Spotlight On: Randy Spradlin, COO, LoanBud

Key points:

• SBA rule changes are tightening credit standards, forcing borrowers to be better prepared and more organized upfront.
• LoanBud is using technology and a broad lender network to match borrowers faster amid shifting bank criteria and higher rates.
• Rising acquisitions and restricted refinancing are increasing demand for transparent, consultative financing support.

February 2026 — Invest: spoke with Randy Spradlin, chief operating officer of LoanBud, about how Small Business Administration (SBA) policy shifts are tightening qualification, raising the bar on borrower documentation, and accelerating demand for faster, more transparent lending workflows. “It has been a learning year not only for banks, but for entrepreneurs as well,” Spradlin said.

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To set the stage, could you share a bit about your background in the lending space and what led you to LoanBud?

I’ve spent over two decades at the intersection of lending and technology, focused on building the operational infrastructure required to move capital at scale. Most recently, I served as the head of operations for a major national lending platform, where I was instrumental in building an SBA infrastructure from the ground up — scaling teams from 70 to over 400 employees and overseeing billions in loan originations.

When you’ve managed that kind of volume, you learn exactly where the “plumbing” of the lending industry tends to leak. I’ve seen firsthand how dreams can be stalled by conventional processes that are too rigid or slow. I joined LoanBud because I saw an opportunity to apply those lessons to a more agile, borrower-first model. My goal as COO is to ensure we provide a high-certainty path to funding by combining the efficiency of fintech with the deep technical expertise entrepreneurs need to navigate today’s complex lending environment.

What is the biggest challenge in Small Business Administration (SBA) lending today, and where does LoanBud fit?

SBA lending is governed by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) — a complex federal “rulebook” subject to frequent updates. These shifts create a moving target for borrowers. While the SOP sets the universal framework, every bank layers on its own unique credit criteria and risk appetite. We operate as a financial technology platform that navigates this volatility. Our platform matches borrowers with the single lender from our network of over 50 institutions most likely to approve their specific profile. We can pivot a deal instantly if a lender’s criteria changes mid-cycle, ensuring the borrower reaches the finish line in an environment where speed is increasingly critical.

What economic conditions are most impacting small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking capital?

The primary hurdle right now is a “preparedness gap.” Many business owners lack the robust accounting systems needed to quickly produce the clean balance sheets and verifiable data that banks now require. This creates immediate friction because federal lending standards have become much more rigorous.

From a regulatory standpoint, the bar has been raised. The minimum credit “floor” – the SBSS score – has increased, and new rules have intensified collateral requirements. For example, loans used heavily for working capital now often require a lien on all business assets. The net effect is that borrowers can no longer afford to be unorganized. Borrowers must be far more organized and better informed before they even begin the process, and banks are adjusting to a much more structured underwriting environment.

With restrictions tightening, what trends are redefining how businesses engage with nontraditional lenders?

We’re seeing more use of products outside SBA, including conventional term loans, lines of credit, and revenue-based products. We’re also seeing the ripple effects of merchant cash advances. They’re historically expensive, but they exist because they solve a timing problem for businesses that need capital quickly. In the past, some borrowers assumed they could refinance that debt into an SBA loan later. Under current SBA guidelines, that “exit strategy” has largely disappeared. With refinancing options now restricted, many owners find themselves in a difficult position with high-cost debt they can no longer offload.

That shift is opening the door for banks, nonbanks, and other lenders to bridge the gap with less expensive products that still solve the entrepreneur’s needs. It’s not just about capital availability, it’s also about capital structure, cost, and what can realistically be refinanced or replaced later.

What is driving the rise in small-business acquisitions?

We are seeing a historic volume of profitable, established companies hit the market as baby boomers retire without internal succession plans. Because many owners’ children have pursued different career paths, these businesses are no longer being handed down — they are being sold. Simultaneously, a new generation of buyers is skipping the startup phase to acquire existing cash flow and proven infrastructure rather than building from scratch. That dynamic is creating opportunity in the acquisition space, and we have shifted more attention to supporting business buyers and sellers through those transactions.

How have SBA rules changed for acquisitions, and what does that mean for deal structure?

In the past, you could sometimes structure an SBA-backed acquisition with little to no cash down. Today, the SBA is requiring a 10% equity injection. That can be 10% from the buyer, or a 5% down payment paired with a 5% seller note carried until the SBA loan is paid off. There’s still flexibility, but the structure is more defined, and buyers need to plan earlier for the equity component and the documentation that supports the deal.

LoanBud recently announced a major partnership with BizBuySell, the nation’s largest business-for-sale marketplace. How does this collaboration change the game for buyers and sellers?

This partnership is a meaningful step forward in modernizing how small businesses are bought and sold. One of the biggest obstacles in ownership transitions is financing uncertainty — too many deals fall apart late in the process because the buyer didn’t know if the business was actually financeable. Through our partnership, we’ve launched the “SBA Loan Eligible” program.

