Does debt financing get easier after your first acquisition?
For those who have closed their first acquisition, curious how senior unsecured / cash-flow debt changed after deal one.
We’re seeing that, for a first deal, lenders can be very focused on personal guarantees, even when the business has solid cash flow. Curious if that changes once you have an operating business and some ownership track record.
A few questions I’m thinking through:
1. Did lender appetite improve materially after the first close?
2. Were you able to refinance and pull some equity back off the table?
3. Did the personal guarantee requirement change at all after you had a track record?
4. In hindsight, was it better to push for leverage upfront, or close with a safer structure and optimize the capital stack later?
Would be helpful to hear what people actually experienced.