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Telling the stories of startup founders and creators and their unique journey. Each episode features actionable tips, practical advice and inspirational insight.
0:00
we're Community Driven right we're
0:01
member driven you're not a it's not a
0:03
membership right today with Ricardo
0:06
Regalado from uh from route I'm 99%
0:09
focused on Route and you guys really
0:12
didn't look or I seen the look and you
0:14
guys are like wait wait not 100% um but
0:17
then we alluded to 110 is the answer by
0:20
the way that we're looking for but but
0:22
what I alluded to was like I still need
0:23
to have 1% of my brain power available
0:26
for for Rosal a which is my family
0:28
cleaning business because the only way
0:30
I'm going to do you justice and the
0:32
investment and the the other investors
0:34
is by having a pulse of what's going on
0:36
in the industry I stay a breath to what
0:40
is happening because the minute you lose
0:42
that I'm I'm just another tech founder
0:44
that's trying to build technology for an
0:46
industry that we assume needs it we we
0:49
were talking about this with your team
0:50
before and this is godon truth I mean
0:53
this is the only time ir and I ever
0:55
agreed on the first phone call with a
0:58
Founder where we both said yeah we're
1:02
investing welcome to the founders
1:04
Journey podcast inspiration education
1:07
for Founders by
1:10
[Music]
1:15
Founders welcome back to the founders
1:17
Journey podcast this is not anything
1:20
like we normally do and I'm here with a
1:22
co-host who has never doesn't even ever
1:25
willing to be on camera with uh with Ira
1:27
Grossman here filling in for Peter Dean
1:29
so I and I are actually on site uh today
1:32
with Ricardo Regalado um from uh from
1:36
Route brand new uh business that
1:39
Evergreen just um just invested in
1:41
Evergreen Mountain Equity Partners which
1:43
is our fund just uh we just invested
1:46
really amazing story we've gotten to
1:47
know Ricardo and his story and we wanted
1:50
to kind of make that sort of a special
1:52
edition today of the podcast so Ricardo
1:54
thanks for uh thanks for joining us
1:56
thank you man I appreciate it two for
1:57
two Ira first that's right
2:01
I got two first so and we're actually
2:03
this is like a much I'll I'll post a
2:05
picture of where we are right now
2:06
because this is a way higher class
2:08
version of anything that we normally do
2:11
for the podcast normally it's uh I'm
2:13
sitting in like my my home office with
2:15
like a laptop in front of
2:17
me that's right that's right I just want
2:20
to start off you you've got this awesome
2:22
story about how you got into the
2:26
cleaning business your family started a
2:28
commercial cleaning business
2:30
um back a while ago it's become a
2:32
phenomenally successful commercial
2:34
cleaning business can talk about that a
2:35
little bit Yeah so the how it started is
2:39
my cousin Martin he had a franchise
2:42
himself so it really wasn't a family
2:44
business ourselves he had it it was a
2:47
franchise uh launched it came to us
2:50
multiple you know years of like the the
2:52
Christmas party Thanksgiving Easter
2:55
every get together was I want to go back
2:58
to mexicool I want to sell the business
2:59
I want to sell the the business I'm like
3:00
I got no idea how to run a business my
3:02
wife is a makeup artist no after second
3:05
year we're like hey I'm not happy babe
3:07
you're not happy Tony are you happy
3:09
let's do it so we acquired we took a
3:11
loan out you know all the money we had
3:14
in the bank bought his franchise and
3:16
that's how we got into the cleaning
3:18
industry was over 10 years ago um but
3:21
quickly sold the franchise back to the
3:24
franchiser and we officially started
3:26
Rosal a from scratch zero in 2015 so you
3:30
had the franchise you sold the franchise
3:31
back but there was the story I remember
3:33
you telling me and I are about this
3:34
right and kind of one of your real
3:36
passions behind why you were starting
3:38
that had to do with your family talk can
3:40
talk about that a bit Yeah well I mean
3:42
even if you fast forward to today I got
3:44
24 family members in the business so
3:46
obviously family is a big deal for us
3:48
I'm 100% Mexican so we all we like to do
3:51
things together my cousin at the time
3:53
you know he just he wasn't happy with
3:54
