221 - From W2 Employee to a $18M Pool Business with Malcolm Marshall

Nikonomics - The Economics of Small Business

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Join me, Nik (https://x.com/CoFoundersNik), as I interview Malcolm Marshall (https://x.com/malcolmpools). Malcolm shares his incredible W2 to entrepreneur journey from a VP of Finance role at C4 Energy during its hyper-growth phase (from $8 million to $300 million!) to successfully scaling his business, Poolology, an $18 million pool construction and home services business in Central Texas.

We dive into the surprising challenges of scaling businesses, the reality of bootstrapping, and how he navigated the shift from a W-2 to full-time entrepreneurship. You'll hear about the "aha!" moments, the hard-earned lessons, and what he would focus on if starting a new business today, especially in the promising field of AI infrastructure.

Questions This Episode Answers:

• How did Malcolm Marshall go from W2 to entrepreneur and scale his business, Poolology, from a small pool route to $18 million in revenue?

• What were the biggest financial stressors and operational challenges during C4 Energy's hyper-growth?

• Why did Malcolm leave a high-paying W-2 job with equity to start a small business?

• How do pool construction and maintenance businesses acquire customers and what are their typical EBITDA margins?

• If starting over, what industry would Malcolm focus on, and what’s the most crucial lesson he learned about team building?

Enjoy the conversation!

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This week we covered:

00:00 From Corporate to Entrepreneurship: The Journey Begins

02:40 Building Poolology: The Early Days and Growth Strategies

05:53 Navigating Rapid Growth: Challenges and Lessons Learned

08:47 The Transition to Construction: Expanding Services

11:38 Marketing and Customer Acquisition: Strategies for Success

15:01 Future Aspirations: Scaling and New Opportunities

17:52 Reflections on the Journey: What Would You Change?