He Started With $100 And A Truck And Just Sold His Waste Business For $578 Million
Ian Malouf has built two successful businesses that are about as different as you can get. Despite not doing college, he’s sold a business for over half a billion dollars and now helps the rich and famous get around in style and manage their assets more profitably.
I recently interviewed Ian as a special guest on the DealMakers Podcast. During his exclusive interview, Ian shared how he thinks about taking investments, the top talents of winning entrepreneurs, the mistakes made creating ventures, and many more topics.
Malouf is originally from Sydney, Australia. It’s where you’ll still find him. At least when he’s not on his boat or a private jet.
Despite now serving the stars with private planes and yacht charters that can run $2 million a week, Ian never finished university.
As soon as he left school, he went straight to work. He worked in a retail store, sold underwear and then found his own enterprise.
He had bought a truck. One which happened to have a flat bed on the back. He started going door to door, offering to pick up waste. In the beginning he might just make $10 a pickup, but years later it has put him in a fantastic position.
Ian Malouf found himself in the waste business. Constant innovation helped him continue to expand his capabilities. He started off knocking, and selling door-to-door. Then focusing on construction waste.
He went through several big technology advancements. He bought a tipper, so that he saved a lot of time in unloading his hauls. Then they started delivering bins for customers to fill up themselves, which made it even more efficient.
They began recycling. From all that junk they made road base, wood chips, and more that could be resold. They recycled 80% of the material they would collect. This started decades before recycling became cool or mandatory.
Ian’s whole family has been involved in his businesses. He’s learned finding good help is probably the hardest challenge in any business.
So, his mother answered the phone, his father helped to get the last load off the truck at the end of the day and get him out the door in the morning. Today, one of his sons and daughters work in his recent business.
Ian worked until he dropped every day. He put most of the money back into the business.
This is the advice this entrepreneur learned from his father. Though he has certainly never been afraid of hard days of work, he kept investing and growing his company.
He spent 700 AUD on his first truck, and kept adding services. Then he started buying land. He says, “I think buying a sensible piece of land is that one investment that while you can work as hard as you like, the land is going up for you.” It’s making for you in your sleep.
He ultimately amassed over 120 acres of land around Sydney. Including what is now the largest landfill left in Sydney.
Unfortunately, when you own prime property and are doing well, everyone else seems to want a piece of you. For Ian that has even meant the government trying to grab his land. A situation that has caused the state’s largest court case ever.
Bingo! 1+1=3 Eventually, after avoiding calls from one of his competitors for over six months, Ian accidentally answered the phone and is hit with an attractive offer.
Dial A Dump was acquired by public company Bingo. The deal was worth more than $578 million.
From that phone call to the closing it took another 12 months to get the deal done. Today, he is still a Director at Bingo and the company’s second major largest shareholder.
It truly turned out to be a 1+1=3 situation where they were able to create something much bigger by merging.
Having always been around boats and the water, he upgraded from a 72 foot yacht to a 172 foot super yacht.
He was bothered by the way boat owners were treated by brokers, the inefficiencies and outrageous fees being charged for booking charters.
He decided to build some software to change things. The result is Ahoy Club. A service that enables boat owners to offer their charters much more efficiently, and at 13% less than traditional brokers charge. These are vessels that can rent for $10k to over $2 million a week.
Just days ago Ian announced that he has also expanded the same service to private air travel with Central Jets.
Although happy to share his experiences, Ian Malouf says the real talent when you're building a business is just to fail fast. Do and learn. Learn from your mistakes and adjust.
Everything comes back to customer service · To always be on time · To be wary about bringing on shareholders, and focus on profitability instead · You’ve got to work harder than the other guy, and you've got to work longer, and you've got to work better
Listen to the full podcast episode to find out more, including:
Borrowing money as an alternative · The hidden costs of raising money · Why you need to go after businesses with unlimited potential · Why population is key to a successful business