with his career and he had his wife
3:57
Becky who also we got introduced me and
4:00
my wife by Becky Becky was the person
4:01
who introduced us that was Tony's wife
4:04
and us four wanted to do something
4:06
together and we and we were like this
4:08
could be that we're all good friends
4:10
we're best friends my cousin's three
4:11
months apart he's like a brother uh and
4:14
we we took the plunge together and that
4:16
was really what said hey uh why work for
4:19
corporate if we all love each other and
4:21
have fun and enjoy and we're like
4:23
friends let's do it together right so
4:26
then so you started this thing you got
4:28
24 like this is the the essence of a
4:30
family business at this point right I
4:31
mean on the on the commercial clean
4:33
family too yeah I mean it's wild then
4:36
you went from there and you started rout
4:38
which is actually the company that
4:40
Evergreen uh invested in ion I I can
4:42
honestly say no nothing about commercial
4:44
cleaning um we can barely clean up after
4:47
our teach you how to launch a cleaning
4:48
company by the end of this
4:50
conversation what do you say man we we
4:52
we laun we're all risk
4:56
P recession it is way yeah it's way
4:59
easier than Tech business I can tell you
5:00
that um that's not at all true so talk
5:03
about how you then went from you go from
5:06
the commercial cleaning business you go
5:08
into route which is software company
5:11
what was kind of the Genesis there well
5:13
I mean we're from Chicago it's a very
5:15
you know there's a there's a big Tech
5:17
ecosystem here and in 2018 I was a part
5:21
of ihcc I always get props to Omar who
5:23
was the president of ihcc at the time
5:25
it's the Illinois Hispanic chamber of
5:26
commerce they happen to be on the second
5:30
or on the second floor of two floors
5:31
where 1871 was so 1871 is a huge
5:35
ecosystem I mean you got developers
5:38
software companies there right uh so
5:40
many it's it's a thriving community and
5:43
my wife I was at the time complaining
5:45
about the fact that you know we weren't
5:48
as efficient as I wanted to be and you
5:50
know we were stuck she's like Rick
5:52
you're always talking about tech and you
5:54
use all this technology within the
5:55
business go build an app I was like I
5:59
mean I don't think I can I am not a
6:01
developer and Omar at ihcc said Rick
6:04
there is this upcoming incubator and
6:06
Pitch competition that Capital One is
6:07
doing with it's called catapult this was
6:09
the first cohort he's like just do it
6:12
man what do you got to lose I did it and
6:15
we are here today I won the pitch with a
6:17
bunch of wireframes $40,000 and the
6:20
story started in
6:22
201920 so what is route to so route is a
6:26
platform of business management tools
6:28
that allows cleaning business owners to
6:29
connect grow and share with their
6:31
Community we're very Community Driven uh
6:34
our motto is you know improving the
6:36
business of cleaning because software is
6:38
just one of the things we do uh but we
6:40
are a platform of you know education
6:42
Community software tools mentorship uh
6:46
podcast learning because there is a lot
6:48
of facets of the cleaning industry that
6:50
I learned personally to build a cleaning
6:53
company in scale you need multiple
6:56
things not one thing can get you there
6:58
uh you need a lot so we're there to help
7:00
cleaning business owners grow talk more
7:02
about that so what what are the hard
7:04
bits about running that business
7:06
commercial cleaning business what's the
7:08
hard bits and what can route sort of do
7:10
to impact that so our goal is to you
7:12
know there's different aspects you got
7:14
marketing HR sales Finance uh so many
7:18
different aspects that at first pen and
7:20
paper is great you got the processes
7:22
down got some systems down right
7:23
everybody talks about processing systems
7:25
well what we did is digitized that and
7:27
we BR te we brought technology together
7:29
with the with the pen and paper systems
7:32
to automate a lot of different things
7:34
and and save you time time and money uh
7:36
something that we we used to just say
7:38
now we really live it is like with route
7:41
we want you to be able to check out at 6
7:43
PM go home with your family and spend
7:44
time with your kids yep software allows
7:46
you to do that because it gives you
7:48
visibility so we have three products
7:49
today uh bid which is a digital
