Want to meet the people who can accelerate your growth? There is a critical sign of income that will lead you to new meetings.

“I think there's something magical about a million dollars in terms of showing the progress and scalability of the business,” says Laura Held, a partner at investment firm Shamrock Capital. She says $1 million in earnings before EBITDA — interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — is an important metric that puts you on the map for everyone from angel investors to debt funders.

Marilyn Adler, a founder and managing partner at Mizzen Capital—a group that invests debt in lower middle-market companies that typically generate between $1 million and $10 million in EBITDA—says $1 million in EBITDA is the bare minimum. that a company should achieve for it. even consider financing them in most cases. She says it's also usually the minimum to be of interest to a private capital the group that requires additional purchases. (This occurs when a buyer buys a smaller company to incorporate it into an existing business—known as a platform company—in order to make it more profitable or productive.) For example, the owner of a pharmacy chain might buy a courier company to deliver. medications. “That $1 million EBITDA seems to be a critical marker for them to spend time on it and make it worthwhile,” Adler says.