Starting with just one truck, Brian Scudamore has grown 1-800-Got-Junk into one of Canada’s most successful companies. Scudamore and his company have received wide recognition in the media and business community, making appearances on Dr. Drew’s Clutter Cleaners, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, CNN, ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and The View. Scudamore was also a guest on the Oprahshow in 2003. His impressive story has been told in Fortune Magazine, Business Week, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, to name a few.

Brian’s conversation on Innovation Navigation highlighted the difference between an entrepreneur and an innovator, and the importance of the on-the-ground user experience in identifying innovative ideas. His first business, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, took a common, long-standing entrepreneurial idea – trash hauling – and innovated across the spectrum in branding, internal processes, and customer relationships to turn it into an international franchise. His later companies – You Move Me, for full-service local moving, and Wow 1 Day Painting, for one-day house and commercial painting – leverage those capabilities in other settings where Brian himself had frustrating customer experiences and believed it could be done better. Brian believes that “people buy brands,” so suggests service and trust as the first places to start for any consumer-facing business.