Detail Mavericks ATX: $9K Term Loan to Maximize a One-Van Detailing Business

Nathan: You want to launch a small business and spend the least amount of money and get started as fast as possible. What about a mobile detailing company? It’s your van you drive around and you clean cars all day. How big could this business be in 2, 3, 5 years? Jacob: 5 to 10 million annually. Nathan: My hope is my money plus his ideas for expansion can yield a big return. We have to get as many sales as possible through this car. How do we get this car making, you know, five grand a month? This is going to be pretty aggressive. So you have to put your money where your mouth is on this. Let me make you an offer. Nathan: All right, guys. We’re here in Austin, Texas. I’m standing in a parking garage at a major apartment complex. There’s 500 cars parked in here. The question is, who cleans these cars? Jacob, how are you? Jacob: I’m doing great. Nathan: This is the home office, huh? Jacob: Yeah, this is the mobile unit. It’s our standard van. Nathan: What does the business sell? Jacob: Detailing services. Interior and exterior. Vacuum, wipe down all the surfaces, cup holder detailing, air vent detailing, shampoo, steam cleaning, extraction. Exteriors include clay bar, chemical decontamination, paint correction, ceramic coating. Nathan: What do you charge on average for one cleaning? Jacob: $150 to $260 per detail. The most someone’s ever paid is around $800 to $850 — premium ceramic. The cheapest is our basic Maverick wash at $75 to $110. Nathan: When did you launch? Jacob: Last year in January. I purchased the LLC. I had no detailing experience. I saw a stagnated approach where there wasn’t one major competitor — a lot of small to midsize ones in this market. Nathan: Did you grow up in cars? Jacob: No. I worked as an Uber driver where I had to maintain my car. Nathan: Best week as an Uber driver? Jacob: 1,300 to 1,500 depending on the city. Nathan: Best week with car detailing? Jacob: 3 to 5,000. Nathan: What has been your best week so far since you launched in 2024? Jacob: Close to about 1,500. We set up a popup with a middle school up in Pflugerville. Nathan: Help me understand the relationship with Northshore Apartments. Jacob: I’m a preferred vendor. They view my company as an additional resource for residents. I can set up marketing events, use ad space on the lobby TVs and one of the floors. This relationship has helped me partner with 700 River — another complex on Rainy Street. Nathan: How much revenue will you do in 2025? Jacob: $25,000. Nathan: Faster or slower than plan? Jacob: A tad bit slower. We knew it was going to be slow to start. We wanted to build out organically with SEO. We don’t do paid advertising — strictly SEO, marketing events, social media. Once growth was where it needed to be, it would be organic and consistent. Nathan: What keywords are you optimized for? Jacob: Ceramic coating, interior, exterior detailing, paint correction in different areas in Austin. Nathan: How do you decide what keywords to optimize for? Jacob: We work with a marketing agency. They suggest popular keywords used here in Austin, and we adjust strategy. Nathan: How much do you pay them? Jacob: $225 a month. Nathan: Full-time employees? Jacob: One man, a plan in a van. Nathan: Total spent on the business so far? Jacob: About $25,000. Major cost is the vehicle — purchased September of last year for around $9,800. Water tank $300 to $400. Pressure washer $400 to $600. The 9500-watt generator was the biggest equipment cost — $1,400 used on Facebook Marketplace. Air compressor, polishers, brushes, chemicals. Nathan: Year-to-date is $25,000 of sales. Best month? Jacob: A little over $3,000. Nathan: How many cleanings? Jacob: About 27. Nathan: How big could this business be just with this one truck and one tech? Jacob: Around $50,000 in revenue annually. Nathan: With a 2-tech model? Jacob: It cuts detailing time in half, allowing double bookings per day. Optimal scaling is one van at $25K–$35K with two techs. Nathan: How big could this business be in 2 to 5 years? Jacob: $5 to $10 million annually. 12 vans, three detailing trucks, plus a physical shop. Nathan: Do you have capital needs? Jacob: I’m focusing on a rebrand for 2026. My details are high quality and value, but pricing doesn’t reflect it. Basic up to $150–$200, total packages $280–$320, top tier $1,000–$1,300. Nathan: Why would you need extra capital just to increase prices? Jacob: I’d like to put about $1,500 a month toward paid advertisements. That fixes the business model. Nathan: How much marketing capital? Jacob: Around $38,000 in marketing spend. Nathan: $38,000 is more than your 2025 sales to date. I’d have to own a massive chunk of the business if I wrote you that check today. Is there a way we can get started smaller? Jacob: I’d also like to add additional units — a standard van and a detailing truck. High-margin vertical. Nathan: Why ahead of maximizing this van? You said this one’s doing $25K, but max capacity is $40–$50K. Jacob: One tech, one van — it doesn’t have the margins for aggressive growth. Nathan: What I don’t want to do is write a $30K–$40K check to expand into other markets before you’ve optimized what you have. So my question: are you open to me making an offer contingent on us investing in this van first? Jacob: If this offer goes well over the next 6 to 12 months and we scale to around $4,000 to $5,000 a month in this van, would you be willing to do another deal for expansion? Nathan: Yes. The first three months you average $5K of sales in this van, I’m happy to put X amount more in. Nathan: What would be the right amount of money for me to offer? Jacob: 5 to 6,000 for paid advertisements. And another 2,000 for equipment for a 2-tech model. Nathan: Equity or debt? Jacob: Debt for sure. The current valuation wouldn’t be feasible to give up equity. Nathan: I’ll offer $7,000 all cash today. You pay me back $8,000 over 12 months — I make $1,000 on my money. That allows us to build a relationship. Jacob: I think for the best return on your money, it would be through a 2-tech model. If we can make that closer to $9,000, I think you’ll have much better returns and we’ll get to $5,000 monthly faster. Nathan: Let me change my offer. This is going to be aggressive — you have to put your money where your mouth is on this. I’ll offer $9,000 today. I want to be paid back $11,000 over 12 months. And I will collateralize that loan with this truck. So if at the end of 12 months I’m not paid back, I could take over this truck or an amount of equipment equal to whatever you haven’t paid me back. Jacob: I’m open to that. Nathan: Jacob, do we have a deal? Jacob: I think we do. Nathan: All right, man. Let’s get to work. You’ve got so many ideas — I got to keep you focused. Stay focused. Let’s print money out of this bad boy and then rock and roll. Nathan: If you guys liked that deal, remember, new episodes drop every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe so you don’t miss out. Also, want to see more deals like this one? Click here to see the next deal immediately.