7:52
walkthrough tool and a proposal
7:53
generator and bidding calculator so in a
7:56
nutshell it's a sales toolkit which
7:58
cleaning business owners need in order
7:59
to grow it opens up the opportunities to
8:01
to go invest more into your business y
8:04
pulse comes in to then manage the
8:06
day-to-day operations so think of like
8:09
clock in and clock out uh Supply
8:11
Inventory management your calendar of
8:13
different jobs and projects a light CRM
8:17
where you can manage your location data
8:19
and client information uh and then invo
8:21
invoicing and billing right so the the
8:23
in between right you won the account now
8:25
you got to manage the account that's
8:27
pulse and then the third piece that we
8:29
launched recently was Marketplace which
8:31
again was another pain point and it
8:33
allows a contractor to scale in my
8:36
opinion is scale their business because
8:38
subcontracting in our space is the only
8:41
way you can get into other markets
8:42
because you're physically not there A
8:44
lot of times in the blue collar space in
8:46
cleaning you have your your city that
8:48
you operate out of you live there you
8:50
don't really venture out but you can
8:52
with route and with the marketplace cuz
8:54
now you can post opportunities across
8:56
the country and allow other smaller
8:58
local cleaning companies to apply and
9:01
you start to scale your business in
9:02
other markets that normally you would
9:04
not have had the opportunity to yeah so
9:06
I mean you're you're actually letting
9:07
these companies that are typically much
9:09
smaller than your your original cleaning
9:12
company right you're you're allowing
9:14
these companies to talk to start to tap
9:16
into these huge markets right correct so
9:18
you're I mean you're really growing
9:19
those businesses you're growing your
9:21
business and those because they don't
9:23
get a seat at the table sometimes right
9:24
rfps for a smaller company it's tough it
9:27
was hard for us but now since we can win
9:30
an account as a prime yep the subs can
9:33
benefit from winning that business in
9:35
their local area yep that's how the big
9:37
guys grow yeah I was going to ask a
9:39
little bit talk talk a little bit more
9:40
about the customer so you you obviously
9:42
understand the the mid and larger size
9:45
businesses but your route is really an
9:47
opportunity for small businesses yeah
9:49
right so how do you deal with the how do
9:51
you deal with the fact that they might
9:52
not be tax Agony and do you have to
9:55
really focus on ease of use in addition
9:56
to the functionality how do you get
9:58
people comfortable with this man that's
10:00
that's like the essence of what we've
10:01
been dealing with righten now right is
10:03
at first you build Tech you think
10:04
anybody oh here download the app start
10:06
using Tech right that was me about two
10:08
and a half years ago uh you start to uh
10:11
be empathetic on the user experience now
10:13
right again I've been there I was I
10:15
started when I was uh you know small so
10:18
what we wanted to do is make it more
10:19
simplified for them again most of them
10:21
are doing a lot of these things already
10:23
it's just they're not using technology
10:26
to enhance that system and if you know
10:28
our IND industry 93% of the cleaning
10:30
industry in the US is under 1 million in
10:33
Revenue why that's so important is under
10:35
million in Revenue you you are still in
10:38
a in a growth Mo you know mindset where
10:40
right you are still probably doing the
10:42
walkthroughs you're most likely the
10:44
salesperson for the company you probably
10:46
have a manager or an Ops director right
10:48
you have help but but you're still
10:51
involved you're running in the
10:52
day-to-day with technology it it allows
10:55
you to take a step back so what I
10:56
learned I implemented in route um we
10:59
didn't nail everything though we learned
11:01
a lot I gotten user experience um we
11:03
need to still continue to simplify but
11:06
we we used ourself as a case study and a
11:08
lot of other peers that I have to say it
11:11
works right and and this is how you
11:14
should use it to to level up because
11:16
again I just said the numbers it's very
11:18
fragmented 7% makes up for 90% of the 90
11:24
billion doll in this space the the
11:26
wrestling guys are fighting to try to
11:28
get there so so I love this concept that
