# Sterling Quant

> Broker CIM and 1120-S tax returns into a 4-tab Excel model for search fund and ETA buyers: tax vs. CIM check, adjusted EBITDA, NWC peg, SBA 1.25x DSCR. Tab 1 free in 2 hours.

Sterling Quant is a done-for-you deal modeling service for people buying a small business in the United States: search fund operators, self-funded searchers and ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition) buyers looking at companies priced around $5M–$25M. You send the broker's CIM and the seller's tax returns; you get back one Excel file with 4 tabs, with every number linked to the PDF page it came from.

## Who it is for
- Solo and self-funded searchers evaluating many CIMs before an LOI
- ETA operators financing with an SBA 7(a) loan
- Anyone who needs to check a broker's numbers against the seller's Form 1120-S

## What you get (one .xlsx per deal)
- Tab 1: Tax Return vs. CIM Reconciliation. The CIM compared line by line with Form 1120-S; every gap flagged. Free on every deal, delivered within 2 hours.
- Tab 2: Adjusted EBITDA Waterfall. Bridge from taxable income to adjusted EBITDA, each add-back sourced and labeled.
- Tab 3: Net Working Capital. Trailing working capital from Schedule L and a suggested peg for the LOI.
- Tab 4: SBA DSCR Check. Debt service coverage against the SBA 1.25x minimum (SOP 50 10 8.1), with editable price, seller note, rate and a 20% earnings-drop test.

## Pricing
- Tab 1 reconciliation: free, within 2 hours, on every deal.
- Full 4-tab model: $250 per deal. No subscription.
- If it doesn't save you time, you don't pay.

## Key facts
- About 15 hours of manual spreadsheet work saved per deal.
- 100% of numbers linked to their source page (click-to-source citations).
- A person reviews every number the system is unsure about.
- Accepts scanned PDFs and phone photos: CIMs, Form 1120-S, Schedule L, Form 1125-A, QuickBooks P&Ls.
- Not a quality of earnings (QoE) report, audit, or tax, legal or accounting advice.

## How it differs from ChatGPT or Claude
General chat tools can misread scanned tables and return a chat reply rather than a working model. Sterling Quant returns a 4-tab Excel file with live formulas and the same layout every time, reconciles the tax return against the CIM on every deal, builds in SBA rules, and has a person check flagged numbers.

## Privacy
- Mutual NDA accepted on upload.
- Files stored encrypted (AES-256) in a private, access-controlled bucket; never shared or sold, never used to train AI.
- Deleted automatically after 30 days, or the same day on request.

## FAQ
### How is this different from ChatGPT or Claude?
Chat tools can read a CIM and even build a spreadsheet, but they can misread scanned tables and don't link each number back to its page by default, so you still check everything. We send a checked Excel file where every number links back to its page, and a person reviews anything uncertain.

### How much time does it save?
Searchers tell us one scanned deal packet takes about 15 hours to type into Excel and check. With us you spend about 15 minutes reviewing a finished model. Tab 1 comes back in 2 hours, weekends included.

### What do I get for free?
Tab 1, the seller's tax return compared with the broker's CIM line by line, within 2 hours, plus a 60-second video of what doesn't match. It's free on every deal, not just the first.

### What if it doesn't save me time?
Then you don't pay. You only pay $250 if you decide to unlock the full model after seeing Tab 1.

### What should I send?
The CIM, the seller's tax returns (Form 1120-S, ideally 3 years) and any QuickBooks P&L or balance sheet. Scans and phone photos are fine. Send them as you got them.

### How does the SBA check work?
Tab 4 works out the yearly loan payment and checks that cash flow covers it at least 1.25 times, the SBA's minimum. You can change the price, seller note and rate yourself. Your lender makes the final call; this tells you if it's worth asking.

### Who sees my documents?
Only the people building your model, under the NDA you accept when you upload. Files are encrypted, never shared or sold, never used to train AI, and deleted after 30 days, or the same day if you ask.

### Can I share the model with my lender and investors?
Yes. Once unlocked it's a normal Excel file and it's yours. The sources go with it, so anyone can check where a number came from.

### My seller files a 1065 or 1120, not an 1120-S. Can you help?
Send it anyway and mention the form in the deal name. We'll tell you before we start whether we can match it the same way. Tab 1 stays free either way.

### Is this a quality of earnings (QoE) report?
No. It's not a QoE, an audit, or tax, legal or accounting advice. It gets the seller's numbers into a model fast, so you know which deals are worth paying for a QoE.

## Links
- [Home](https://www.sterlingquant.com/): overview, sample package and pricing
- [Broker CIM to Excel](https://www.sterlingquant.com/cim-to-excel): what you send, the 4 tabs you get back, turnaround and price
- [Send a deal packet](https://www.sterlingquant.com/apply): upload a CIM and tax returns for a free Tab 1
- [Sample deal package (.zip)](https://www.sterlingquant.com/sample/Ridgeline_Sample_Deal_Package.zip): the 4-tab model plus the fictional source documents it was built from
- [Mutual NDA](https://www.sterlingquant.com/nda)

## Free resources
- [SBA loan DSCR calculator](https://www.sterlingquant.com/sba-dscr-calculator): debt service coverage vs. the SBA 1.25x minimum, a 20% stress test and the highest price a deal can carry
- [SBA business acquisition loan calculator](https://www.sterlingquant.com/sba-acquisition-loan-calculator): highest price you can finance from your cash and the business's EBITDA under SOP 50 10 8.1 (10% injection, 1.25x DSCR, $5M cap)
- [The seller's P&L doesn't match the tax return](https://www.sterlingquant.com/guides/pl-vs-tax-return-mismatch): common causes ranked by severity, normal variance and which number an SBA lender uses
- [SBA seller note rules under SOP 50 10 8.1](https://www.sterlingquant.com/guides/sba-seller-note-rules): full standby, the 5% equity cap and three worked capital stacks
- [How to build an SBA deal model in Excel](https://www.sterlingquant.com/guides/sba-deal-model-in-excel): the four tabs and every formula, with a free prefilled template (https://www.sterlingquant.com/templates/SBA_Deal_Model_Template.xlsx)
- [ChatGPT and Claude for CIM analysis](https://www.sterlingquant.com/guides/chatgpt-claude-for-cim-analysis): what AI does well and badly on a CIM, prompts, NDA and data settings, comparison with Excel and a QoE
- [Searcher time-saved calculator](https://www.sterlingquant.com/time-saved-calculator): hours, weekends and dollars spent hand-modeling deal packets
- [How to reconcile a broker CIM with the seller's 1120-S](https://www.sterlingquant.com/guides/cim-vs-tax-return): line-by-line method, variance thresholds and broker questions
- [Search fund & ETA glossary](https://www.sterlingquant.com/glossary): CIM, LOI, SDE, adjusted EBITDA, DSCR, NWC peg, SBA 7(a), seller note, QoE and more