$1.2M (acquired 2020) to $8.35M total platform revenue (Year 5). An 18-month engagement as fractional CFO and strategic capital partner, structuring two acquisitions and building institutional-grade financial architecture.
No cost. 15 minutes. No obligation.
Our client is a U.S. Navy veteran and serial entrepreneur operating in the South Florida horticultural sector. In 2020, he acquired a premier landscaping company serving high-end equestrian properties for $1.2M in annual revenue. Within four years, under his direct leadership, the business scaled to over $3.6M per year: seven crews, a 4-acre nursery, and service lines spanning landscape maintenance, installation, irrigation, pest control, and tree trimming. By 2023, he was facing a challenge common to high-growth owner-operators: the business had outgrown reactive finance. He was making capital allocation decisions without a disciplined financial framework.
Two business entities with separate financials, no consolidated view of cash flow or EBITDA, and no mechanism to optimize capital deployment between them.
Attractive acquisition targets identified, but without the financial modeling, SBA loan structuring, and business plan documentation required to execute credibly with lenders.
Owner compensation had not been formally reviewed for QBI deduction optimization or retirement vehicle alignment, leaving meaningful annual tax savings on the table.
Nursery operations were not structured or projected in a way that contributed to a defensible enterprise valuation.
Growth was being captured in the business but not structured toward exit readiness or intergenerational wealth.
Keystone built the full commercial business plan required for SBA financing, including market analysis, operating projections, and a revenue model built around growing approximately 6,000 plants across three primary species.
A 28-year-old provider serving Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties, generating $1.6M in revenue at a 29 to 30% EBITDA margin. Keystone led transaction packaging: deal structuring, sources and uses, 5-year projections, and the complete SBA loan submission. The transaction was financed with a $1.107M SBA loan and $123K of the client's equity, valuing the acquisition at $1.2M, or 3.2x EBITDA.
A 10-acre wholesale nursery and landscape supply business built as the strategic linchpin of the platform, with a bottom-up revenue model by product SKU, blended margin analysis, and a 5-year EBITDA projection.
| Transaction | Structure | Total capital | Debt | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nursery property acquisition | SBA Loan | Approx. $200K | 90% | 10% |
| Irrigation and lighting acquisition | SBA Loan | $1.23M | 90% ($1.11M) | 10% ($123K) |
| Wholesale nursery expansion | SBA Loan | TBD | Approx. 90% | Approx. 10% |
Across all three entities, the platform is projected to generate over $8.35M in combined annual revenue by Year 5, with meaningful EBITDA across each division. The engagement delivered transaction packaging, financial modeling, capital strategy, vertical integration, and the groundwork for a consolidated view of platform EBITDA, a prerequisite for any eventual exit or recapitalization.
The Keystone Value Creation Assessment™ audits your last 12 to 36 months and gives you a written summary whether you engage us or not. If there is not a clear opportunity to create value, we will tell you directly.