11:31
you you came out of the space you
11:33
created a solution to help solve a
11:36
problem in your own business now you can
11:38
commercialize that so talk about one of
11:39
the secret sauce here is that you have
11:42
this entity right your family business
11:45
where you can test drive what you're
11:46
doing so talk a little bit about how you
11:48
interact with that side of your that
11:51
side of your brain and that side of your
11:52
business and I wanted to give you two
11:54
some Kudos too because I don't know if
11:55
you guys remember exactly like our we
11:57
always take Kudos we love that
12:00
appr our first our first conversation
12:03
and it's funny because I said this to a
12:05
few other VCS right and like Carter who
12:07
I told you about fla and who's our lead
12:09
VC and and I and I bring this up because
12:11
I told you to is uh I'm 99% focused on
12:16
Route and you guys really didn't look or
12:19
I seen the look and you guys are like
12:20
wait wait not
12:22
100% but then we alluded to 110 is the
12:25
answer by the way that we're looking for
12:27
but but what I alluded to was like I
12:28
still need to have 1% of my brain power
12:31
available for for Rosal a which is my
12:33
family cleaning business because that's
12:35
the only way I'm going to do you justice
12:37
and the investment and the the other
12:39
investors is by having a pulse of what's
12:41
going on in the industry that I stay a
12:44
breath to what is happening because the
12:46
minute you lose that I'm I'm just
12:49
another tech founder that's trying to
12:50
build technology for an industry that we
12:53
assume needs it but like how do they
12:55
need it and what capacity do they need
12:58
actually we've invested in other
12:59
companies like that we've seen that
13:00
before and you know one of the one of
13:03
the challenges I think you see when
13:04
company when people go and they start
13:06
tech companies right they will take an
13:08
approach where hey I've maybe there's
13:11
this problem that might occur but they
13:14
start building a solution for a problem
13:16
that may or may not occur right and that
13:18
solution is a tech solution and what
13:21
we've seen you know several times with
13:24
companies in our portfolio and others I
13:26
mean Cal is a great example of this
13:28
right Cal's we invested in a while ago
13:30
phenomenally successful Staffing
13:32
business uh Samir who's the great
13:35
founder phen built a phenomenally
13:37
successful Staffing business and then
13:39
spun out a piece of software that his
13:41
Staffing business became the first
13:43
customer right and they become the
13:44
constant testing lab for you know for
13:48
further Innovation and things like that
13:49
I think it's a it's a really it's a
13:51
brilliant way to start a business
13:52
because you you have an understanding of
13:55
the problem set in a whole different way
13:57
right than you know some coming into
13:59
this uh you know to the space from
14:01
outside whatever right if you were you
14:03
were saying Greg too anybody could build
14:05
software sure yeah absolutely absolutely
14:07
like that's what we were talking about
14:08
before we started right like we could we
14:10
could come in and ir and I know how to
14:12
build software I mean I don't know how
14:13
to write code but I mean we know how to
14:14
get software built right we could
14:17
replicate just about any piece of
14:18
software probably give us a couple weeks
14:21
that's not the secret sauce like I said
14:23
right that's not the part of this that
14:25
is actually the important part I think
14:29
you know you're I don't know if you're
14:31
in the way here on and what it says but
14:33
this this improving the business of
14:35
cleaning right what what is so
14:39
interesting to me when you look at this
14:40
business I'd love you to just expand on
14:42
this a little bit you said before we
14:44
started this interview that you're not
14:47
building a software company no you're
14:49
building a community yep right to talk
14:52
about this talk about that because it's
14:54
it's such a radical departure from the
14:57
way that most
14:59
software companies kind of think about
15:01
themselves right that tend that tend to
15:02
be very Tech first talk about that all
15:04
these metrics are about like users and
15:06
customer acquisition and this and that
15:08
and it's like for us it's we're
