Dan Angel, Jayme Moylan·May 1, 2025

Buying a Remote, 20 Year Old Business with $900k of SDE | Dan Angel and Jayme Moylan Interview

Dan Angel, a former hedge fund analyst with a CFA and University of Chicago Booth MBA, left finance in late 2022 after six years and self-funded a search, attending Sam Rosati's Pursuant Boot Camp. After one near-miss on a corporate sign manufacturer (which fell apart over working capital), he found Lodging Source, a 20-year-old, fully remote corporate travel management company in Charleston, SC, specializing in group, project, and extended-stay travel for construction companies, restaurant chains, and similar businesses. The business earns ~10% commission from hotels on ~$30m in gross bookings, charges clients nothing, and generates roughly $900k SDE on ~30-40% margins. Dan paid just over $4m (~4x the strong 2023 trailing SDE) using 80% SBA debt, 10% seller financing with a 2-year standby, and 10% equity. The central transition story involves Jayme Moylan, a 15-year employee and VP of Operations who had been running day-to-day operations for two years before the sale; her candid account of being blindsided by the closing news, feeling overwhelmed by Dan's intense early pace, and eventually finding a productive working dynamic with him provides rare first-person employee perspective on a business acquisition. Since buying, Dan grew the team from 15 to 23, rebuilt the internal ERP, and is up ~40% in gross bookings year-to-date at time of recording, though profitability dipped in 2024 during an intentional investment year.

Deal facts

purchase price: ~$4m (a little over four times SDE)
multiple: ~4x SDE (on 2023 trailing numbers; closer to 5x on 2022 numbers)
sde ebitda: SDE ~$900k
revenue: $3m net revenue (~$30m gross bookings)
financing structure: ~80% SBA loan + 10% seller financing (2-year standby, then 5-year amortization with bullet at year 3 post-standby) + 10% equity
notes: Business is Lodging Source, a remote corporate travel management company focused on group, project, and extended-stay travel. Founded 2004 in Charleston, SC. ~15 employees at acquisition; grown to 23 at time of recording. Gross bookings ~$30m/year, net revenue (10% commission) ~$3m, SDE margin ~30-40%. Dan self-funded; no outside investors.

Why this business

Dan was drawn to Lodging Source because it served a niche — extended-stay and project-based corporate travel — that he viewed as recession-resilient and COVID-resistant (construction jobs and restaurant openings must happen regardless). He had covered the travel industry at his hedge fund and recognized the major hotel chains' growing investment in extended-stay. The business had a compelling, no-cost-to-client model (commission paid by hotels), strong and reoccurring blue-chip client relationships, no capex, light working capital requirements, and a strong existing team led by a long-tenured VP of operations. It was also fully remote, allowing him to buy without relocating.

What's working

Commission-based model funded by hotels means the service is free to clients, creating a compelling value proposition and strong retention — some clients have been with Lodging Source since 2005.
Asset-light business with no inventory and minimal capex; main cost is labor, yielding 30-40% SDE margins on net revenue.
Seller had deliberately stepped back ~2 years before sale, with VP of operations Jayme Moylan effectively running day-to-day, reducing owner-dependency risk.
Strong pre-existing team culture in a fully remote 20+ person company — remote work is now a hiring advantage.
International hires (3 staff in the Philippines) added as admin support for travel reps, reducing grunt work and improving capacity without threatening US team jobs.
Technology investment: rebuilt internal ERP/database from Lodging Wizard 1.0 to 2.0, positioning for growth.
Year-over-year growth: mid-teens in 2022, mid-30s in 2023, high-single digits in 2024 (intentional investment year), up ~40% YTD at time of recording in 2025.
Scale advantage: pre-negotiated chain-wide discounts with Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, plus ability to negotiate locally with individual hotel franchisees for large jobs.

What's hard

Buying on 2023 trailing numbers during a high-growth year meant the multiple looked higher on a 2-year average basis — closer to 5x on 2022 numbers — requiring conviction that growth was real, not a COVID-rebound anomaly.
Diligencing culture and key-employee risk in a remote business is inherently difficult; Dan acknowledges he got somewhat lucky that the culture he thought he was buying actually existed.
Transition was rocky for Jayme Moylan: news delivered with no warning the day of close, she felt blindsided, disoriented, and overwhelmed with no time to plan or prepare her response.
Dan came in 'hot' — high energy, lots of questions and to-do lists early on (a late Sunday email with a long checklist) — which created overwhelm for the team even without making many formal changes.
Dan and Jayme had difficulty calibrating their working dynamic early on: she stepped back to give him space while he wanted her to step forward and push back; took months to find their rhythm.
Seller's extended presence during transition (continued on Lodging Source email, joining meetings) created ambiguity about leadership and allegiance for key staff.
Operating profit dipped slightly in 2024 due to intentional investment in headcount and technology; high leverage limits flexibility to reinvest.
Prior to Lodging Source, Dan's search near-miss on a corporate sign manufacturer fell apart due to working capital (cash tied up in AR and inventory), illustrating the importance of cash conversion cycle diligence.

Notable quotes

I couldn't believe that you could sort of just graduate from getting your MBA and go buy a company and become the CEO. It made no sense to me, but I was just, as I'm sure a lot of people have said before, sort of blown away by the concept.

I realized those funds were probably the smartest out there. But what am I actually doing? I'm investing in these companies, but I'm not actually creating any value. I'm not helping these companies actually grow.

I think growth isn't free. Chances are the seller was running the business at a pretty high margin level, and when you look at SDE, they were running it relatively bare bones. And you know, growth isn't free — you're going to have to reinvest. You're going to have to hire salespeople, you're going to have to get new technology. And all that costs money. And you have these debt payments.

It sort of in my hindsight mind felt like: okay, Monday 9:00 a.m., change the world. And it was very overwhelming at the time.