Corey Mullins·March 26, 2026

Turning $25k into a $3.2m Exit in Under 4 Years | Corey Mullins Interview

Corey Mullins is a lifelong HVAC tradesman from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who spent nearly 20 years in the industry — from apprentice to general manager of his family's HVAC business — before a falling-out over the family succession plan forced him out the door 10 days before Christmas 2021. Within weeks he launched his own brand, Cool by Design, and simultaneously acquired McConnell Air Conditioning, a declining competitor that had operated since 1975, for $100k via an SBA 7(a) loan. The purchase price was effectively split between a 2020 Mercedes Sprinter worth ~$50k and the intangible value of decades-old phone numbers and sticker-branded units still ringing with loyal older customers. Corey grew the combined business from under $200k to just over $2 million in revenue by 2024 through premium pricing, heavy digital marketing investment, subcontractor-heavy staffing, and eventually hiring a field manager and office manager to remove himself from 80-hour weeks. Knowing the PE consolidation wave had a finite window, he listed with HVAC-specialist broker Patrick Lange in 2025, received multiple offers from both PE groups and searchers, and sold to a PE platform for $3.25m — full asking price — in late 2025, rolling 7% equity and staying on with the business. His core advice: buy clean books, price for the business you want to be, hire managers far sooner than feels comfortable, and don't overpay competing with PE capital you can't match.

Deal facts

purchase price: $100k (McConnell Air Conditioning)
revenue: ~$2m+ at time of sale (grew from sub-$200k); sold for $3.25m
financing structure: SBA 7(a) loan for acquisition; sold to PE platform for $3.25m (93% cash, 7% rolled equity)
notes: Business purchased for $100k including a 2020 Mercedes Sprinter worth ~$50k; effective goodwill/phone number cost ~$50k. Corey simultaneously launched his own HVAC brand 'Cool by Design' and rolled McConnell Air into it. Also made a smaller second acquisition via revenue-share arrangement (details not disclosed). Sold at full asking price of $3.25m to a PE-backed home services platform in late 2025, approximately 4 years after founding. Retained 7% equity in the platform and stayed on post-close.

Why this business

Corey grew up in HVAC — his father worked in the trade and later ran a family HVAC business where Corey worked from apprentice up to general manager. When a plan to buy the family business fell apart in December 2021, he pivoted to buy McConnell Air, a nearby competitor he had already been in contact with. The value he saw was the 1975 phone number and sticker-branded customer base that would make phones ring from day one, plus a 2020 Mercedes Sprinter worth roughly half the $100k purchase price. He already held his Florida contractor license, which gave him an immediate head start.

What's working

Partnering with a digital marketing company that specialized in home service trades — getting phones ringing was the foundation of all growth
Pricing at a premium from the start, positioning as a five-star service provider rather than the lowest bidder, which supported margins and future saleability
Keeping clean books, paying taxes correctly, and separating personal from business expenses — deliberately building a saleable asset from day one
Leveraging subcontractor relationships for installs early on to keep truck count, insurance, and headcount lean while still capturing revenue
Hiring a field manager and then an office manager, which freed Corey from 80-hour weeks and allowed him to work on the business rather than in it
Retaining the former owner's son as a technician post-acquisition, providing technical continuity and customer relationship preservation with the McConnell customer base
Being plugged into the HVAC industry social networks and having a pulse on PE consolidation trends, which informed the decision to sell while multiples were still strong
Being located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida — Southeast Florida benefited from continued population inflow from the Northeast and California, extending the COVID-era demand wave longer than other markets

What's hard

Waited too long to hire key managers — worked 80-hour weeks for roughly the first two-plus years and believes he could have grown twice as fast if he had hired sooner
Owner-dependency was a real risk: Corey was doing field sales, back-office work, ordering, and firefighting all simultaneously, leaving the business fragile and unsellable
Customer experience started to slip under the weight of too much on one person, which ultimately forced the decision to hire management
Being an industry insider made it hard to resist getting back in the truck — the temptation to just do things himself was a persistent drag on building systems
Competing on price in a market returning to normal post-COVID is difficult when positioning as a premium provider with 3-5 competitor bids on most jobs
Did not experience a catastrophic 'fetal position' moment, but describes entrepreneurship as doing 90% of things you don't want to do, heavy sacrifice of time with family and friends, and the highest highs and lowest lows

Notable quotes

The low price company is not going to be saleable, the profit margin's not going to be there. You know, we always as painful as it is, you got to have your books straight, pay your taxes right if you want to have a saleable business.

I was just too busy chopping down trees to sharpen my axe. I was in the weeds.

You don't have to build a mammoth business to have a life-changing exit.

If I can take a $1 million company and bring it to five, there's a lot more upside there. Yeah, probably a lot more work in the trenches, but I think I'll still be up for it.