Acquiring Minds – Episode Summary
Episode Title: Buying a Platform with an SBA Loan
Date: January 22, 2026
Host: Will Smith
Guest: Jacob Voswinkle, Owner of Floors Galore
Episode Overview
This episode of Acquiring Minds delves into the journey of Jacob Voswinkle, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who acquired and scaled a sizable flooring business—Floors Galore—in Jacksonville, North Carolina, using an SBA loan. The conversation unpacks Jacob's background in finance and real estate, his approach to search and acquisition, industry insights, lessons from a 50% growth trajectory, deal structure, and the real sacrifices and considerations involved in acquisition entrepreneurship. The episode offers candid advice for aspiring searchers on industry selection, deal sourcing, capital raising, and wealth-building paths post-acquisition.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Jacob’s Background and Career Pivot
[05:07–11:20]
- Started in capital markets, hedging loan portfolios and trading mortgage-backed securities.
- Built entrepreneurial skills through real estate investments (single family, self-storage, flips).
- The success of a large self-storage flip provided both capital and confidence to pursue entrepreneurship full time.
- Real estate deal flow dried up due to rising interest rates, prompting a shift toward ETA (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition), which felt like a natural progression.
Notable Quote:
"The ceiling in my trading career was much lower than I saw on my own even before ETA." – Jacob Voswinkle [12:31]
2. Launching the Search: Industry and Geography
[13:24–17:57]
- Targeted businesses with $750K–$1.5M EBITDA, mirroring classic self-funded searcher criteria.
- Prioritized growing “sunbelt” states (TX, Carolinas, Virginia, Florida).
- Drew on construction/home services “buy boxes” for industry selection, favoring sectors he could understand and felt comfortable with, like flooring and construction.
On Tertiary Markets:
- Jacob’s openness to move geographically (emphasizing tertiary, non-major metro markets) was key to finding his deal.
- Advocated that searchers broaden their geographic horizons for more opportunity (“If I could impress that on your listeners, I would highly recommend being more geographically open.” [25:26])
Notable Quote:
"I'd recommend looking in these tertiary markets... There's a lot of opportunity." – Jacob Voswinkle [25:26]
3. Industry Analysis: Flooring as an Acquisition Target
[29:35–45:18]
- Flooring industry is fragmented, with ~11,000 independent retailers nationwide (~$2M–$3M annual revenue per store).
- Flores Galore’s revenue was “better than average”—with strong exposure to new construction (85% of revenue).
- Revenue splits: Builder (new construction), Retail, and some Commercial.
- Retail offers cash-flow/margin benefits but is harder to scale. Builder work provides scale but comes with customer concentration risks.
- Commercial and multifamily flooring are tough but desirable expansion areas for diversified growth.
Notable Quote:
"The project based work, if you're in the right business, actually looks a lot more like recurring revenue than it does project-based work." – Jacob Voswinkle [15:03]
On Industry Challenges:
- Flooring is competitive, physical, relatively low capex compared to other construction trades, and doesn’t require extensive licensing in many states.
- Major challenge: customer concentration (30%+ with one builder), offset by a diversified and well-trained staff.
4. Deal Sourcing & Mechanics
[27:06–29:29]
- Found Floors Galore through a broker, using a custom “scraper” for BizBuySell to monitor multiple states and nuanced criteria more effectively than standard alerts.
- Advocates technical automation for deal sourcing (“Any searcher can do this for a couple hundred bucks...cheaper than most deal sites.”).
5. Deal Structure and Capital Raising
[46:51–53:56]
- Classic self-funded SBA structure:
- 15% equity, 15% seller note, 70% SBA debt (including real estate).
- All-in deal: ~$5M, with $1M+ raised from investors (eight on the cap table).
- Extra leverage/term benefit by buying real estate with the business, resulting in blended 14-year amortization term.
On Capital Raise:
- Jacob didn’t line up investors pre-LOI; only after LOI, term sheets, and diligence did he quickly assemble investor interest—raising ~$1M+ in just two weeks via 50 conversations.
- Advises full-time searchers to focus on the deal first: "The deal is what brings the capital much more than the person." [18:32]
Notable Quote:
"If you have a good deal...you'll likely get funded. Not to say anybody could get their deal funded, but the deal is everything.” – Jacob Voswinkle [18:32]
6. Post-Acquisition Growth and Execution
[57:04–62:32]
- Closed in July 2024; 18 months later, grew revenue organically ~50% from base.
- Growth sources:
- Home market continued to yield more opportunity than expected (contrary to initial “tapped out” thesis).
- Added new store in Myrtle Beach (retail-focused first, builder B2B later).
- Invested heavily in sales team (from 2 to 4.5 reps) and full-funnel marketing (brand, PPC, local advertising).
