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

26:32

a global solution and the community is

26:35

global I I get a kick in love seeing

26:37

that you know like two days ago a

26:39

cleaning company from New Zealand sent

26:41

me a message a company from Bermuda sent

26:43

me a message like that means that we are

26:46

doing what we're set out to do is

26:48

connecting the entire industry uh I'm

26:50

hoping that Founders who are listening

26:51

to this today like really kind of grab a

26:54

hold of that message of that building

26:57

the community

26:59

adding value letting that then return to

27:02

you right and and taking the space that

27:05

companies operate in regardless of the

27:06

industry right but taking that space and

27:09

really going out and connecting people

27:11

and and kind of doing doing that work

27:15

first right letting it then come back I

27:18

think it's an enormously powerful I mean

27:21

it's look it's not only a good thing to

27:23

do it's also just a really smart

27:26

business strategy right and getting to

27:28

know you I I think that that's probably

27:29

the secondary reason for you but and if

27:33

it's not the secondary reason you're the

27:34

most like genius sort of Master you know

27:37

sales and marketing Mastermind I've ever

27:39

met it may be both right but just being

27:42

there being present in that space and

27:44

being able to be that Community it's so

27:47

much of it you know we were talking

27:48

about this before so much of it is very

27:50

similar to what the way that we think

27:52

about Evergreen mountain right as a

27:54

venture firm yes we are in the business

27:56

of making Venture Investments But

27:58

ultimately you know where we what we

28:00

talk about all the time is we're in the

28:01

business of actually helping Founders

28:03

right probably less than one% of the

28:07

founders that we're interacting with or

28:09

that are part of the community that

28:10

we're building called the founders

28:11

Collective will ever that will'll ever

28:12

invest in not because they're not great

28:14

businesses just because you know we're

28:16

very specialized in our investment and

28:18

things like that but but we want to be

28:20

there to actually be part of that

28:22

conversation with them and provide the

28:24

resources that's why this podcast exists

28:25

that's why we're building community and

28:27

you you know that's why our social media

28:29

presence and things like that are so

28:30

strong so it's the exact same model

28:32

which I think you know really resonated

28:34

with us the first time we ever spoke so

28:36

I love the way you described the you

28:38

improving the business of cleaning and I

28:41

think that's a takeaway for Founders

28:42

also like having a North star and we

28:45

talked about this a little bit before

28:46

like you measure every decision against

28:49

that because you can be pulled in a

28:50

thousand directions so doesn't improve

28:52

the business of cleaning okay I'll put

28:54

some Cycles on that if it doesn't I've

28:56

got to move on no yeah

28:58

it may be very enticing but you've got a

29:00

million things you can focus so really

29:02

focusing your energy on that North Star

29:05

I think that's just incredibly high

29:07

value so love that you're doing that yep

29:09

absolutely awesome all right that's it

29:12

thank you guys yeah thank you guys I

29:14

appreciate it Ira survived his first

29:15

podcast as a host barely barely Peter

29:19

watch out I'm coming for you yeah Peter

29:21

my co-host the better Irish Irish gu in

29:23

his sights I didn't even want to sit

29:25

that we had to convince him like Ricardo

29:27

and I had to sit here and like try to

29:29

convince Ira to take a seat but he did

29:31

it he asked questions it was great oh

29:33

yeah fun cocktails cocktails next time

29:36

that's right next time time all right

29:37

that's it for the founders Journey

29:38

podcast we'll see you uh see you on the

29:40

next Edition as uh as always if you

29:43

liked it subscribe like it send it out

29:46

share it whatever you want to do just uh

29:48

spread the love thanks see you next time