v.2026.04 · Open · Ungated · Rebuilt for the modern acquirer

The library, the toolkit, and the playbook
for buying and operating small businesses.

Free guides. Working calculators. Honest analysis of the lenders, brokers, and providers you'll work with. No login walls, no email gates on educational content, and no soft-pedaling of the parts that actually matter.

Browse the guides → Use the tools
12 Cornerstone guides
shipping in v1
7 Calculators on
the roadmap
0 Login walls
or paywalls

Coverage

Three clusters, mapped to the deal you're actually doing.

Pick where you are. Each cluster has cornerstone guides plus the supporting articles and tools that hang off them.

01

Search & Sourcing

Build a thesis. Evaluate brokers. Read CIMs critically. Find proprietary deals without burning out.

Browse cluster →
02

Diligence & Financing

Quality of earnings, working capital, SBA mechanics, LOIs. The middle of the deal where buyers lose money.

Browse cluster →
03

Operate & Grow

The first 90 days, hiring a #2, 13-week cash forecasts, add-on acquisitions, exit prep.

Browse cluster →

Cornerstones

Guides built to be the canonical answer.

All guides →
Cornerstone

SBA 7(a) for Business Acquisitions: The Practical Guide

Everything a self-funded buyer needs to know about using SBA 7(a) financing to acquire a business — equity injection, working capital, partner-buyout exception, and the lender questions that actually matter.

Tools

Calculators that handle the actual edge cases.

All tools →

SBA 7(a) Loan Calculator

Monthly payments, amortization, year-by-year principal vs interest. Built for acquisition loans.

Live

Working Capital Peg Estimator

Defensible peg from historical financials. Seasonal adjustments included.

Coming soon

QoE ROI Estimator

When does a $20–50K Quality of Earnings engagement pay for itself? Run the math.

Coming soon

About

Built for the community. Free, forever.

Search-fund buyers have Stanford. Funded searchers have Searchfunder. The self-funded acquirer, ETA, and SMB operator community has a thousand podcast episodes, a dozen Twitter threads, scattered courses, and no canonical reference. StarForge Advisors aims to become that reference: open, current, primary-source, and useful at 11 p.m. when you're staring at a Schedule of Adjustments.

Every guide and every tool stays free. No paywalls. No login walls. No paid coaching. No consulting tier. The project is sustained through clearly disclosed brand sponsorships, partnerships, and advertising — never through gating the education itself.

More about StarForge