- Customer concentration reduced from 30% to 20-25% via growth/diversification.
7. Personal Sacrifice and Geographic Realities
[62:32–64:21]
- Jacob’s fiancée initially relocated; now split between Austin (family, fiancée’s work) and Jacksonville (business), flying regularly between cities.
- Stresses that personal flexibility is crucial for tertiary market searches, but not everyone can or should do this.
Notable Quote:
"Having a supportive partner and somebody that shares your vision is key to building something, ultimately." – Jacob Voswinkle [63:25]
8. Roll-Up Strategy and Future Plans
[66:49–74:41]
- Flooring is highly fragmented; plenty of sub-scale, baby boomer/second-gen sellers, but Jacob targets stores with $5M+ revenue.
- Building a systematized outreach (enterprise sales system) to potential acquisition targets across the Mid-Atlantic/Coastal Southeast.
- Plans to use real estate (sale-leaseback/refi), strong balance sheet, and debt capacity for future acquisitions—minimizing the need to continually raise outside capital.
- Valuations for flooring businesses remain low (often below 3x EBITDA for subscale, more for larger, well-run stores).
9. Organic vs. Inorganic Growth: Lessons Learned
[74:57–81:36]
- Greenfield expansion (new stores) is affordable but takes years to ramp ($150,000/year run rate, $50K buildout).
- Acquisition is favored for scale and optionality; brand-building is slow, dealmaking is often more predictable for ETA searchers.
10. The Allure and Overlooked Upside of the Flooring Industry
[81:36–86:38]
- Flooring is overlooked due to lack of recurring revenue, project-based work, and perceived absence of skilled-labor moat.
- Jacob believes moats exist due to scale benefits, cash conversion cycle, B2B/B2C diversification, lower capex/insurance, and the sheer number of unsophisticated operators.
- Noted: Some aggregators and family offices are already entering the space, but PE activity is light due to the small scale of most operators.
11. Reflections on SBA Entrepreneurship, Wealth-Building, and “Escape Velocity”
[88:51–97:31]
- Buying a $500K–$1.5M EBITDA business is not a shortcut; it requires personal, professional, and capital readiness.
- Smaller deals often trap owner-operators “subscale”—unable to reinvest and grow.
- “Escape velocity”—being able to reinvest in hiring, marketing, and growth—occurs much more easily above $750K EBITDA.
- Holds out optionality for both scaling a rollup (multi-location, multi-million dollar exit) and a single “lifestyle business” (> $1M SDE).
- Personal fulfillment is not just financial—opportunity for employee growth and impact proved deeply rewarding.
- Strong sense of stakeholder responsibility to investors and employees to reinvest and grow, not just “sit on the beach.”
Notable Quote:
"Whenever I come into the store, I feel an obligation both to the investors and to the staff to continue to grow and provide opportunities." – Jacob Voswinkle [97:02]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On Search Flexibility:
“One of the motifs in my career is moving to where I see the opportunity or where I think the opportunity may be.” – Jacob Voswinkle [11:20] - On Achievable Outcomes:
“To be generating a million dollars a year and have total freedom ... before age 35 is an unbelievable outcome.” – Will Smith [93:56] - On Being Realistic:
“This is not a shortcut and it is very hard and takes extraordinary amounts of effort and time to do.” – Jacob Voswinkle [88:51] - On Building an Organization:
“Imagine... you join as a retail salesperson. Five years later you're at a company that has 15 locations... That opportunity is very cool. That's totally what we want to build.” – Jacob Voswinkle [98:54]
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Jacob’s Background & Real Estate to ETA: [05:07–11:20]
- Search Strategy & Geographic Flexibility: [13:24–17:57], [25:26–26:20]
- Industry Deep Dive – Flooring: [29:35–45:18]
- Deal Sourcing Tactics: [27:06–29:29]
- Deal Structure & Financing Explained: [46:51–53:56]
- Operational Growth & Hitting 50% Increase: [57:04–62:32]
- Roll-Up & Inorganic Growth Plans: [66:49–74:41]
- Organic Growth—Launching a New Store: [74:57–81:36]
- Wealth Building, Escape Velocity & Stakeholder Obligations: [88:51–98:54]
Closing Thoughts
Jacob’s story captures both the opportunity and reality of acquisition entrepreneurship: the possibilities offered by overlooked industries like flooring, the rigor needed for funding and due diligence, the actual muscle of scaling a business in a small market, and the lived experience of sacrifice and responsibility. Whether you aim to roll up an industry or simply escape “working for the man,” this episode is rich with grounded wisdom and actionable takeaways for searchers and would-be business buyers.
Further Links:
Summary by Acquiring Minds Podcast Summarizer — episode link and resources at acquiringminds.co