About JIG Labs
Deal analysis software for people buying small businesses.
The Short Version
Tools and guides that handle the financial modeling and deal evaluation most buyers build from scratch. Each tool produces a PDF you can hand to a lender or advisor. The guides explain the concepts behind the numbers.
The Problem This Exists to Solve
Over the next decade, more than $10 trillion worth of small businesses will change hands. Baby boomers own half of all privately held SMBs in America, and they're heading for the exits. These businesses employ 25 million people.
The market is not ready for this.
Seven out of ten small businesses never sell. Most owners walk away with nothing from their biggest asset. On the other side, only 1 in 15 prospective buyers ever completes a transaction. Years of searching, and they never find a business to buy.
The reasons vary, but the pattern is consistent: deals don't happen because one or both sides can't evaluate the opportunity in front of them. Owners don't know what their business is worth. Buyers can't structure an offer that works for both parties. Lenders see applications that don't make sense. Everyone walks away.
When a business doesn't sell, the owner doesn't get to fund their retirement. The employees lose their jobs or watch the company wind down. The buyer who would have grown it never gets the chance. This is a problem worth solving.
Why I Built This
Drezden Plotkin
Founder
I've spent five years in private equity doing direct sourcing and deal evaluation in the lower middle market, plus smaller deals as add-on acquisitions. Somewhere during my MBA, that experience became known, and people in the ETA world started reaching out. Before their search, during it, after they closed. The questions were usually the same: how do I actually evaluate this thing?
I first built a different tool (valuejig.com) and discovered I'd made something great for getting a searcher from step 4 to step 8. Useful, but not the real problem. The real problem was step 1. Everything available was either theoretical frameworks from search fund courses or scattered forum advice. Nothing clear, direct, and focused on what to actually do.
So I built that instead.
What's Here
Tools for earnings analysis, debt service coverage, working capital, and deal evaluation. Guides that cover the concepts behind the math: adjusted EBITDA, add-backs that survive diligence, SBA loan mechanics, working capital adjustments, and what to say when you get a seller on the phone.
More of both coming.
What This Isn't
JIG Labs doesn't list businesses or broker deals. It doesn't replace your CPA, your attorney, or your lender. The tools give you structure and math. The judgment is still yours.