In The Thick of It

On this episode of In the Thick of It, Scott interviews Justin Smith, founder and CEO of RedAway Medical Waste Solutions. Justin shares his journey from flipping houses in Kentucky to launching RedAway in 2013 to serve smaller medical waste customers with better care.

Justin talks about navigating regulations, finding good partners, and scaling through subcontractors while maintaining exceptional service. He also discusses the importance of hiring for character, providing opportunities for employee growth, and staying focused on customers rather than comparisons. Justin reflects on learnings from mistakes along the way and how he overcame the fear of not trying by surrounding himself with the right people. His advice to prospective entrepreneurs - take the risk and bet on yourself.

Justin Smith, loves and serves Jesus. He is a devoted husband and father to five children. Justin co-founded Original Texas Group, a holding company specializing in the start-up, operations, and strategic scaling of service businesses. To date, Original Texas Group has funded and started four businesses including RedAway, a national medical waste solutions business, that grew to 28 employees, offering hundreds of services across 38 states. RedAway successfully exited to a Private Equity backed roll-up in Q1of 2023 with a 4.5x return. Justin assumed the role of M&A lead for this, and all buy and sell side transactions.

Prior to starting Original Texas Group and RedAway, Justin was the Market Chief Executive Officer over the Dallas market for all post-acute services with Kindred Healthcare. Justin is an experienced board member and loves to mentor other entrepreneurs and serve through his church. He is the co-founder and president emeritus for the Myhre Syndrome Foundation, a worldwide Patient Advocacy Organization for families suffering with a rare genetic disorder.  This is a journey his family is blessed to experience alongside one of their children living with the disease.

RedAway provides an essential regulated service of properly collecting, transporting, and disposing of medical and hazardous waste for healthcare facilities while aiming to treat all customers with excellent service.To learn more, visit redaway.com.