet many lending institutions still evaluate them through largely standardized processes.
Increasingly, specialist lenders are moving away from that approach by building industry-focused teams that understand the businesses they’re financing.
That expertise helps lenders ask better questions and identify issues earlier, whether that’s customer concentration, licensing requirements, lease terms, or key employee dependencies.
It’s a principle that extends well beyond banking.
Whether you’re building a leadership team, preparing for an exit, or advising clients through a transaction, specialists often see risks and opportunities that generalists simply can’t.
Financing Should Support the Business, Not Strain It
One of the strongest messages from the session wasn’t about qualifying for a loan.
It was about what happens after closing.
The best financing structure isn’t necessarily the one that provides the most capital. It’s the one that leaves the business in a position to succeed.
If debt repayments leave little room to invest in people, technology, marketing, or working capital, today’s successful acquisition can quickly become tomorrow’s operational headache.
That perspective shifts financing from being a transactional decision to a strategic one.
The conversation moves from “How do we get this deal done?” to “How do we give this business the best chance of thriving after the deal closes?”
For business owners, that’s a subtle but important difference.
Better Outcomes Start With Better Conversations
One of the strengths of the XPX community is that it brings together professionals from different disciplines to explore the challenges business owners face throughout the lifecycle of their companies.
No single advisor has every answer.
The most valuable conversations often happen when legal, financial, tax, lending, marketing, and operational perspectives are brought together early enough to influence the outcome, rather than simply reacting to it.
That’s exactly what sessions like this aim to do.
Whether you’re preparing to acquire a business, planning your eventual exit, or advising clients through complex transactions, staying informed about the evolving financing landscape can open doors that might otherwise remain closed.
Sometimes the biggest competitive advantage isn’t discovering something brand new. It’s realizing that what you thought you knew has changed.
About this article
This article was written by Jaco Grobbelaar, CEO of BroadVision Marketing and a member of the XPX Northern California Marketing Committee, in collaboration with Marie Eskew, Senior Vice President at Live Oak Bank. It captures key insights from Marie’s presentation at a recent XPX Northern California event and has been adapted for a broader audience of business owners and advisors.
