$1.5M for Two Silicon Valley BJJ Locations. Here Is Whether the Math Works.
Last week we showed you a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy that runs without its owner. A lot of you replied. The most common question, by a wide margin, was the one we could not answer yet: what does he want for it?
Now we can. The asking price is $1,500,000, and the seller has told us he is open to seller financing or an earnout.
So this issue does two things. It gives you everything on the business except its name, including the cities, the leases, and the line-by-line SDE. And then it does what most listings never do: it runs the full SBA structure at asking price and tells you plainly where it clears and where it does not.
The business is a two-location, family-oriented BJJ academy in the heart of Silicon Valley. The flagship is in Sunnyvale, California, operating since 2022. The second location is in Milpitas, California, opened in 2025. Revenue has grown every year on record. The founder runs it semi-absentee with a management team, documented systems, and automated billing, and he is looking to either sell outright or bring on an operator with equity who can scale it past what he can manage.
Here is the full breakdown.
The Listing at a Glance
Business: Family-oriented Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy
Locations: Two. Sunnyvale, CA (flagship, operating since 2022) and Milpitas, CA (opened 2025, 2,400 sq ft, leased through November 2029 with a renewal option)
Asking price: $1,500,000, seller open to discussing seller financing or an earnout
Trailing 12-Month Revenue (Jul 2025 to Jun 2026): $656,732
2025 Revenue: $558,388
2025 Adjusted SDE: $234,852 (42.1% of revenue)
H1 2026 Adjusted SDE: $154,541 (a $309,082 annualized run rate)
Recurring membership revenue: 92.8% of trailing 12-month sales
Owner involvement: Semi-absentee, with a management team and coaching staff in place
Structure: Full sale or operator-partner arrangement, seller open to both
Financial package: Available under NDA. Reply DOJO to this email.
The Numbers: Four Straight Years of Growth
Revenue:
2023: $231,942
2024: $401,252 (+73.0%) ✓
2025: $558,388 (+39.2%) ✓
H1 2026: $370,088 (+36.2% vs H1 2025's $271,745) ✓
Adjusted SDE:
2023: $126,623
2024: $194,027
2025: $234,852
H1 2026: $154,541 (a $309,082 annualized run rate)
June 2026 alone did $76,727 of revenue against $47,598 in June 2025. That is 61.2% year-over-year growth in the most recent closed month. ✓
Keep the 2025 SDE and the 2026 run rate side by side in your head. The entire pricing question comes down to which one you believe, and we will get to that.
The 2025 SDE Reconstruction, Line by Line
Every add-back below comes straight from the P&L. Nothing estimated, nothing hand-waved.
Net Income: $107,982
Plus: Owner wages: $45,750
Plus: Income taxes and owner loan interest paid: $75,984
Plus: Vehicle expenses: $11,651
Plus: Meals: $6,580
Plus: Travel: $3,601
Plus: One-time repairs and maintenance: $2,555
Plus: Continuing education: $457
Less: Interest and other non-operating income: ($19,708)
Total add-backs: $126,870 ✓
Adjusted SDE: $107,982 + $126,870 = $234,852 ✓
Why This Is Not a Typical Gym
The revenue is recurring. $609,755 of the trailing twelve months came from memberships. That is 92.8%. ✓ The core is youth programs with belt exams, an honor roll, and parent trust built over years. A kid who starts at eight often trains until high school, and parents pay for structure and discipline, not for a treadmill.
The systems are real. A buyer-ready operations manual covers curriculum, class templates, trial conversion, onboarding, billing, facility routines, emergency procedures, and a weekly management operating system with KPI scorecards. Kids, teens, and adults follow documented progression paths, including a structured white-to-blue-belt curriculum. The founder's stated goal, written into the manual, is an owner-silent operation.
The money collects itself. Trial scheduling, member onboarding, billing, and communications run through the academy's membership software.
The books are clean. LLC taxed as an S corporation, QuickBooks accounting, workers' compensation in place, and monthly financial packages already produced in lender-ready format.
The margins hold in an expensive market. Rent runs roughly $107K per year across both locations combined, in one of the priciest markets in America, and the model still throws off 40%+ SDE margins.
The payroll tells the transferability story. Employee expenses grew from $100,144 in H1 2025 to $144,264 in H1 2026 as staff took over functions the founder used to do himself. That is the owner buying his own freedom, and it is why a buyer can step into this without living on the mats. The margin it temporarily compressed is the price of transferability, and it has already been paid.
The Growth Levers Already in Motion
1. Let Milpitas finish its ramp. Monthly membership revenue at the second location went from $9,905 in July 2025 to $18,078 in June 2026, up 82.5% in twelve months. ✓ Milpitas did $134,377 over the trailing year against Sunnyvale's $476,056. If it simply matures toward the flagship's level on its existing lease, that alone is a six-figure revenue lever with rent fixed at roughly $5,000 per month through 2029.
2. Camps, seminars, and school programs. Contract services produced $35,607 over the trailing twelve months, including $16,936 in June 2026 alone. This line is just getting turned on.
