I agree- It is a different mindset at that size. Most individual buyers don't have the capital to take something of that size down as they don't traditionally have the extra capital. You are looking at more equity coming in and a combination of senior and mezz financing.

Your tiers look like this from smaller to larger 1. Cash buyer 2. SBA 7a 3. SBA with real estate and a sale lease-back to fund more cash into the deal 4. SBA + pari passu loan 5. Independent sponsor - less equity, less control, but also less personal risk. 6. PE backed traditional search model You may find this survey helpful if you are considering the indepedent sponsor route: redacted