For this week’s Founder Spotlight, we spoke with LawnTap founder and CEO, Wilkinson Egwu. LawnTap was founded about a year ago and is focused on automating the entire lawn care process. By combining an on-demand platform with a smart lawn sensor, LawnTap allows its users to take care of their lawn completely hands-free.
Q: What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Will: I wanted to work for myself and not have a 9-5 job. There’s monotony to going in every day and reporting to someone who I felt I was more qualified than. The frustration with that was building every single day. More importantly, I wanted to make my own rules and set my own hours. I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted to change the world.
Q: What were you doing before LawnTap?
Will: Before LawnTap, I was a banker. I managed a financial center for Suntrust. Before that, I worked for Prudential as a financial advisor. Even before that, I actually worked for an airline company. For Suntrust, I was managing a financial center that had assets worth around twenty million plus. I was doing basic retail banking work like checking and savings accounts, IRA’s, and money markets.
Q: What got you into the lawn care business?
Will: After co-founding my previous company, Showclix, I was trying to figure out what the next thing would be. What could I do next that would have an impact on an industry that’s huge? I was driving down I-75 in Atlanta one day, and I saw so many trucks pulling lawn mowers. I kept saying to myself, “How the hell do these guys get business? And how does the homeowner find a reputable lawn care provider?” So I put two and two together and figured we could put the on-demand concept behind it so that if you wanted quality lawn service right now, you could get it. It went from there and that’s how I got into the lawn care space. I have a lot of people coming up to me and asking if I have experience in lawn service. When I tell them I don’t, I get weird looks. But I should be the one giving them the crazy look, because you don’t have to have experience in an industry to change it. Look at Uber and their founder, Travis Kalanick; he wasn’t a cab driver. He still turned an entire industry on it’s back. I just don’t think you necessarily need to have experience to solve a problem.
Q: So did you come up with the idea for the smart lawn sensor after creating the on-demand platform?
Will: Yes, it had been brewing in the back of my head for some time. It goes back to the story when I was driving down I-75. Later that night, I was at my friend Terrance’s house watching a football game. While we were watching, his wife came in and blocked the tv and yelled at him for not having taken care of the lawn. I remember he got upset and put his hands on his head and said, “I wish my lawn would just take care of itself”. That was when it all clicked for me. I never actually pursued it until I got the on-demand side of it up and running. A couple months later, the on-demand part finally got traction and I figured it was time for the sensor to compliment the on-demand platform so I could automate the entire process.
Q: What has been the most beneficial part of the Summer of Acceleration (SoA) for you?
Will: Everything. It has all been incredibly helpful. But to narrow it down, probably the advisors and mentors. When you have a room full of different people with different types of experiences from various industries, you’re going to get different answers and insights to your questions. Then it’s up to you to figure out which one best suits you right now. All of that advice and suggestions helps you to narrow in on what the end goal is for your company. That has definitely been what has helped my company grow the most this summer.
Q: What has it been like going through the summer basically alone with none of your other cofounders here?
Will: It’s been rough sometimes. There have been times where you have to take a step back and figure out, “Why am I doing this?”, because there will be a lot of roadblocks. You just have to find a way to get over those roadblocks. I have figured out that once those roadblocks come, you can’t let it get you down, because you’re gonna have a bad day. You just have to stay persistent and believe in what you have.
Q: Can you talk about what it was like to meet your cousin Meka for the first time on the very first day of the accelerator?
Will: That was a crazy day. It kind of validated why I chose to come here and work with Start Co. Meka and I were friends on Facebook and LinkedIn, but we had never actually met each other. We had talked about finally meeting some time but every time he came into town, I was never there. We had always just managed to miss each other. To top it off, I had no idea he had even gone through the accelerator here. That first day, there was a panel going on that Meka was at. I saw him and thought he looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint why he looked so familiar. I started walking closer and he looked at me and remarked that I also looked familiar to him. We started talking about where we worked and it finally dawned on us who the other was. It was an insane moment. We must have hugged for what felt like an hour. It made the whole thing more fun knowing that someone else in my family has gone through the program. It was also a major relief knowing that I could have someone close to me to lean on if I needed help.
Q: Where would you like to see LawnTap in five years?
Will: Definitely a multi-million dollar company. Millions of customers. Millions of homeowners. Thousands of lawn care providers. We’d like to have some big time partnerships HOA’s, Real Estate agents and lawn care companies. I even have my sites on the PGA golf courses so lookout for that partnership. We hope to have fifty to one hundred employees. We want to disrupt an industry that is extremely old and outdated. On top of all that, it’s going to be important that we are able to provide freakishly great customer service. I want LawnTap to be known for having one of the most INSANE customer service experiences in the industry and that’s a culture I’m creating. NO EXCEPTIONS to that rule. After having had some poor customer service experience myself, it has caused me to change the way I see companies operate. When the customer service is poor, you pay more attention to things that you might not have cared as much about before. Whereas if you provide great customer service and you come up short on something, the customer may turn a blind eye to it because they know that you’re going to take care of them. So in five years, LawnTap will epitomize what real customer service should be like.
Q: What do you like to do for fun when you aren’t working?
Will: I like to workout. I’m a former athlete so anytime I’m not in the gym I feel like I’m missing out. Not a gym rat though but it helps to keep my mind focused and sharp. Because of my experience in banking, I can’t go long without getting an update from CNBC or Bloomberg. I’m also a big history buff, so I like watching the history channel for fun sometimes.
Q: What is your favorite kind of grass?
Will: I would probably say Bermuda. It’s easy to cut and it stays dormant for a certain amount of time. Most of our homeowners that have Bermuda grass hardly ever complain about anything because it’s so easy to manage.
Wilkinson’s first startup was ShowClix.com, an online event ticketing company. At ShowClix he was co-founder and COO where he led the development and acquisition of key partnerships with live event venues. Wilkinson has a diverse background which ranges from Investment banking on Wall Street with Morgan Stanley to airline development with Jetblue Airways. He is a full stack marketer, design thinker and doer. He’s passionate about creating innovative experiences across multiple media.
Wilkinson Egwu wilkinson@lawntap.com Twitter: @wilkinsonegwu
By Zach Cornelison