🎙️ Guest: Jacob Horton, Multi-Unit Franchisee at Scenthound and Co-Founder of SBA Source

📍 Location: Birmingham, AL & Nashville, TN

If you’re a multi-unit franchisee considering selling your locations, get in touch https://www.fdcapitalgroup.com/

Interested in buying a franchise? Reach out here: https://www.frandawgs.com/buy-a-franchise

Jacob Horton went from PowerPoint presentations to puppy baths, and built the #1 Scenthound location in the country.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why Jacob left nuclear engineering and consulting to dive into franchising
• The turning point that made him abandon a traditional acquisition search in favor of building a pet grooming empire
• How he evaluated over a dozen franchises before choosing Scenthound
• The systems he built to drive over 1,000+ active members at a single location
• What he’s learned from scaling to 6 stores (on the way to 20)
• How a homegrown call center and sales CRM became his unfair advantage
• His new startup: SBA Source, the software platform simplifying SBA loans for franchisees

Jacob’s business is proof that boring, recurring revenue models—paired with operational excellence—can create serious compounding growth.

• Opened 6 Scenthound locations in 3 years
• Averaging $185K in four-wall EBITDA per location
• Built a 5-person in-house sales team + call center
• Generated 1,000+ members at his top location
• Recently launched SBA Source to fix the broken SBA loan process

• SBA Source
• Jacob's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lee-9803a480/

• [00:00] Jacob’s journey from nuclear engineering to franchising
• [06:00] Why he abandoned the ETA path
• [09:00] The business case for pet grooming (vs. daycare)
• [13:30] Building trust and loyalty through health-focused grooming
• [15:00] Opening a Scenthound: real estate, pre-sale, and staffing strategy
• [19:00] How many members to break even (and to thrive)
• [20:00] The secret weapon: a custom-built call center + CRM
• [27:00] Evolution of store ops: from 2 units to 6 and beyond
• [33:00] His labor strategy—and how he built the best grooming team in town
• [39:00] The playbook for local marketing + Facebook lead gen
• [44:00] Why he started SBA Source and how it works
• [54:00] His long-term goal: 20 stores + building a legacy