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Mainferret · Succession-Gap Report

Child Care Services · Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN metro

Generated 2026-07-02 · Source: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA loan-level dataset (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-03-31 · Scorer: heuristic v0 · Owner: Mike German

The public SBA loan record shows 273 child care providers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN metro that took a 7(a) or 504 loan since 1991, financed with $217.6M of SBA-backed capital. 261 have no distress on record (no charge-off, liquidation, or delinquency). Of those, 105 (40%) took their first SBA loan 15+ years ago, which puts their owners plausibly at or past retirement age. Our v0 scorer flags 40 (15%) as sell-readiness prospects, meaning long owner tenure plus SBA debt retired or nearly retired, with no franchise resale channel. None of these businesses are listed for sale anywhere. That is the succession gap.

273
SBA-financed businesses in segment
105
succession-age (15+ yrs since first loan)
40
sell-readiness prospects (score ≥ 90)
$217.6M
SBA capital deployed into segment

Market stats

MetricValue
SBA-financed businesses in segment (FY1991-present)273
… with no distress on record261
… with distress on record (excluded from targets)12
Total SBA capital into segment$217.6M
Median years since first SBA loan (survivors)12.7
Succession-age businesses (15+ yrs)105 (40%)
Sell-readiness prospects (score ≥ 90)40 (15%)

When were they first financed?

First SBA loanBusinesses
1990-19948
1995-199920
2000-200413
2005-200951
2010-201446
2015-201963
2020-202442
2025-202918

Top 20 targets (anonymized)

Real businesses from the record, ranked by sell-readiness score. Names, addresses, and lender details are withheld in this public sample. The full identified list is delivered in a concierge engagement.

#ProfileScoreSignals
1Child care provider, founded ~2006, ~44 jobs (lender-reported), Woodbury, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2014)20 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)2 SBA loans, $1,191,000 total
2Child care provider, founded ~2007, ~30 jobs (lender-reported), Little Canada, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2016)18 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$672,000 SBA-financed
3Child care provider, founded ~2003, ~18 jobs (lender-reported), Anoka, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2024)22 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$650,000 SBA-financed
4Child care provider, founded ~2005, ~20 jobs (lender-reported), Burnsville, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2017)21 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$638,000 SBA-financed
5Child care provider, founded ~2007, ~16 jobs (lender-reported), White Bear Lake, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2025)18 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$638,000 SBA-financed
6Child care provider, founded ~2006, ~11 jobs (lender-reported), Hugo, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2013)20 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$544,000 SBA-financed
7Child care provider, founded ~2006, ~37 jobs (lender-reported), Burnsville, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2021)20 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$460,000 SBA-financed
8Child care provider, founded ~2006, ~14 jobs (lender-reported), Shakopee, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2023)20 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$385,000 SBA-financed
9Child care provider, founded ~2001, ~26 jobs (lender-reported), Corcoran, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2005)25 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$379,000 SBA-financed
10Child care provider, founded ~2002, ~5 jobs (lender-reported), North St. Paul, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2007)24 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$365,700 SBA-financed
11Child care provider, founded ~2002, ~13 jobs (lender-reported), St Francis, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2017)24 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$286,000 SBA-financed
12Child care provider, founded ~2010, ~20 jobs (lender-reported), Chaska, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2016)16 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)2 SBA loans, $284,100 total
13Child care provider, founded ~2002, ~10 jobs (lender-reported), Maple Grove, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2010)24 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$267,000 SBA-financed
14Child care provider, founded ~2004, ~7 jobs (lender-reported), St. Paul, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2008)21 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$260,000 SBA-financed
15Child care provider, founded ~2005, ~16 jobs (lender-reported), Rosemount, MN100SBA debt fully repaid (2018)21 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$205,000 SBA-financed
16Child care provider, founded ~1999, size n/a, Rosemount, MN98SBA debt fully repaid (2005)27 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$230,000 SBA-financed
17Child care provider, founded ~2003, ~55 jobs (lender-reported), Woodbury, MN97SBA debt fully repaid (2018)23 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)3 SBA loans, $1,898,000 total
18Child care provider, founded ~2001, ~62 jobs (lender-reported), Vadnais Heights, MN97SBA debt fully repaid (2016)24 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)3 SBA loans, $1,467,000 total
19Child care provider, founded ~2012, ~35 jobs (lender-reported), Chanhassen, MN97SBA debt fully repaid (2016)14 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$118,400 SBA-financed
20Child care provider, founded ~2008, ~25 jobs (lender-reported), Brooklyn Park, MN95SBA debt fully repaid (2016)17 yrs since first SBA loanindependent (non-franchise)$1,273,000 SBA-financed

Methodology (v0, honest edition)

Source. SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA loan-level dataset (data.sba.gov), files as of 2026-03-31: the complete public loan-level record of both SBA flagship programs, FY1991-present. Every number in this report is computed directly from that record. Nothing is scraped, purchased, or modeled from third-party data.

Entity resolution (estimated). The FOIA record has no business ID. Loans are rolled up to a business by normalized borrower name + state + ZIP. Name changes, relocations, and multi-entity owners will split or merge some businesses.

Sell-readiness score (heuristic, 0-100). A weighted blend of signals computable from the loan record. It estimates likelihood the owner is approaching an exit. It does not read minds.

SignalWeightRationaleFailure mode
Owner tenure35Years since first SBA loan. Owners are typically 35-50 at first loan, so 15-30 years on, the owner is plausibly 55-75 and nearing retirement.Business may have been sold already, or the loan-taker wasn't the founder.
Debt runway25Scheduled final maturity recently passed or within ~2 years. A debt-free business is cleaner to sell, and owners often wait out their note.Term is scheduled; refis and prepayments are invisible except via the paid-in-full date.
Loan outcome15All loans paid in full means the business survived and deleveraged. Distressed loans are a hard exclusion.Paid in full can also mean early payoff and aggressive growth.
Size band5Lender-reported jobs supported of 5-50 is the classic searcher/SMB-buyer band.Jobs supported is created + retained as reported at approval. An estimate, often stale.
Independence10Non-franchise businesses have no franchisor resale channel. The succession gap is theirs.Some independents have strong broker relationships anyway.
Quiet period10No new SBA borrowing in 7+ years suggests no expansion reinvestment.Or they graduated to conventional bank credit. Noisiest signal, lowest weight.

Businesses with any distressed loan (charge-off, liquidation, delinquency, deferment), or first financed less than 4 years ago, are excluded from prospect counts. Prospect = surviving business scoring ≥ 90. Succession-age = first SBA loan 15+ years ago.

What this does not tell you: whether the owner wants to sell, revenue, profitability, or current headcount. It tells you where to look: which owners have the tenure, the retired debt, and no visible succession channel. Verifying specific targets is the concierge engagement.

Provenance. Verified (public record): loan dates, amounts, status, NAICS, franchise flag, geography, lender. Estimated (derived): founding year (= first SBA loan), scheduled maturity, entity rollup, jobs supported, and the score itself.

Mainferret · off-market succession targets from the public SBA record · sample report, business identities withheld · SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA loan-level dataset (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-03-31

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