Trash Company's 48-Hour Launch
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A story about how Spencer Scott, a software entrepreneur, started a trash collection company after getting frustrated with his neighborhood's existing trash service.
"Spencer lives outside of Dallas and there was an issue where the trash collectors would leave their bins all over the place. He makes a Facebook post in the neighborhood group asking if anyone wanted to switch trash services. 150 people commented on that post.
He does some math and realizes the trash company is charging $50 a month for 300 houses. He makes another post saying 'In order for this to work we need 200 houses to sign up and commit to switching vendors. I know this is a huge ask and you're going to be taking on a risk on a new startup, but I can assure you we're gonna be light years better than cards. If we aren't, I'm sure they'll take us back.'
He creates a website with referral programs - if you refer a new customer you get a t-shirt, if you refer 10 customers you get one free month of trash pickup. Within 24-48 hours, he sets up a Stripe account and collects $15,000 in sales. With that money, he buys 200 trash bins.
Then he goes on Facebook Marketplace, searches within 500 miles and finds a garbage truck for sale for $40,000. He uses Amex credit to buy the truck without ever seeing it - just does a FaceTime with the seller. Now he's in business and tomorrow is his first day. He's gotta get up at 4am, it's one day a week."
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.