Have you met Charles Brian Quinn (CBQ), Greenzie

Charles Brian Quinn (CBQ)

Co-Founder and CEO, Greenzie

Charles Brian Quinn

Phone: 404-394-4935 Email: cbq@greenzie.com Address: 3423 Piedmont Rd NE Atlanta, GA 30305 Web: www.greenzie.com

My first job in the green industry

was...mowing lawns in the neighborhood. I figured if I was going to have to mow mine, I might as well mow the whole street and make some money while doing it. I never charged enough, and I was always trying to be more efficient and find quicker ways of doing it. I also loved doing stripes and remember experimenting on my lawn with different heights on each pass and burning up the grass.

The biggest challenge in my

career…was when I was CEO of Big Nerd Ranch. We were recruiting the smartest of the smartest software developers, but they were always being lured away to program at big companies. We really had to dig deep to showcase the benefits of working for our company. Labor challenges are no joke. When you have the work, but no one to do it, it hurts.

The people who have influenced my career include…

My mastermind group. I meet with a group of seven other CEOs/founders/ business professionals from all walks of life and industries. We started meeting back in 2011 and I can count on one hand how many times we’ve missed a meeting. They are that powerful. Having a group of like-minded, always improving, true friends to hold you (and each other) accountable continues to be an amazing sounding board through each company I’ve built, and the many iterations of those companies, in addition to family and personal life milestones.

My Co-Founder at Big Nerd Ranch, Aaron Hillegass. He is brilliant. Together we were able to grow our company from 20 people up to over 100 and build brilliance for some of the best companies in the world building software, apps and training for Facebook, Google, Apple, and many more still today.

My Co-Founder at Greenzie, David Cummings. He thinks bigger than anyone I know and is a deep strategic thinker. He never holds back in sharing ideas on how to improve the company and the product, which helps me to continually push our team to do the same.

My biggest career success so far has

been…starting Greenzie. The problem we’re solving is extremely difficult. We are going to free humans from repetitive outdoor labor and I know we’ve only just begun to touch the surface of robotics in the green industry. I recruited some top-notch strategic investors from the green industry to robotics to software to company building, and don’t tell anybody, but our last fundraising round was way too easy (and way oversubscribed).

One piece of advice I would give to someone entering the green industry

today is…study technology and software. There’s no reason not to always be looking for an edge, whether its using software like SingleOps to run your business, or simply apps or productivity hacks to give you a leg up, so you can focus on making beautiful outdoor green spaces. Also, don’t be afraid to be an early adopter, the industry needs you!

The thing I like most about my career

is…every day is a new challenge. I encounter tough software problems and make solid business decisions every day for our customers. It’s thrilling to be challenged in such a variety of ways and at such a quick pace. Because we are in startup-mode, we can be swift, agile, and always bias towards action. I love learning and the best way is by doing. The formula for my career is: Act. Learn. Build. Repeat.

My least favorite part of my job is…..

watching our mower go back and forth in the hot sun (ha)! But truthfully, I can empathize with all of our customers who got into this business to work hard to make beautiful lawns and outdoor spaces for their customers. The summer heat is no joke and when we are out in the field testing and simply mowing with our robotic kit every week, it’s taste of reality that so many commercial mowers face today with labor shortages: I talked to a president of a lawn company who was out mowing and doing hedges because they were short a crew member. I won’t rest until we can give the repetitive, boring parts of lawn maintenance to the robots, so we can go back to being creative and making lawns look great, and going home at a reasonable time to play in the yard with our own kids.

The one thing most responsible for my

success is…my grit and determination. I have thick skin and tend to not let things get in my way. I choose to solve hard problems and will myself to succeed.

If I had it to do over again, I would…study

robotics in school! Or maybe party harder. I’ll admit I was (and still am) a nerd.

If I could change careers, just for a

month, I would…be a professional e-sports player, and stream myself playing video games all day. (Of course, then I’d have to actually be good, but one can dream!)

One thing that really annoys me is…

repetitive outdoor labor—don’t get me wrong, I love labor and working hard. I love being outdoors and I love making things. But forcing someone who could be making lawns look beautiful and being creative when they instead have to just sit or stand on a mower and do repetitive motions back and forth all day in the hot sun—we gotta help! Robotics is the answer! I think we’ll look back and say: yeah of course we used to have to do that part, but now we just let the robots do it.

When I’m not working, I like to…program

software! Believe it or not, I write software for fun. All the stuff in my house, including the window blinds, run on software I wrote. I also run long distances, too, though these days with a stroller and my daughter in tow. I do my best thinking and debugging of software on long runs outside.

What most people don’t know about me

is…I have nine toenails.

Greenzie team, Summer 2019. From Left to Right: Evan Davies, Matt Barulic, Jackson Stanhope, CBQ, Joshua Terrell, Oswin So, and Kevin Jin.