Built To Sell Episode # 295
Nick Huber was a track star at Cornell when he fielded a call from a parent that would change his life. A fellow student needed to store their stuff over the summer, and Huber was offered money to pick up his classmate’s stuff and keep it until the fall. Huber realized that other students who lived out-of-state might need a similar service, and Storage Squad was born.
Along with his partner Dan Hagberg, Huber built Storage Squad to 30 locations and more than $2 million in annual sales when he decided to sell for “low seven figures” while avoiding an earn-out. Huber’s story should serve as an inspiration for anyone who wants to bootstrap a service business.
This interview is jam-packed with knowledge bombs, including:
How Huber streamlined his business by asking employees to do less.
What to look for in a business partner.
Why paying employees like owners is a mistake.
The definition of an escrow.
Why D1 athletics is the perfect analogy for entrepreneurship.
How to find a new business idea (hint: look for an industry that still uses a fax machine).
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More About Nick Huber
Nick Huber is just an average guy from Leopold, Indiana and his mission is to help people do common things uncommonly well.
Nick started the Sweaty Startup in December of 2018 because he believes the Shark Tank and Tech Crunch culture is ruining the real spirit of low-risk entrepreneurship. In college, Nick connected with many other entrepreneurs, and of the 20 or so people pursuing tech and “new idea” startups, not a one succeeded. They all went and got real jobs.
Nick is living proof that you don’t need a new idea and you don’t need to change the world to buck the 9-5 and design the life you want.
Nick founded Storage Squad (now Bolt Storage) with business partner Dan Hagberg in 2011 as an undergrad in college. The company has grown to 34 major colleges in 9 states and services over 10,000 customers each year. They successfully scaled one of the most logistically challenging services on the planet in the most expensive cities in America.
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