Yan Vinarskiy·July 17, 2025

From Searcher to Sponsor: How to Buy a $22m Business | Yan Vinarskiy Interview

Yan Vinarskiy, a first-generation American and former Accenture/tech/boutique-consulting professional based in Chicago, set out as a self-funded searcher targeting a $750k-$1.5M SDE home services or light manufacturing business via buy-side broker Calder Capital. Within 5 months Calder introduced him to Floor Guard, a 35-year-old Chicagoland epoxy coating manufacturer with $3.7M EBITDA — far outside his original criteria — whose founders had deliberately understated their size. After a pivotal 30-minute call with independent sponsor Nicholas James, Yan restructured the deal entirely: he raised $7.5M in equity (including $1.5M of his own savings and a rolled deal fee), secured $13.6M in interest-only SBIC debt split between Oxer Capital and Everside Capital, and closed at $22M (5.9x EBITDA) with no personal guarantee. With ~30% ownership and 20% carry above a 10% preferred return, Yan serves as CEO and day-to-day operator — an atypical operator-sponsor hybrid rather than a traditional dealmaker. His primary growth thesis is expanding Floor Guard's distribution from direct e-commerce to a network of independently owned, Floor Guard-branded local distributors, which is driving volume growth but creating a near-term profitability J-curve. The episode is a detailed case study in the mechanics and psychology of transitioning from a self-funded search to an independent sponsor deal structure.

Deal facts

purchase price: $22 million
multiple: 5.9x EBITDA
sde ebitda: EBITDA $3.7 million
revenue: $15 million (chemical/product revenue)
financing structure: $7.5 million equity raise (including $1.5M personal + deal fee rolled as equity) + $13.6 million SBIC debt split equally between Oxer Capital and Everside Capital + seller note; interest-only payments for first 5 years
notes: Equity ownership ~30% (personal equity check + $500k deal fee rolled in); 20% carried interest above 10% preferred return. No personal guarantee. Husband-and-wife founder team selling. Business is Chicago-area epoxy coating manufacturer (Floor Guard) with two units: manufacturing/distribution (~95% of revenue) and installation (~5%).

Why this business

Yan was attracted to businesses that already had a proven concept and just needed scale, marketing, sales support, and professionalization — that felt less risky than starting from scratch. He originally targeted home services or light manufacturing in the Chicago area. Floor Guard emerged through his buy-side broker and was much larger than his original criteria; he pivoted to the independent sponsor model specifically to be able to acquire it. He fell in love with the company after the on-site visit, saw clear growth opportunities in expanding from direct e-commerce to a local distribution channel model, and believed the epoxy coatings industry was underpenetrated and had significant tailwinds.

What's working

Distribution channel expansion: shifting from direct e-commerce to independent local distributors (Floor Guard-branded stores) is driving 20-30% volume increases and unlocking access to a much larger contractor market that can't or won't buy in bulk
Installation business turnaround: digital marketing basics (website, fast lead response, call service) turned a seasonally unprofitable unit into consistently generating $40-50k net income per month
Interest-only SBIC debt structure frees up significant cash flow to reinvest in growth initiatives rather than servicing principal
Strong existing brand and product differentiation: Floor Guard's slow-curing polyaspartic (Slogo) gives contractors 60 minutes of working time vs. 5-10 minutes for legacy products, a genuine technological advantage built over 35 years
Retained COO (Nick) who was the general manager under prior owners, providing operational continuity and insider knowledge
Board of directors and investor network providing strategic support, introductions, and accountability rather than feeling like overbearing oversight

What's hard

Running two business units simultaneously from day one felt like running 1.75 separate businesses — the installation unit alone demands owner-operator-level time at a scale many SBA searchers would recognize as their entire business
The independent sponsor fundraising process was grueling: building the full pitch deck and LBO model himself, taking dozens of investor calls over 4-6 weeks while the LOI clock was ticking, and hemorrhaging $75k+ in diligence costs with no certainty of closing
Pivoting from a planned SBA/self-funded searcher mindset to independent sponsor economics required a psychological shift — accepting ~30% ownership, a board with removal rights, and a mandate to exit within 5-7 years
Distribution channel transition creates a J-curve: giving up direct sales in distributor territories temporarily cannibalizes revenue and compresses profitability until distributors build their own customer bases
Cash flow anxiety in the early months despite the larger business scale — the first payroll cycles and debt service payments were emotionally harder than anticipated

Notable quotes

I think the biggest advice is knowing what I know now I would always buy bigger and get into bigger companies. I think that there's — and I'm not talking about you know $10 million companies but 2 million to three to four million I think is a really nice range because of EBITDA.

When they told floor guard — they said hey you know we're north of $1 million in EBITDA. Well, that's one way of saying it. What they were was really $3.7 million in EBITDA. So, they were probably the only owners that I've ever run across or ever heard of that undersold profitability of their business.

I had an oh crap moment where I was like okay well that was nice. I'm glad I fell in love with this company and now I can go wave goodbye and go find the next one.

A deal wants to die. I certainly felt like that — it was 15 different ways the deal wants to die and you're just trying to keep it alive as much as you can. Meanwhile kind of hemorrhaging money left and right as you keep going through that process.