Hey fellow Hoosiers,

Welcome to the first fourth-Tuesday issue. Below: a July refund deadline most owners are about to miss, the SBA quietly doubling how big a deal it will back, cheaper equipment, and a free succession workshop the state asked us to put in front of you.

Owner at 17, founder of Lushin and Associates in 1997, a leading Sandler Training franchise, ESOP transition in 2023. Forty-six years of building, at Lushin HQ. 4:00 to 7:00 PM, $15, free for members.

Matt built one company and bought another, a candid look at the real trade-offs of starting versus buying. Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, Fort Wayne. 4:00 to 7:00 PM, $15.

Last week we took OWN on the road for the first time, two and a half hours north to Syracuse. This was never meant to be an Indianapolis thing, and the room proved it: people drove in from Fort Wayne, Elkhart, and the towns around Lake Wawasee. Co-founder Carlos Garcia sat down with Nathan Scherer, who built SEI Manufacturing from nothing and is now developing South Shore Village, on what it takes to build in Indiana and the quiet succession wave coming for Main Street.

The momentum is already compounding: after we posted about Syracuse, Nick Ladig reached out from Fort Wayne, and a week later September 17 was on the calendar.

If you capitalized product, software, or process-development costs in 2022 to 2024 and your gross receipts are at or under $31 million, you can amend those returns to immediately expense the R&D (Rev. Proc. 2025-28) and pull cash back. The deadline is the earlier of July 6, 2026 or when the statute closes, and for many filers July 6 hits first. This is not just for tech companies.

The Indiana Chamber and OEI are running a free virtual workshop, Getting Started: A Practical Guide to Succession Readiness Planning, on Wednesday, June 25 from noon to 1 PM EDT, with Ed Mysogland and Scott Snider of the Exit Planning Institute. Attendance is anonymous to other attendees. If you are anywhere inside a three to seven year transition window, it is the cheapest hour of readiness work you will do all year. Register free.

Boone County paused new data centers. A one-year moratorium on new data-center development (the $10B Meta LEAP campus is exempt) means local zoning is now the real gate on the boom, so the trade work tied to these projects is a county-by-county question.

JD Finish Line is moving its HQ to Fishers. A $169 million Fishers District expansion brings 600-plus corporate jobs and a multi-year buildout starting 2027, a long subcontracting runway for Hamilton County trades.

The SBA doubled how big a deal it will back. Starting July 4 you can combine a 7(a) loan up to $5M with a 504 loan up to $5M for $10M in SBA-backed financing. If a deal stalled at the old $5M ceiling, re-run it with your lender.

Cheaper money is not coming this year. The Fed held on June 17 and leans toward a hike, not a cut. SBA 504 fixed sits near 6.11%. Model variable debt flat to higher.

Equipment imports got cheaper. As of June 8, tariffs on forklifts, earthmoving, and ag machinery dropped from 25% to 15% (10% with high U.S. steel content). Ask your dealer for origin and steel documentation before buying.

The 2024 overtime rule is dead. DOL rolled the exempt salary threshold back to $35,568, so you can stop planning raises made only to keep junior managers overtime-exempt.

The gap between a good business and a great one keeps widening. In home services, businesses under $1M of EBITDA trade around 3 to 5x. Above $2M with recurring revenue, pest control and premium platforms hit 7 to 10x, HVAC and plumbing 5 to 8x. If you are at $1.2 to $1.8M EBITDA, professionalizing past $2M can lift you a full valuation tier.

Employee ownership keeps getting more practical. A new NCEO report finds selling to an ESOP costs about 2 to 4% of deal value versus 4 to 9% to an outside buyer. Worth a rough feasibility look alongside your other options.

If you run a Fortinet firewall or VPN, read this today. On June 18, CISA warned that leaked credentials tied to about 74,000 Fortinet devices are being actively used by attackers. Ask your IT or MSP this week to reset every VPN and admin password, enforce multi-factor authentication, and pull the management interface off the public internet.

One habit worth starting: AI meeting notes. Drop an AI notetaker into your next leadership or sales meeting and let it produce the summary and action items. Start with one recurring meeting this month.

Defenders of Business Value, Ep. 150. Carmel's Ed Mysogland talks with VentureVets founder Courtney Zaugg about moving from a military playbook into buying and running a business. Acquiring Minds: How to De-Risk the Personal Guarantee. A practical look at personal-guarantee insurance for buyers signing an SBA loan, the fear that stops the most acquisitions cold.

Each month OWN is hosted at a different Indiana business. September is set in Fort Wayne. We need hosts for August, October, November, and December: a facility tour, a founder story, or teaching something you use to run better. Reply here or message me on LinkedIn and we will find a fit.

Thanks for reading. Reply anytime, or reach me directly at [email protected].

Jared Luegers
Founder, OWN Indiana