United Rentals Rapid Growth
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A story about how Bradley Jacobs grew United Rentals from startup to the largest equipment rental company in the world through acquisitions and organic growth.
"We got there partly through acquisitions, partly through organic growth by developing greenfield locations. We grew using the same strategy at United - we bought about two-thirds of the branch locations and cold started another third from scratch. I actually prefer cold starts.
The business plan for United Rentals was to become the largest equipment rental company in the world and leverage our purchasing power, branding, and other advantages of size. Within 13 months we became number 1, leapfrogging Hertz which had become the number one equipment rental business in 1965.
We went fast. We went public fast. We formed the company on Labor Day weekend and we were trading on the New York Stock Exchange by December. Merrill Lynch said it was the fastest IPO they had ever seen.
I stepped down from United Rentals in 2007, just 5 years after starting. When I stepped down, United Rentals grew to $4 billion in revenue and $1.2 billion in EBITDA. Today their market cap is $25 billion."
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.