15:10
Community Driven right we're member
15:12
driven you're not a it's not a
15:13
membership right but the fact that we're
15:16
community-driven is software happens to
15:17
be one of the things route does right
15:20
but what we do is foster a community of
15:23
individuals that I mean I've been at
15:25
every stage I'm still looking forward to
15:27
get to more stages but everybody in the
15:29
community we've got large Enterprise
15:30
medium small mom and pop Soul
15:33
Proprietors like there's so many levels
15:35
that what happens is you try to build
15:38
for a niche and then the niche adapts
15:40
but then they grow out they graduate or
15:42
then you miss the boat on the earlier
15:44
earlier adopters by being Community
15:47
Driven we serve the community yeah and
15:49
we meet them where they are right
15:51
they're they may come into route and and
15:53
we were talking earlier like they're
15:55
looking for contracts awesome we can
15:57
assist you're coming in route you're
15:59
looking for mentorship awesome here we
16:01
again like-minded individuals can assist
16:04
so by approaching it that way a user
16:07
profile is not a general user persona
16:09
it's you are a cleaning business
16:11
professional or a cleaning business
16:13
owner in the industry that we have a
16:16
community of of solutions a solution
16:19
doesn't have to be technical right a
16:21
solution could also be a connection with
16:22
somebody else in the industry yeah yep
16:24
and that Community is I mean that that
16:26
Community then some of that you're
16:28
you're monetizing through the software
16:31
most of it you're not right most of it
16:33
is just about doing the right thing for
16:35
people in the space a lot of people in
16:36
my industry say I'm the worst salesman
16:38
for a route I do not sell route I'm
16:40
getting better at though I'm getting
16:41
better but uh because I I didn't want to
16:43
lead with the sale right it's like we're
16:45
leading with value first right you know
16:47
you have to you're almost leading with
16:49
giving back right and just giving back
16:51
to the community over and over again and
16:53
I think you know you contrast that with
16:55
the way that a lot of a lot of
16:57
businesses you know will start up we you
17:00
you have this piece of tech and then
17:01
it's I'm going to go out and I'm going
17:03
to try to get somebody you know and
17:04
you're running Google ads and you're
17:06
doing things like that and again not to
17:07
say that that stuff doesn't play role it
17:09
obviously certainly does right it's a
17:11
channel you know we we were talking
17:13
about this with your team before and
17:15
this is godson's truth I mean this is
17:16
the only time ir and I ever agreed on
17:19
the first phone call with a Founder
17:23
where we both said yeah we're investing
17:25
and we told you like that never happens
17:27
right we go to our investment committee
17:29
do things like that but because the
17:30
mission is so compelling right and that
17:33
that mission of we're going to take this
17:35
to Market by adding value we're going to
17:38
take this to Market by community and
17:40
then and eventually that is going to
17:42
come back to us in the form of people
17:44
using our software and things like that
17:46
but that but the goal is that value yeah
17:49
and you have it it's so compelling
17:51
because you have this sort of
17:52
three-legged stool you've got this
17:54
direct market knowledge awareness you
17:56
lived it you went through the ups and
17:58
down the pain you built an entity in the
18:00
in the industry you know the industry
18:02
you're now plugged into the industry
18:04
you're in every major event there is it
18:06
sounds like I I don't know how you
18:07
replicate yourself you've got a built-in
18:10
feedback loop which that's I mean you
18:13
shouldn't underestimate the value of
18:15
that feedback loop being able to go out
18:17
upgrade your solution and ask your own
18:21
entity what they think about so you've
18:22
got this buildin feedback loop and
18:24
you've got a value First Community First
18:26
approach to Bringing people into this
18:28
family and providing a solution for them
18:30
whatever that solution means some of
18:33
that's going to turn into route
18:34
customers for sure and over time we
18:36
firmly believe it's going to grow into a
18:38
lot what I think is interesting also is
18:41
