Joseph Ziolkowski·April 21, 2025

Hiding in Plain Sight on BizBuySell $800k SDE for 2x | Joseph Ziolkowski Interview

Joseph Ziolkowski is a 28-year-old Wisconsin-based entrepreneur who pivoted from real estate investing (grew to 130 rental units with a partner by age 25) into buying small businesses after discovering the ETA space through podcasts. His first acquisition was two corporate-owned restoration franchise territories in Central Florida, purchased in May 2023 for ~$515k (roughly 1.5x SDE including equipment) using SBA financing. After a rocky start — tight cash flow, a bad operations manager hire, and challenging insurance payment cycles — he stabilized the business and sold it nine months later for $1.1m, netting roughly $250k cash plus a $367k seller note. His second acquisition, Woodland Face (a wood veneer manufacturing company in Two Rivers, WI), was found on BizBuySell as an overlooked listing with minimal description that had been sitting for over 30 days. Closed in early 2025 for $1.4m (roughly 1.75x SDE), the deal included $2.6m in inventory and equipment worth over $1m, creating massive asset-backed downside protection. The business does $11-12m in revenue with ~$800-930k SDE, has never had a negative cash flow year since founding in 2002, and runs smoothly with 35 long-tenured employees and the seller's daughter staying on as de facto general manager. The central lesson across both deals: patient BizBuySell browsing for overlooked or under-described listings can yield dramatically below-market multiples, especially when sellers prioritize legacy and employee care over maximum price.

Deal facts

purchase price: Deal 1: $515k (restoration); Deal 2: $1.4m (wood veneer manufacturing)
multiple: Deal 1: ~1.5x SDE; Deal 2: ~1.75x SDE
sde ebitda: Deal 1: estimated $350-400k SDE; Deal 2: ~$800k SDE avg (2024: $930k)
revenue: Deal 1: $1.6-1.7m; Deal 2: $11-12m
financing structure: Deal 1: SBA loan (~11% variable) + working capital/LOC; Deal 2: 10% buyer equity, 10% seller note, 80% SBA loan (7.75% fixed 3 years) + $500k LOC
notes: Deal 1: Two Central Florida restoration territories (Melbourne + Ocala/Gainesville), closed May 2023, sold Feb 2024 for $1.1m (listed at $1.2m) with $367k seller note (5yr balloon, 7%). Net cash out ~$200-250k. Deal 2: Woodland Face wood veneer manufacturer in Two Rivers, WI (~30 min from Green Bay); purchase included $2.6m inventory and equipment worth $1m+; seller note structure on sale side of Deal 1 was ~$367k of $1.1m sale price.

Why this business

For Deal 1 (restoration): Joe had prior experience as a project manager in a restoration business, found two corporate-owned franchise territories selling at a fraction of market value (~1.5x SDE including equipment), and saw built-in equity similar to underpriced real estate deals. For Deal 2 (wood veneer manufacturing): found an old, sparse BizBuySell listing being overlooked by other buyers, with 20+ years of operating history, consistent $800k SDE, and an asking price of under 2x — he applied the same built-in-equity logic from real estate investing to business acquisitions.

What's working

Wood veneer manufacturing business (Deal 2) has run smoothly from day one: consistent $900k weekly backlog, strong customer demand, and no operational fires
Seller's daughter stayed on as a key manager with 15 years of institutional knowledge, providing continuity and stability through the transition
Custom ERP system built by the seller's wife provides excellent inventory tracking, accounts receivable management, and operational organization
Favorable payment terms: customers pay net-30, suppliers are on net-45, creating positive working capital dynamics unlike most trades/construction businesses
Business has never had a negative cash flow year in 20+ years, including through 2008-2009 and COVID-2020
Equipment and $2.6m inventory provide substantial asset value as a downside buffer — even in liquidation, Joe estimated the hard assets would cover his investment
Deal 1 (restoration): bought at ~1.5x SDE including equipment, sold 9 months later for $1.1m, walking away with ~$200-250k cash plus a $367k seller note
Using the same regional bank as the sellers for the SBA loan on Deal 2 dramatically simplified and accelerated the closing process
Business has a natural moat: wood veneer manufacturing requires deep expertise in wood grading and decades of supplier relationships; nearly impossible to start from scratch

What's hard

Deal 1 (restoration): negative cash flow cycle — paying plumber referral commissions upfront ($900 per referral), doing weeks of work, then waiting 45-90 days to get paid by insurance carriers
Deal 1: insurance carriers use their own software (Xactimate) and can reject line items if technicians fail to document work properly; lost ~$70-80k on a $230-240k hotel job due to incomplete documentation
Deal 1: hired an operations manager at $100k salary immediately without first learning the team's dynamics; personality clash led to conflict and eventual termination
Deal 1: managing two locations 2.5 hours apart as a first-time owner was logistically demanding, averaging 100-150 calls per day early on
Deal 1: lead dependency on plumber referrals creates a competitive, commission-driven dynamic that pressures margins in Florida specifically
Deal 2: significant customer concentration — top customer is ~40% of revenue; top 3-4 customers are ~80% of revenue
Deal 2: industry is too niche to find online resources, subreddits, or peer operators for diligence or operational learning; had to rely almost entirely on the seller for knowledge transfer
Deal 2: growth is constrained by production capacity, and expanding capacity risks adding overhead that becomes painful in downturns — the previous owner consciously stayed flat for 20 years for this reason

Notable quotes

I offered 1.35 and they accepted literally within I think a day or two.

I got really comfortable to fact I'm like man even if this business goes completely under I lose every customer I mean even in a liquidation sale I should be completely fine.

He kind of reminded me a few times he's like look you know I know you got the deal of a lifetime essentially.

I got an additional 1.6 million in inventory for 50,000 so I'm like yeah that's a no-brainer.

I think what was more mysterious then if he really knew so continue yeah so I think in kind of talking with him further on that I think the biggest thing to him was really seeing his employees taken care of.