Jacob VosWinkel Bought a Jacksonville NC Flooring Platform with an SBA Loan

The Setup Jacob VosWinkel came out of capital markets trading with real estate on the side, including a 20,000 sq ft storage facility. He ran a self-funded search with geographic openness as a core filter. That flexibility is what put Jacksonville, North Carolina (population ~70,000) on the map. Tertiary markets in the 50K-100K range had fewer searchers sniffing around and sellers who were less rehearsed on multiples. Floors Galore sold wood, vinyl, tile, and carpet. The revenue mix was unusual for a flooring retailer: 85% new construction and builder accounts, 15% walk-in retail. Typical independent flooring stores do $2-3M in revenue. Floors Galore was better than average, with EBITDA landing in the $750K-$1.5M target range. The seller had a GM/COO running daily operations and was only on-site 2-3 days a week. He wanted to redirect his attention to his general contracting business and felt he had maxed the geography. The Deal Purchase price roughly $5-6M all-in including real estate. Capital stack: - 70% SBA (7(a) plus real estate plus a line of credit), 14+ year term, prime plus 1%, fixed for five years - 15% seller note - 15% outside equity, ~$1M raised from 8 investors Jacob raised the equity in two weeks across roughly 50 conversations. His framing: the deal sells the capital, not the operator. A fundable deal with clean SBA terms and a seller note gets funded; a marginal deal with a great pitch does not. First 100 Days - Evaluated the existing 7-person team rather than sweeping changes - Learned the builder-side workflow before touching pricing or process - Kept the GM/COO structure intact, treating operational continuity as the asset he paid for Operating Moves - Expanded sales headcount from 2 to 4.5 FTEs - Stepped up marketing spend on the retail side to de-risk builder concentration - Opened a second location in Myrtle Beach under $50K buildout, $5K/month rent - Drove customer concentration from 30% down to 20-25% The Myrtle Beach site is the tell. A sub-$50K buildout on a small lease is not a bet-the-company expansion; it is a cheap option on a second geography with existing vendor relationships and a proven playbook. Where They Are Now Year one (six months of ownership) delivered 15% growth. Year two tracked 22%. Cumulative trajectory puts the business on pace for roughly 50% growth over the baseline Jacob underwrote. Two locations operating. Customer concentration materially lower than at close. Operating Lessons - Geographic openness is a search-phase edge. Refusing to relocate kills your deal count and pushes you into picked-over metros where multiples have already expanded. - Builder-heavy mix is a feature and a risk. It produces volume but concentrates a handful of accounts. Growing retail is the hedge, not a side project. - A GM-run business is worth paying for. If the seller is already 2-3 days a week on-site, you are buying a system, not a job. Do not break what is working in the first 90 days. - The fundraise follows the deal. Clean...