one of the components of your software
18:43
suite you've got bid which is sort of
18:44
block and tackle of helped me actually
18:47
respond to an opportunity and create a
18:49
professional level bid even if I'm small
18:51
I can look bigger which I think that in
18:53
of itself is value you've got the sort
18:56
of pulse operating component of it is
18:58
how do I run my business more
18:59
efficiently with tech but then
19:01
Marketplace to me feels like sort of an
19:03
outgrowth of this community concept so
19:07
talk a little bit about so people who
19:08
don't understand your industry as much
19:10
talk about really what Marketplace is
19:12
doing because I think you're doing
19:13
something pretty pretty significant in
19:16
the market there no man that's that's
19:17
that's my baby right there that's that's
19:19
our differentiator in my opinion uh with
19:21
Marketplace the the first first initial
19:24
idea was uh digitize Prime and
19:27
subcontracting so a lot of people well
19:28
you know marketplaces are I'm not
19:30
Reinventing the wheel many exist your
19:32
traditional is a commercial client needs
19:34
cleaning services they would go to the
19:36
market to find a cleaning company in
19:38
their area no problem there's so much
19:40
business just with Prime and
19:42
subcontracting though like primes have
19:44
contracts that they can't serve in all
19:46
these rural smaller loc local areas and
19:50
I've seen it firsthand so I was like man
19:51
I'd love to just bring that online and
19:53
allow people to connect and vet each
19:56
other in a Marketplace effect and be
19:59
fellow contractors so in in our
20:01
Marketplace you'll see the we don't call
20:03
you a prim or sub you're a contractor
20:05
and why because a small contractor can
20:08
also be a prime you can have a contract
20:10
with a relationship of a client and they
20:12
may say to you hey Ira I love how you
20:15
guys operate here in St Louis we're
20:17
going to the celb can you can I still
20:20
work with you and maybe you find
20:22
somebody over there right that couldn't
20:23
be done digitally today right there
20:26
there's some NW works out there but that
20:27
was the first
20:29
concept of we're going to bring that to
20:31
the marketplace awesome I have great
20:33
relationships with suppliers and
20:35
manufacturers and they're like Rick man
20:37
we've got a problem connecting with the
20:39
small contractor right we would uh a a
20:42
team came to one of our events for
20:44
cleaning a cocktails and they're like we
20:46
asked out of the 130 contractors that
20:48
were there 36 of them knew who we were
20:51
this is a large industry brand and they
20:53
were pissed they're like how how do they
20:55
not know where to buy our our supply or
20:58
our chemical
20:59
and I we like man there's an opportunity
21:01
there what if we you know again not you
21:03
can't buy supplies on the marketplace uh
21:06
but what if we're a connector and we can
21:08
be a conduit of education for you know
21:10
again the map it's all map driven so a a
21:13
prime can see where a sub is post a
21:14
contract a subcontractor can apply and
21:17
you guys do business based on where you
21:18
are in a map same concept of you now one
21:22
the contract you need to buy supplies
21:24
and you need to buy equipment let's have
21:26
those manufacturing and supplier reps
21:28
also profiled so then now that smaller
21:31
cleaning contractor who if you ask them
21:33
they don't have any of those in their
21:35
Rolodex on their phone they're just not
21:37
big enough they don't they're not being
21:39
sought out by the supplier and the
21:41
manufacturer so we're going to bring
21:42
them once again online to connect and
21:45
grow M and then it just continued on
21:47
like now uh people go to Google and
21:50
Facebook groups for questions and
21:52
answers yep not a great place in my
21:54
opinion to go you don't know who's
21:56
answering that question right we're
21:57
going to bring the community and their
21:59
questions and answers and uh and
22:01
moderate and curate good answers to good
22:04
questions in the marketplace and it just
22:07
keeps going like I mean now you'll be
22:09
able to find events on the marketplace
22:11
in that platform you'll be able to know
22:13
what's going on in the industry right
22:14
let's curate industry knowledge for our
22:17
our industry and our platform allow
22:20
there to be mentorship coaches again I
