Nicholas Donlin, 33
Owner, Zenith Design + Build, Des Moines metro, Iowa
2025 projected revenue: $7 mil
Donlin’s first business venture was making and selling antler lamps with his brother during junior high. The two eventually moved up to flipping cars and then, in the summer after high school, they flipped a house. “We made a few thousand bucks, and that gave us a taste for it,” Donlin recalls. He graduated college with an engineering degree in 2014, and founded Zenith just four years later. Expansion came at lightning speed, with the company growing from $500,000 to $7.2 million in less than three years. But such a massive increase also meant bumps in the road. “The people part was the hardest,” Donlin says. “When you’re solopreneur, you can be so adaptable...[but] once there’s a team of people the mindset and methodology is completely different. It’s about leading through others and having systems in place.” Today, Zenith goes to market with a cohesive, high-performing, 16-member team. Donlin credits his involvement with Remodelers Advantage for much of that success.
Ten-Year Vision: Donlin’s long-term goal is both ambitious and inspiring. He wants Zenith to be “the best design-build company in the Midwest,” and has clear criteria for what that means. Those benchmarks include revenue targets, company and staff recognition, profit sharing, goals for customer experience, and others.
Book Recommendation: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team