Ethan Realander - Power Washing

I was employee #6 and sold $100 million for my clients in 2 years. I just left it all behind to take control of my life and start a franchise business. Here’s my story: When I was graduating from college in 2019, I was just like a lot of my peers. I convinced myself that I was passionate about finance, wanted to “learn about markets”, and “be a part of deals you read about in the WSJ”. So I went to work in private equity fundraising. I started out staffed on deal teams, learning how to be a professional—how to talk to clients, write good emails, and make pretty slides. But on a deal team, you’re not directly generating revenue and you’re ALWAYS on your boss’ or client’s schedule. So about 2 years ago, I got a shot to move into “distribution” (finance jargon for sales). PE fundraising is a small industry & distribution roles don’t open up very often, so I was super fortunate to land one at 25. This was exactly what I thought I was looking for. I’d have my own book of business and could dictate my day as long as I produced. I built my book up from scratch and ended up raising over $100M in 2 years before leaving to start my franchise. I liked sales and my firm took great care of me. But it ultimately wasn’t mine. I was Employee #6 and had way more say in the business than I deserved, but at the end of the day, all I was ever going to be was an employee. I kept wondering what decisions I’d make if I were steering the ship. But I’d never run a business before and didn’t feel ready to build something totally from scratch. At the same time, I’d worked with tons of PE firms who crushed it in home services like HVAC and roofing. That’s when I discovered the franchise model. Power washing is still incredibly fragmented, with few regional players and 0 truly national brands. It was (and still is!) obvious to me that at some point there will be a household name in the space. I met with lots of brands in different services, but Rolling Suds stood out for a few reasons: 1. The original family business has been around for 30+ years and they've already learned all the lessons I'd need to learn on my own. 2. I quickly learned after speaking w/existing zees that the franchisor had matured a ton in just 2 years. 3. The Rolling Suds franchisee network is basically a tailor-made mastermind full of people trying to build the exact same business that I am, with 0 incentives to compete. 4. There's still an enormous amount of white space to grow geographically if I can make this thing work. Ultimately, I wanted to start my own business but also needed the support and playbook from a proven franchise as a first-time business owner. So in November, I signed. And two weeks ago, I launched. Welcome to my crazy adventure. Let’s see where this thing goes. I am building in public, posting daily wins and losses. Follow me @erealander to be a part of the ride.

@ToddLlewellyn You have the coolest local reputation

Let’s gooooooo! Tad is always seeing my vans! Next time you need an amazing sandwich you should hit up Tad’s Gandolfos in pleasant grove

@Hokieheye @Fish_wid_a_V @danmartell Couldn’t have said it better

@Fish_wid_a_V @danmartell @erealander The CEO that was brought in last year gets it. Some of the (C) at best talent they still have don’t but he knows that. A majority of units go CF Positive this year. The only reason the franchise survived this long is a few A plus entrepreneurs who will never get their flowers.

Tony I’m definitely an operator Papi … fucking love what I do and unfortunately I signed up for an operationally mindfuck business 🙄 It’s getting better and as we scale I am doing more and more of what I like doing … yes tracking my time and energy has helped! Still Day One ..

@jonny_suds Most hurtful sentence in the English language

I got told “that’s cheaper than I expected it to be” twice today

@kylemachol Love it

@erealander Think of obsidian but on business steroids would need to be ingestion -> conversion -> graph construction -> serving key to all of this is setting up real time sync. def not a set and forget either, but is a very powerful version of a ODS built agent first

@ToddLlewellyn Nice Todd! Love it

Ok my mind is blown. I have been critical of AI but in extremely impressed. I opened Claude for the first time and in less than an hour I built this water softener finder tool. It still needs work but I am shocked. Let me know what you think clever-mandazi-96b607.netlify.app

March 2026 sales are going to be 70% of March 2025. April 2026 sales are going to be 250% of April 2025. Weather sucks

@ToddLlewellyn When is @stevehunsaker1 going to start paying you for driving all his testimonial lead flow?

@erealander Same 😏

Facebook ads are a complete scam. I spend $5/day and the jpeg that ChatGPT made with one prompt doesn’t get me ANY leads.

@JamesonCamp Sensational stuff

“A real CTO costs $100k/year. A real COO costs $80k/year.”

@nathan_cole_44 I’m very new to this. Can you say more?

@erealander Public filming kills predictability. We banned it after 20% overruns.

Beautiful spring day in Central Park to film awkward meta ads in public

@AlexLathery The reason why they “just prefer” Method soap vs a local mom’s homemade soap

@erealander These are often the same people who buy a [insert branded product] without realizing (or caring) about the price vs. cost of underlying materials It's only in service businesses that people pay attention to mark-ups and scowl

The number of people who don’t understand that value in home services is 90% subjective is astonishing. People don’t pay for their roof to get replaced, they pay for the value of peace of mind. Price is one of many ways to convey that you will deliver it.

@ToddLlewellyn Agree that the best local companies are going to basically always be better

Nobody has been able to change my mind. Customers are never better off hiring a private equity backed home service company vs a locally owned (well operated) company. Common answers have opposing me have included: -PE is better at marketing. This is true and probably the only one that slightly helps the customer. I also think this is changing. The map pack in my area is not dominated by PE. Expensive marketing is dominated by PE such as google PPC, TV, and billboards. These forms of marketing as drastically increase their overhead that is then passed on to the customer. -PE makes alot of money. True but that doesn't help the customer -PE is more trusted. I don't think this is true. Private locally owned companies that are operated well are harder to find but at the end of the day if customers can find them they will be better off.

@DbauerBR549 @codythemac Huh? Good people like Todd deserve to win. There’s a reason he’s obviously extremely well-respected and people are constantly posting pics of his vans in the wild.

@erealander @codythemac Your lack of respect for those that work in the trades is coming through loud and clear BTW… The barriers to entry in HVAC are low enough that there will always be small independent operators (former techs) that will dominate the space.

Love Todd on X but there are tons of reasons why PE-backed co's are a good choice for consumers. Brand, marketing, consistency, and responsiveness all create trust and perceived value. Todd just happens to be a great operator who’s extremely trusted in his market, but this isn’t the rule w/r/t family owned companies.

@DbauerBR549 @codythemac Good, that particular company didn’t deserve your business and you’re right to steer other people away from them!

I’ve never had an HVAC tech show up in a shirt like that nor smoking a cigarette. On the contrary I have had a PE owned plumbing company salesman show up with a horse 💩 smile on his face and try to sell me a $1,200 garbage disposal that is available on Amazon for $300. Guess who I told to leave? The PE guy offered no value and is one I routinely tell friends and neighbors to avoid. I give all the details and why. It takes far more than a polo shirt to built a brand and I know because I’ve built $100M+ brands.

One hvac tech smoking a cigarette in a wife beater walks up to your house to do an install and doesn’t say hi. Another tech in a branded polo knocks on the door, smiles, introduces themself/asks if you’d like them to take off their shoes when they walk in. Who delivers the better customer experience? Who provides more value? Come on now

@erealander @codythemac Value isn’t pulled out of thin air. Marketing by a home services company would provide no value to me. It potentially provides value to the PE owner though.

@codythemac All value is perceived. That’s why it’s called value and not price

@erealander You referenced "perceived value" as a plus for consumers rather than "value". Very telling.