22:23
can go on and on but it's just that's I
22:25
want to bring it into our ecosystem the
22:28
other stuff is supplemental those are
22:29
going to be great tools if youve if if
22:32
we the tool for you to use awesome if
22:34
not guess what I'll find you other tools
22:36
there's other softwares that do some of
22:38
the things that we're going to be doing
22:40
we'll team up and build a great Network
22:41
because again if we're going to do right
22:42
by the
22:43
community we're not the end all be all
22:46
solution all the time let's curate that
22:48
relationship and really do good by the
22:50
and you mentioned cleaning and cocktail
22:52
so some folks probably don't know what
22:53
you're talking about but well before we
22:55
even started he said this is like the
22:56
first podcast I've ever done where I'm
22:58
not drink right we were highly
23:00
disappointed yeah like I'm certainly not
23:02
a ver it's like you know 10:30 in the
23:04
morning or something but but that's part
23:06
of being bringing people into the
23:08
community how people learn about you and
23:09
you've got incredible social presence
23:12
from what I've seen so talk a little bit
23:13
about cleaning and Cocktails is fun it
23:17
came out of Co obviously right so right
23:19
before Co we got we have a uh a it was a
23:22
Speak Easy Bar here in Chicago and it
23:23
was called the Janitor's Closet No Lie
23:25
it was it was the old Janitor's Closet
23:28
still there no they closed down I'm so
23:30
so pissed so the Speak Easy Bar like
23:33
when you walk in it's literally the old
23:35
janitor closet of the hotel so they have
23:37
a small bar six eight people Max you
23:39
can't fit more people in there so I was
23:41
like man cuz I was doing a walk through
23:42
I was selling my my clining services and
23:46
I'm like Hey man can I do a podcast here
23:48
like I it came up right there it's like
23:50
I'm I'm in the middle you even do a
23:52
podcast at the time we did too okay no
23:54
no we didn't no it spawned from me so
23:57
you walk into the room you don't have a
23:59
podcast you walk into this room and like
24:00
I want to do a podcast to do a podcast
24:01
cuz I've seen cocktails and I'm like
24:04
doing cleaning I'm like man okay I'm not
24:05
saying in just promoting that cocktails
24:07
is everything but like you your guard
24:10
goes out a little bit when you have a
24:11
cocktail you have a beer you shoot the
24:13
you're networking yeah it just it's
24:15
easy to to share right and and
24:18
conversate and network so let's do it
24:20
boom two episodes in I mean not the
24:22
greatest episodes if you guys go back
24:24
there it looks okay not great uh Co
24:27
happens yeah so then it goes to zoom and
24:30
like online and I hated it so much I'm
24:32
like ah I don't like virtual there's
24:34
something about in person that just I
24:36
was stuck with it yeah so we do the best
24:38
we can and that's why we have this
24:39
studio here is we'll invite cleaning
24:41
business owners suppliers manufacturers
24:42
anybody who's a professional to share a
24:45
cocktail talk about cleaning and I give
24:47
them a spotlight to share their story Y
24:50
and it's really turned into this whole
24:52
other opportunity to just fantastic I
24:55
think he just said we're not
24:56
professionals
24:59
well I mean you guys it's really amazing
25:01
right because we're sitting here and
25:02
like you can't see is around us I mean
25:03
there's like tequila with I I could say
25:05
the name of your sponsor Kasa yeah so
25:08
Kasa bottles all over I mean you're like
25:10
there sponsors for this and like it's a
25:12
legit operation question is you know you
25:13
got your investors coming and it's like
25:15
is there too much tequila around here oh
25:17
yeah you clearly you don't really need
25:20
to we'll get to know each other better
25:22
and you'll realize how actually
25:23
ridiculous that statement is the uh Ira
25:26
can Ira can certainly ATT test but um
25:29
last question before we wrap up where do
25:32
you take this business the next few
25:34
years what is what is this business look
25:36
like yeah where do you want to see this
25:38
you know what do you want to see this
25:40
business look like over the next three
25:42
five 10 years I mean what what's the
25:43
long-term vision for what you're
25:44
building here yeah man so ultimately our
25:46
we want to be a beacon of light for the
