oday's story is a study in not judging a book by its cover.

Phil Koller bought Roman Enterprises, an automotive paint distribution business.

Now, Roman had about 7 customers.

It had essentially a single supplier.

And it had one — yes, just one — employee.

Undeterred, Phil looked closely at each of these features and more, and decided that he could accept and/or mitigate the risk.

And there was lots to love about Roman Enterprises.

I already mentioned that single employee, a feature that lives in both the pro and con columns.

There was also the $800k of SDE.

A reasonable valuation.

Sticky relationships.

And business-buyer fit. Running this business well is all about supply chain and inventory management, and Phil had deep experience doing just that.

Here he is, Phil Koller, owner of Roman Enterprises.