Truc Nguyen, a Harvard-educated management consultant, bought two nail salons in Austin, Texas at ~1.5x SDE — a category priced at less than half the multiple of most main-street trades. Year one on the first salon: 33% revenue growth through professionalization — SOPs, customer database, consistent pricing, trained techs. Second salon closed within the year — ~$500K revenue, ~$90-100K SDE, ~$140K purchase. Self-funded, same playbook. The lesson: uncrowded categories stay uncrowded because most buyers can't or won't underwrite them.

Jordan walks a real BizBuySell Texas plumbing listing — 18 years in business, 6-person crew, $1.4M revenue, $220K SDE, asking $625K. The multiple works out to 2.84x, sitting right on top of the Texas plumbing median of 2.85x. Full SBA 7(a) math at 10% down, 9.3%, 10 years. Three DD priorities center on the Texas RMP license question, revenue mix, and fleet age.

Dom Smith left a $500K–$1M/yr private-equity job at 29 to buy Printmoz, a declining large-format printing business in Southern California, for ~$2.8M. Diligence, deal structure, and a 30–50% year-one turnaround.

A route-based landscaping and snow removal company in Elizabeth, New Jersey asking $199,999 on $75K of SDE. We run the SBA math, expose the buy-a-job trap, and land on a verdict.

Justus Luttig left venture capital to buy and merge an HVAC and a plumbing business in Dallas-Fort Worth — an ~$8M deal at 5.5x EBITDA, financed entirely without the SBA.

A residential HVAC company in Suffolk County, New York, listed at $1.49M on ~$400K SDE. We run the multiple, the full SBA math, and whether 3.7x is worth chasing.

Ryan left a finance-and-sales career to buy a 30-year-old shutter manufacturer in South Carolina for $5.5M, financed almost entirely with personally-guaranteed debt. Three years later it's grown from $3M to $4.7M at 32% EBITDA. The lesson: earn the confidence before you take the risk.

A Honda and Toyota auto repair specialist in Walnut, CA, asking $258,000 on $150,000 of cash flow — a 1.72x multiple that sits below the market floor. We run the SBA math and figure out whether that price is an opportunity or a warning.

Sarah and Matthew — childhood friends, aerospace engineers, and former VCs — bought the only auto repair shop in Aspen, CO for $1.5M and survived their manager quitting six weeks after close. Source: SMB Deal Hunter (published 2026-06-12).

A 40-year-old residential and commercial HVAC company in Austin, TX. Asking $675,000 on $254,696 average annual cash flow. Verdict: PURSUE, pending year-by-year SDE confirmation.