Now, listings on BizBuySell can be pre-vetted by our team and marked with an SBA Loan Eligible badge. This signals to aspiring entrepreneurs that the business financials have been reviewed and support SBA financing. It gives buyers a clear, credible path forward and gives sellers a stronger position in the market. By bringing better financing clarity earlier into the transaction, we’re streamlining the evaluation process and ensuring smoother transitions for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

How have higher interest rates reshaped expectations around pricing and speed?

Higher rates have shifted the focus from the lowest rate to the most sustainable capital structure. While SBA pricing is based on a prime-plus model, the longer amortization — 10 years for working capital and 25 years for real estate — preserves cash flow in a way that conventional products cannot. This makes the SBA a strategic choice even in a high-rate environment.

Because the “cost of waiting” has increased, speed is now a critical factor in deal certainty. We address this by matching borrowers with lenders whose current credit appetite aligns perfectly with their specific profile. This eliminates the traditional trial-and-error process, allowing us to bypass the delays typical of the SBA cycle and reach the finish line faster.

How do you balance fast, flexible financing with risk management?

We work with a network of about 50 banks. In any given month, a smaller group gets most of the volume because we prioritize a few things. The first is the likelihood of closing. If we do not have high confidence a lender can close in a timely manner, we are not going to prioritize that relationship for a borrower. The second is borrower experience. If the borrower is not having a good experience, that reflects poorly on us, and it can cost us that customer long term. There is also a financial component, but those first two factors carry the most weight.

Credit policies can change quickly. A bank might decide it wants to shift away from smaller loans and move upmarket, and that can happen in the middle of a deal. That is why having many partners matters. Technology can help analyze credit policies and suggest where a file should go, but it still struggles to evaluate whether a bank has the human capacity and internal systems to process loans quickly.

If they do not, we take that into consideration, because delays can put an owner’s business at risk while waiting on funding. We are not going to send a loan somewhere that will drag out the process, even if the referral economics look attractive. We want to make things easier for business owners.

Our approach is governed by four core values: do the right thing, speed with excellence, entrepreneurs first, and make it easy. In practice, this means we prioritize the likelihood of a successful close and the quality of the borrower experience above all else.

Because bank credit policies and internal capacities can shift mid-deal, we constantly evaluate our network of over 50 lenders to ensure they meet our standards for “speed with excellence.” If a bank lacks the human capital to process a loan quickly, we will not prioritize that relationship — regardless of the referral economics. By putting “entrepreneurs first,” we manage risk by steering files away from overwhelmed institutions, ensuring that a business owner is never left waiting on funding while their opportunity is at risk.

How are technology and data analytics shaping underwriting and the customer experience?

Across the industry, companies are building loan origination systems that automate the funnel from first click to submission. The practical question is how to reduce friction. What data do you truly need from the borrower, and what can be pulled or enhanced via APIs and third-party sources so the borrower can get back to running the business? That includes integrations with accounting platforms, bank data, and in some cases CPA firms, to speed up document collection and verification.

There is also a major integration challenge on the lender side. The goal is to get both the data and the supporting documentation into a bank’s workflow in a cleaner way than the historical shared-folder approach. Over the last couple of years, the focus has been origination. More recently, attention has shifted to underwriting improvements. Going forward, we expect to see more innovation in servicing, because many banks still rely on older servicing platforms that limit what they can automate and what programs they can support.

What skills are most critical as lending platforms evolve?

Technology is multifaceted. If you are building from scratch, you need product development leadership and engineering talent. But many organizations can automate meaningful work without traditional development by using tools that already exist inside their approved stacks. It helps to have technical fluency, but what matters most is understanding operational processes, mapping them clearly, and implementing automation in a way teams will actually adopt.

When it comes to software, I compare it to boat ownership. Buying the boat is the easy part. Keeping it afloat is the real work. Software is similar. Building software is probably the easiest part of the whole process. Maintaining it, keeping it operational, and getting adoption are where the real challenges are.

What are your priorities for expansion, and what is your outlook for the next two to three years?

Our immediate priority is to double our headcount this year, with a significant hiring push in South Florida. We are scaling to meet a surge in acquisition financing. Over the next two to three years, we expect “consultative support” to become as important as the capital itself. Buyers and sellers need a roadmap through the documentation and deal mechanics to avoid late-stage breakdowns — especially since owners are often emotionally tied to the businesses they’ve built.

While we lean into these more complex transactions, we will stay committed to our core market of small-balance loans. Many entrepreneurs aren’t looking for multimillion-dollar deals; they need right-sized capital to stabilize cash flow or take that next logical step in growth. By prioritizing “Entrepreneurs First,” we’re ensuring our expansion supports the full spectrum of the market, from the $100,000 project to the multimillion dollar acquisition.

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