Building a Business from the (Under)Ground Up

Construction Brothers

This week we're revisiting our 2023 interview with Matt Aston.
The Founding of GPRS
Today we welcome Matt Aston. Matt is the founder of GPRS. Although that is an acronym for ground-penetrating radar systems, the company does much more than that these days. Matt started his company in 2001, and now they employ almost 800 people in 54 cities.
We discuss the ground-penetrating radar equipment. Matt walks us through some basics about how this equipment uses magnetic variations to help users create a map of the underground infrastructure. When he was starting GPRS, most of his work involved taking readings in concrete–sensing rebar, anchors, etc. As time passed, they shifted toward working with utility contractors before excavations.
Matt shares about his dad’s drilling and cutting business in Toledo and how a softball injury forced him to restructure his business. This led to substantial growth that led to a business he might have been interested in taking over.
Building a Business on Young Technology, Equipment Overview
Matt tells us about an early experience with the stress of the ground-penetrating radar business. On his way to the equipment-training session he was a little scared. On the way home, he was really scared.
Eddie asks Matt to talk through ground-penetrating radar tools. He talks through the tools and the process that has enabled his team to reach a 99.87% accuracy record. It involves baby-buggy-like carts and converting screen data to the paint on the ground. A few GPR antennas, a couple for underground and one specifically for concrete. Then there are a few specialized tools, including the handheld wands and sewer cameras. The sewer cameras, along with a few other tools, enable the company to now provide leak-detection services.
Training Programs
Matt shares about his company’s training programs. Matt explains that they now have 3 full-time trainers. These veteran project managers conduct their training in a facility with a custom-built floor full of all kinds of wire, pipes, and conduit. They also have a simulated gas station complete with tanks.
Tyler asks Matt to share about his company’s Trump Tower project in Chicago. This involved a demo and then some code upgrades. This required extensive time-consuming retrofits. He recounts a couple other incredibly ambitious projects.
We discuss the increasing sensitivity and precision of the equipment involved. Matt shares about a time when he had to break some unfortunate news with the owners of a scientific facility where the concrete hadn’t been poured to the proper thickness.
Unusual Projects and Big-City Projects
Tyler asks Matt to share about some of the unorthodox jobs they’ve been called to do. Matt shares a story about a mysterious old site where the client was looking for a large metal container. GPRS has even located a few murder victims. He’s not confirming that one of them was Jimmy Hoffa, but he’s not denying it either.
Matt tells a few examples of the interesting variety of locations that this work takes his teams. He gives an example of one crew working in DC who was taken by the National Park Service to scan the lawn at the White House.
Entrepreneurship
Tyler asks Matt to talk about growing his business. Matt shares about early hires and the challenges of ensuring that the income exceeds the outflow. He discusses decisions that were especially influential, and he shares his thoughts about the role of the companies’ CEOs in both successes and failures. As your company grows, Matt says, your potential also grows.
Matt recounts the stages of growth and the points at which you sense shifts in your perception of the business and your role in it. He set some ambitious goals and has found that they’re achievable. He mentions the role that Toledo’s size played in setting his company on a path for growth.
Eddie and Matt compare notes on business-growth rewards and challenges. Matt shares about an unsettling conversation he had with a contractor who wanted to avoid knowing in advance about underground elements because he made more money when his equipment damaged them and then he needed to repair them. They agree that it’s all about “meeting the need.”
Matt’s Megaphone Message
We are capable of so, so much more than we realize. The world around us makes it really easy to be average. If you just show up and do what you said you were going to, you’re already above average. But if you push yourself, you can move into that elite category. Find your why. You can be an elite performer.
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