Jordan Evans·July 29, 2024

White Collar Roll-Up from $700k to $12m | Jordan Evans Interview

Jordan Evans is a second-generation family-business acquirer who bought Language Network — a professional language interpretation, translation, and localization company his mother founded in the 1980s — from his parents in 2018 after two years of consulting inside the business. He paid over $1 million for a $700k-revenue, four-person firm generating roughly $180k SDE, using 100% seller financing because the deal was too small and too family-oriented for bank underwriting. Jordan came from a background of six software startups (one acquired by Booking.com), bringing sales, marketing, and tech-enabled growth discipline into what had been a stalled lifestyle business. After losing a major customer representing 20%+ of revenue at close, he doubled the business organically within a year through pricing increases and intensive local relationship-building, then crystallized a roll-up strategy by completing three additional acquisitions — including an SBA 7(a)-financed deal that expanded into Washington State. By mid-2024 the platform had grown to $12m in revenue and 42 employees, with roughly 3,000 contractor linguists serving 200+ languages across healthcare, government, and international business segments. The episode covers seller-note deal structures and their advantages over SBA financing, white-collar roll-up strategy in a highly fragmented $800m-plus industry, global hiring as a labor cost lever, and the AI uncertainty facing the language services sector.

Deal facts

purchase price: over $1m (exact not disclosed; seller note described as a 'sweet deal' that Jordan self-described as overpaying for a $700k revenue business)
sde ebitda: SDE approximately $180k at acquisition
revenue: $700k at acquisition; $12m at time of interview
financing structure: 100% seller financing (seller carry + some equity); no third-party bank financing on initial deal. Second acquisition used SBA 7(a) at approximately 90% bank / 10% equity plus a working capital seller note.
notes: Family business succession — Jordan bought the business from his parents (mother founded it in the 1980s). Described paying 'too much' relative to what he would do today. Three additional bolt-on acquisitions completed after initial purchase. Total portfolio grew from $700k to $12m in revenue. Target of $40m revenue within 10 years.

Why this business

Jordan's mother founded Language Network as a Spanish interpreter in the 1980s, so he had lifelong exposure to the language services industry. After a series of failed software startups and being fired from a VP role, he saw an opportunity to apply his startup sales and marketing skills to the family's stalled, owner-dependent business — pairing a 'startup mindset' with what he called an 'unsexy services business' in a large, highly fragmented, and underserved industry that nobody talks about but is 'everywhere.'

What's working

Roll-up strategy in a highly fragmented industry: the top 20 companies represent only about 15% of total market, leaving vast acquisition opportunity among thousands of small operators
Seller financing (seller notes) on acquisitions — avoids SBA where possible, enables creative deal structures, keeps seller skin in the game, and provides offset clauses as insurance against post-close surprises
Organic growth by pricing discipline (prices had not been adjusted in years), geographic focus, and intensive relationship-building with existing and similar customers — doubled revenue organically in the first year
Hiring globally (approximately half the 42-person team is outside the US, primarily Latin America) to uplevel talent while dramatically reducing labor costs; spun this out as a separate company called Hire Globo
Diversified revenue across three roughly equal segments: healthcare (language access mandated by Affordable Care Act), government (state/local/federal), and international business/localization — provides resilience
Being a known operator and brand in the industry through speaking at conferences and industry events, which generates deal flow and makes sellers comfortable with seller financing
Stock purchases (entity acquisitions) rather than asset deals to preserve non-assignable government and healthcare contracts, reducing customer friction and continuity risk

What's hard

Discovered at close that the largest customer — an insurance company representing 20%+ of $700k revenue — churned immediately, taking affiliated law firm revenue with it; this concentration risk was hidden in the deal structure
Initial deal was a $700k revenue business with only ~$180k SDE — too small to cover a reasonable salary without a significant pay cut and intense Sweat Equity commitment
Integration is slow and painful: back-office systems consolidate relatively quickly but customer-facing systems, workflow tools, and portals often take 9+ months; software migrations described as 'up there with death and divorce'
Managing five siblings and a sister who had been in the business for 10 years complicated the family negotiation; took approximately two years from 2016 to 2018 to structure and close the initial deal
Language industry is at an AI inflection point — AI and machine translation create uncertainty about which service lines will be disrupted in 5-10 years, requiring ongoing reinvention of the operating model
Self-funded roll-up means cash flow is existential — every acquisition must be immediately accretive; no tolerance for turnarounds or 'burning buildings'
Jordan was the integration project manager for early acquisitions personally, which stretched him thin across deal origination, operations, and people management simultaneously

Notable quotes

I paid 3x too much for this company knowing what I know now. I sleep like a baby because it's family and that's why I tell myself. I'm just taking care of people I love.

The SBA fantastic program in the United States has made us all lazy and in fact it's bloated the multiples and the price that people will pay. Everywhere else in the world they don't have these government guaranteed loans. It's amazing but also at the same time there's cons to it.

I wish people were light switches but they're knobs. They can turn up — you know heat — they can turn down cold. Let's just say that's the trust barometer.

I hate the hold co. I feel like it's a big ADHD mini Berkshire strategy. I know it's in vogue but at least you get an edge in this strategy and it compounds. You can have a brand, you can be a known entity, and you can be a big fish in a smaller pond.