Generation ZEO First Post
Hello all! My name is Joe Schnetzler and I am a serial entrepreneur and startup founder. I wanted to start off my blog Generation ZEO for two reasons:
- To document my own journey as a serial entrepreneur so others can see the truth, behind the scenes and journey of entrepreneurs and how truly anyone can start, and run their own successful business if they put their minds to it. Although the journey may be brutal and mentally draining (it typically feels like climbing a never-ending mountain), it is one that is full of rewards and one anyone should consider taking.
- To document my own journey so I can backtrack and use this as a medium to learn from my mistakes and improve myself.
I thought to myself when I first got the idea of documenting this journey that putting identifiable and quantifiable metrics to track my journey (and keep on track to my goals) was the best way to go about this. So I came up with 3 goals ultimately:
- Start A Minimum of 3 Startups.
- Scale 3 Startups to Over $1MM in Revenue (Top-Line) each.
- Sell At Least 1 Startup
I picked each of these goals for certain reasons. The first goal was chosen because I wanted to make sure people can see and understand that although a great idea, some luck, among other things can get you far, its determination, hard work, and the ability to adapt that ultimately leads you to start and grow a successful business. I thought, what better way to show this then doing just that with multiple businesses!
The second goal was chosen because I wanted a way for myself and people to quantify “successful”. I at first went out and asked my current, fellow entrepreneur friends what exactly a successful business is to them. Although many said any that allows me to afford my own living while working for myself (enough to pay yourself a nice, liveable salary) even more said that one that brings in $1MM, especially bootstrapped, is what they consider successful as they do not just give themselves a working, liveable salary but provide that to at least a few employees at that stage. I said, touche and went with it!
The third one is more of a personal goal but one I chose because I want to be able to document the experience of starting, growing, and selling a business. I feel like there is not a lot of blogs or documentation on this and it could be very useful for people because although many assume that selling a business is a fantastic experience, it can commonly be an awful one.
So here it is, the start of my journey (well, about 2 years in if I am being honest). So a little about me? Well, I just graduated from the University at Albany, SUNY with an Honors Degree in Financial Analysis Honors and a Dual degree in Economics with a specialization in Econometrics. I started my current company Duct in 2018 with my Co-Founder after seeing the huge gap in digitalization tools in the construction industry after both working in the industry and having a family that works in the industry. Duct is a construction technology startup that provides general contractors and subcontractors with a subcontract management platform. The special thing about this platform (and the real gold mine) is the payment infrastructure built into Duct which is called Duct Escrow. We recently launched our public beta after much private testing and are currently undergoing a GAN Accelerator with Start Co based out of Memphis, TN. I also run two other companies, Pital & Co, a machine learning-driven company that provides automated valuations and financial forecasts for businesses of all sizes and Fresh Coffee (my passion project), a company that provides quality, third-wave coffee delivered directly to your door while donating 50% of all net profits to Autism.
Currently, these are the three businesses I am trying to scale to over $1MM each all very much on their way there. I hope you decide to follow my journey and are just as excited as I am for what the future brings!
Best,
Joe Schnetzler