3. A marketing engine that just woke up. The academy spent $21,150 on advertising in H1 2026, more than 2.6x its entire 2025 budget of $7,987. Revenue responded with 36.2% growth. A buyer inherits the playbook running.
4. Retail and merchandise. Product income was $16,499 over the trailing year. Uniforms, gear, and branded merchandise across a two-location family base is an obvious, low-effort add.
5. The third location. The systems that opened Milpitas are documented and repeatable. For an existing gym owner, that playbook may be worth as much as the cash flow.
The Deal at $1.5M: How It Underwrites
Now the question everyone asked. On 2025 adjusted SDE of $234,852, $1.5M is 6.39x, which is rich for a gym. On the H1 2026 annualized run rate of $309,082 it is 4.85x, and on trailing twelve-month revenue of $656,732 it is 2.28x. ✓ The seller is pricing the business he has today, not the one he had last year, and the numbers back him: revenue is up 36.2% year over year and the most recent closed month is up 61.2%.
The seller's openness to financing is what makes this price workable under SBA rules, because a seller note on full standby counts toward the equity injection. Here is the structure we would bring to a lender:
Purchase Price: $1,500,000
Buyer Equity (10%): $150,000
Seller Note on Standby (15%): $225,000 at 7%, interest-only during standby
SBA 7(a) Loan (75%): $1,125,000 at 10.5%, 10 years
Annual SBA Debt Service: $182,163 ✓
Annual Seller Note Interest: $15,750 ✓
Total Year-One Debt Service: $197,913 ✓
On the current run rate, as an owner-operator:
Annualized SDE: $309,082
Total Debt Service: ($197,913)
Net Cash Flow: $111,169 ✓
DSCR (all debt): $309,082 ÷ $197,913 = 1.56x ✓
DSCR (SBA loan only, how many lenders test it with a standby note): $309,082 ÷ $182,163 = 1.70x ✓
Cash-on-Cash: $111,169 ÷ $150,000 = 74.1% ✓
On 2025 SDE, the conservative case:
DSCR (all debt): $234,852 ÷ $197,913 = 1.19x
DSCR (SBA loan only): $234,852 ÷ $182,163 = 1.29x ✓
Read that honestly. At full price, this deal clears the 1.25x lender bar on the 2026 run rate with room to spare, and it clears on 2025 numbers only when the seller note is on standby. A lender will underwrite the trailing twelve months, which sit between those two cases and are climbing every month. A buyer who wants a margin of safety should negotiate on price, push for a larger seller note, or structure part of the consideration as an earnout tied to Milpitas hitting its ramp targets. The seller has opened the door to all three.
For a semi-absentee buyer paying a $70,000 general manager, the run-rate case still produces $41,169 of net cash flow after all debt service. The business continuing to grow at anything near its current pace is what makes the hands-off version work at this price. Given four straight years of growth, that is a bet with evidence behind it, but it is a bet, and we say so.
Who Should Buy This
The practitioner-owner. If you train BJJ and have ever wanted to own the academy instead of just paying dues to one, this is the version of that dream with real financial statements attached. You inherit curriculum, staff, and 92.8% recurring revenue instead of an empty room and a lease.
The existing gym owner. Two staffed, systematized Bay Area locations bolt onto an existing operation immediately. Shared back office, shared marketing, instant density in one of the wealthiest youth-sports markets in the country. At this price, the buyer with synergies to layer on is the buyer who wins.
The operator-partner. The seller is explicitly open to bringing on an operator who can scale beyond what he can manage. If you have the operating chops but not the full purchase price, there is a conversation to be had here that most listings never offer.
The Honest Ledger
We do not publish deals without naming the risks. Here they are:
The $1.5M ask is 6.39x 2025 SDE. It only works at full price if 2026 performance holds, so underwrite the trailing twelve months, not a single year, and use the seller's stated openness to financing and earnouts to build your margin of safety.
H1 2026 operating margins compressed as staffing and marketing scaled ahead of revenue. That is deliberate investment in owner-independence, but a buyer should underwrite the current cost structure, not the leaner 2024 one.
The founder is a respected professor and community figure. The systems reduce key-person risk; a thoughtful transition plan eliminates it. Structure the handover period into the deal.
Both locations are leased, not owned. Terms are documented and the Milpitas lease runs through November 2029 with an option, but lease assignment is a standard diligence item any buyer should confirm early.
Every one of these is manageable, and every one is disclosed up front because that is how we operate.
This Listing Is Confidential
To protect the seller's staff, members, and community standing, the academy's name stays behind an NDA. Everything else, including the asking price, is above. The complete package includes four years of P&Ls, the rolling 12-month statements, the add-back schedules, the operations manual, and both leases.
Reply to this email with the word DOJO and we will send you the NDA. Once signed, the full package follows.
Serious buyers only. Proof of funds or lender pre-qualification will be requested before the full package is released.
Want to work with us directly on your own acquisition? At The Continental, we source, vet, and deliver deals like this one built around your exact buy box.
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