Brian Scudamore is the founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK and O2E Brands, reflecting on hiring operational leadership to scale beyond his own capabilities.
Assertion Supported
Scudamore: Fired entire 11-person team at 1-800-GOT-JUNK over culture
“It was the day I fired my entire team. Now, literally, I didn't preserve one. There were 11 people in the company. I always say that one bad apple spoils the whole bunch, and I think I had nine out of 11 that were bad apples. Now, not bad human beings, but jus…”
Insight
Scudamore: Scaling a business to $1 billion is easier than $1 million
“The easiest is a billion. The hardest is a million. From a million, it starts to get easier at ten million, easier at a hundred, and even easier yet at a billion. That blew my mind, but it actually has proven in my situation as we're two-thirds of the way to a…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Scudamore: 1-800-GOT-JUNK's appearance on Ellen produced zero customer calls
“Now, by total contrast, the biggest show in the last year on daytime TV was Ellen, and it was crickets. It was absolute crickets.”
Insight
Scudamore: Brand pricing power more than offsets franchisee royalties
“They're gonna find that with one 800 got junk, they're gonna charge more. And that incremental value that you get being able to charge more is because of a premium brand that we've created that has huge credibility. So that incremental amount more than covers …”
Insight
Scudamore: The best local service companies are almost always the most expensive
“In services, it doesn't work that way. The biggest and the best in every market, let's call it HVAC or window washing, doesn't matter, is usually generally the most expensive or close to the most expensive, because it costs a lot of money to find great people.”
What-if
Scudamore: The business would have bankrupted without outside leadership
“I couldn't have done that. We would have lost the business. We would have bankrupted it.”