Why bands exist
A Main Street SDE shop and a lower-middle-market EBITDA supplier do not share buyers, diligence, or financing. BizBuySell’s manufacturing median on the 2021–2025 sold set was 2.75x SDE (Source: BizBuySell). That print lives in the SDE room. EBITDA multiples by size live in the other room. SDE versus EBITDA is the fork.
Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 manufacturing establishments (Source: Census CBP). Employment size is not the earnings band. A 15-person shop with real EBITDA still has to pick the right table.
Name the earnings base and the dollar bucket before anyone writes a multiple. “About 5x” without a band is a shrug. A second chair already in the number belongs in adjusted EBITDA. An owner who is the estimator belongs in SDE until the replacement wage is real. Census employment size will not make that choice for you.
How it works still wants the recast first. The valuation pillar owns the tables. SDE versus EBITDA is the fork. This page owns the bucket noun. Jason Taken is a business broker. A broker opinion names a cell. An appraisal is a different report.
What sits under the band?
Normalized earnings — the recast that survived add-backs. A fake add-back can shove a file into the wrong room. GF Data’s larger-EV series is a different conversation again (Source: GF Data). Do not drop an $100–250M print onto a $268k SDE shop.
A second chair already in the number belongs in adjusted EBITDA. An owner who is the estimator belongs in SDE until the replacement wage is real. Census employment size will not make that choice. GF Data’s larger-EV series is a different conversation. Do not drop an 100 to 250 million print onto a 268 thousand SDE shop. The BizBuySell 2.75x median lives in the SDE room. EBITDA-multiples-by-size lives in the other room. “About 5x” without a band is a shrug.
How it works still wants the recast first. FAQ owns the questions. The valuation pillar owns the tables. Jason Taken is a business broker.
How a CIM should name the band
Name the earnings base and the dollar bucket before anyone writes a multiple. “About 5x” without a band is a shrug.
| Band language | Typical base | Not |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-$1M SDE | Seller discretionary earnings | EBITDA cells |
| $1–3M / $3–10M EBITDA | Adjusted EBITDA | BizBuySell 2.75x |
| $10M+ EBITDA | Adjusted EBITDA | A Main Street print |
Blending a sub-1 million SDE job shop with a 10 million EBITDA platform is how a CIM lies. The buyer sets differ. The diligence differs. The financing differs. GF Data’s larger-EV series, including prints such as 7.2x average and 5.9x under 25 million EV, is a different conversation again. Do not drop an 100 to 250 million print onto a 268 thousand SDE shop. The BizBuySell 2.75x median lives in the SDE room. EBITDA-multiples-by-size lives in the other room.
Normalized earnings decide which bucket you actually sit in. A fake add-back can shove a file across a line. How it works still wants the recast before anyone writes “about 5x.” FAQ owns the questions. The glossary hands you to the valuation pillar, then to a confidential intro call. Jason Taken is a business broker. A broker opinion names a cell. An appraisal is a different report.
If the recast sits 3 percent under a published band line, do not round up to steal the higher table. Name the actual earnings and the actual base. Buyers notice the rounding. Lenders notice it faster.
A file that clears on SDE this year and on EBITDA next year because someone added a second chair is still this year’s band until the chair is hired and the wage is in the recast. Do not market the future band. Market the current earnings base. The valuation pillar owns the tables. This page owns the bucket. Jason Taken will not round you into the higher room.
Name the band in the first sentence of the CIM valuation section so no one treats the file as sitting in two rooms.
What this page will not do
It will not quote a blended national multiple. Jason Taken is a business broker. The glossary sends you to the owner. After the noun is straight, book a confidential intro call.