Yan Roll·April 28, 2025

21 Months to Stability Buying a $1 2m SDE Business | Jan Roll Interview

Yan Roll is a 25-year banking veteran (Merrill Lynch, Truist, SVB) who left corporate life after living through two bank failures and bought Victoria Renovations, a residential remodeling general contractor in metro Atlanta, for $4 million at roughly 3.5x SDE in July 2023. The business was doing $6 million in revenue at ~20% SDE margins ($1.2m) with 10 employees and a strong subcontractor network. He financed the deal with a ROBS 401k rollover, an SBA loan through Customers Bank, and small equity contributions from himself and a partner. The first 21 months were turbulent: a year-long licensing battle with the Georgia Secretary of State nearly killed the deal; a partner brought in for field operations failed within 3 months and filed suit (settled for ~$120k); key employees left around the transition; and revenue fell 25% to $4.5m in year one amid high interest rates and election-year slowdown. Yan stabilized the business by promoting an internal project manager to head sales, executing a DIY SEO overhaul using ChatGPT to write project summaries (moving from page 14 to page 1-2 on Google), and leaning on the business's deep referral network. By month 21, the booked pipeline had recovered to $2.75 million and 2025 revenue was tracking back toward $6 million.

Deal facts

purchase price: $4 million
multiple: 3.5x SDE
sde ebitda: SDE ~$1.2 million
revenue: $6 million (trailing at purchase)
financing structure: SBA loan (~90%) + ROBS 401k rollover ($400k, ~10% equity) + $50k personal cash + $50k partner cash; no seller note
notes: ROBS transaction via Guidant Financial. Fixed-rate SBA loan through Customers Bank (Pennsylvania). C-Corp structure required by ROBS. Line of credit used occasionally for working capital timing gaps. Partner (10% equity) was terminated after 3 months; lawsuit settled for ~$120k total (legal fees + severance).

Why this business

Yan was drawn to Victoria Renovations because it dovetailed with his interest in real estate and home improvement, and because the previous owner had built unusual organizational structure for a small business — project-by-project accounting, a 40-page employee handbook, and long-tenured subcontractor relationships. He liked that 20% net margins were consistent across projects, and that two-thirds of business came from referrals. He also saw latent growth from business the seller was intentionally turning away.

What's working

Strong referral network producing consistent organic lead flow — some cul-de-sacs where they have done five basement projects from word-of-mouth alone
SEO optimization using ChatGPT to write keyword-rich project summaries and AI tools to tag photos; moved from page 14 to first or second page on Google for target searches, driving 25-33% of new leads from organic search
Long-tenured subcontractor relationships (some 10-15 years) providing quality control leverage and reliability
Promoting an internal project manager to lead sales — someone with a go-getter owner mindset who also holds the qualifying general contractor license
Professional website with hundreds of high-quality project photos differentiating from competitors in a low-trust industry
Booked business pipeline at $2.75 million at time of recording (up from sub-$1 million trough), with calendar 2025 revenue expected back at $6 million

What's hard

Licensing took over a year to secure due to dysfunction in the Georgia Secretary of State's office, nearly killing the deal pre-close
Partner relationship failed within 3 months; the partner had a commercial (not residential) background, an employee mindset rather than an owner mindset, and the ambiguous stockholder agreement (no separate employment agreement) led to a lawsuit settled for ~$120k
Significant employee turnover around transition: key office manager of 12 years left pre-close, a project manager left within the first month, and a hired head of sales was let go within 30 days
Revenue dropped ~25% in year one (from $6m to $4.5m) due to transition stress, high interest rates, and an election-year slowdown that suppressed residential remodeling demand industry-wide
Cash flow timing mismatch: pays subcontractors within 24-48 hours but collects progress payments from clients in stages; credit card limits were a recurring constraint
Project-based revenue with no recurring contracts creates inherent unpredictability; high breadth of trade knowledge required was steep learning curve for an industry outsider

Notable quotes

I'm in a dark room and I don't know where the walls are — that's kind of where you start, and then eventually you search around and you can feel the walls but it's still dark, you know, but you feel a little better, and then over time the lights start coming on.

There's no amount of due diligence that you're going to do in a small business that's going to give you the full picture. And that is why they are priced the way that they are priced.

There's nowhere to hide in a small business if you're not doing the work.

In spite of the challenges I do wake up every day energized in the business. Everything that I — all the rosiness that I kind of went into the transaction with has come true.