Brian Scudamore - Willing to Fail

What do a McDonald's drive-through, a beat-up pickup truck, and a single, dangerous question have in common? 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is one of the most iconic service brands in North America. In this unforgettable episode, I sit down with Brian Scudamore, the school dropout who turned hauling junk into a $700 million empire by embracing a mindset he calls "WTF, willing to fail". What unfolds is not a business case study, but a profoundly human story about courage, doubt, family pressure, leadership missteps, and the power of seeing possibility where others see nothing.

Brian shares how firing his entire team saved his company, why culture is the ultimate competitive moat, and how systems, not people, fail. He opens up about the moment his father finally said, "I'm proud of you," fifteen years after Brian walked away from university.

If you are an entrepreneur, a leader, a parent, someone young searching for their ladder to climb, or someone quietly wondering whether there is another path you are allowed to take, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends. Special thanks and love to RBC for supporting these human stories that matter. Stories of ordinary becoming extraordinary.

Listen now and ask yourself the question that changed everything for Brian Scudamore.

What if?