25:48
cleaning industry and we want to
25:50
positively impact all those whether
25:52
you're small big large you know on all
25:54
sides of the business we want to stay
25:56
true to what it says behind me right
25:57
it's just improve the business of
26:00
cleaning uh and I and I don't really say
26:02
the word disrupt because it's not that
26:04
I'm trying to disrupt something that's
26:05
broken it's not broken this industry is
26:08
still great right but there's we're
26:10
enhancing and doing things better to
26:12
connect in the last five years it's it's
26:15
shown the industry is opening up
26:18
connecting competition is working with
26:20
each other and I love seeing what that's
26:22
done so I want to take that to the next
26:24
level not just in the US but in Mexico
26:26
Latin America Canada Europe up um
26:29
cleaning is global yeah you know what
26:31
we've what we're building with route is
a global solution and the community is
global I I get a kick in love seeing
that you know like two days ago a
cleaning company from New Zealand sent
me a message a company from Bermuda sent
me a message like that means that we are
doing what we're set out to do is
connecting the entire industry uh I'm
hoping that Founders who are listening
to this today like really kind of grab a
hold of that message of that building
the community
adding value letting that then return to
you right and and taking the space that
companies operate in regardless of the
industry right but taking that space and
really going out and connecting people
and and kind of doing doing that work
first right letting it then come back I
think it's an enormously powerful I mean
it's look it's not only a good thing to
do it's also just a really smart
business strategy right and getting to
know you I I think that that's probably
the secondary reason for you but and if
it's not the secondary reason you're the
most like genius sort of Master you know
sales and marketing Mastermind I've ever
met it may be both right but just being
there being present in that space and
being able to be that Community it's so
much of it you know we were talking
about this before so much of it is very
similar to what the way that we think
about Evergreen mountain right as a
venture firm yes we are in the business
of making Venture Investments But
ultimately you know where we what we
talk about all the time is we're in the
business of actually helping Founders
right probably less than one% of the
founders that we're interacting with or
that are part of the community that
we're building called the founders
Collective will ever that will'll ever
invest in not because they're not great
businesses just because you know we're
very specialized in our investment and
things like that but but we want to be
there to actually be part of that
conversation with them and provide the
resources that's why this podcast exists
that's why we're building community and
you you know that's why our social media
presence and things like that are so
strong so it's the exact same model
which I think you know really resonated
with us the first time we ever spoke so
I love the way you described the you
improving the business of cleaning and I
think that's a takeaway for Founders
also like having a North star and we
talked about this a little bit before
like you measure every decision against
that because you can be pulled in a
thousand directions so doesn't improve
the business of cleaning okay I'll put
some Cycles on that if it doesn't I've
got to move on no yeah
it may be very enticing but you've got a
million things you can focus so really
focusing your energy on that North Star
I think that's just incredibly high
value so love that you're doing that yep
absolutely awesome all right that's it
thank you guys yeah thank you guys I
appreciate it Ira survived his first
podcast as a host barely barely Peter
watch out I'm coming for you yeah Peter
my co-host the better Irish Irish gu in
his sights I didn't even want to sit
that we had to convince him like Ricardo
and I had to sit here and like try to
convince Ira to take a seat but he did
it he asked questions it was great oh
yeah fun cocktails cocktails next time
that's right next time time all right
that's it for the founders Journey
podcast we'll see you uh see you on the
next Edition as uh as always if you
liked it subscribe like it send it out
share it whatever you want to do just uh
spread the love thanks see you next time