How 1 SBA Loan Brought Down 2 Businesses

Regular listeners of Acquiring Minds have heard a number of difficult stories of failed SBA loan acquired businesses and the personal bankruptcies that ensue. Well, today's story feels doubly tragic as two businesses were ultimately brought down. Edgar Galindo and his partner Matthias bought a landscaping business in Austin with an SBA loan.

Just six months later, a another highly complementary acquisition opportunity in Dallas came across their desks. They jumped at it. Well, as you'll hear, the situation in Dallas declined quickly. Undisclosed liabilities, employees stealing customers to launch a competitor, and legal action.

The business became unviable, which meant that its debt service shifted over to the Austin business, which was now carrying effectively two high leverage SBA loans. That is one too many and the partners have just decided to shut the Austin business down as well. Edgar tells the entire painful story.

Listen for his transparency on personal bankruptcy. He lays out the dollars and cents of exactly how it affects his assets today and what it will mean for the next seven years. We thank Edgar for the transparency there and in sharing the whole story.

These cautionary tales reverberate around the ETA ecosystem, helping business buyers avoid pitfalls and reminding us all of the grave downsides. They are so valuable and so generously shared by their protagonists. Here is Edgar Galindo, co owner of Structure Landscapes.

Welcome to Acquiring Minds, a podcast about buying businesses. My name is Will Smith. Acquiring an existing business is an awesome opportunity for many entrepreneurs and on this podcast I talk to the people who do it.

The team at Pioneer Capital Advisory has started offering peripassu debt for SBA business buyers. That means they can help unlock up to $3 million of conventional debt on top of the $5 million limit of SBA 7 loans so Pioneer can structure larger, more complex acquisitions. Listen to our story with Anika John for one of their clients who did just that, buying a $10 million business.

As a first time self funded searcher, the Pioneer team has closed more than 100 SBA loans, averaging timelines well below industry standards. Founder and owner Matthias Smith and COO Valerie Stash bring over two decades of SBA lending experience. Matthias and Valerie have a full bench of analysts and associates who work your deals with them.

A true deal team. Not just a single point of contact. Visit pioneercap.com or click the link in the notes. Edgar Galindo welcome to Acquiring Minds.

Thank you, thank you for having me. Super excited to be here Edgar.

We met at UT's ETA event in Austin in February and I have since been eager to share your journey with the audience. And that was even before some of the dramatic events that have happened since. We have a lot of story, a lot of themes to cover today.

Let's get right into it. Some background on you to start, please, Edgar.