Jeremy Yamaguchi is the CEO of Lawn Love. Jeremy Yamaguchi is a thought leader, influencer, and risk taker, and provides the vision and energy that has inspired the creation of Lawn Love. Jeremy Yamaguchi joins other leading CEOs and Founders taking part in our Leader Roundtable Interview Series. The DotCom Magazine editorial team has awarded Lawn Love as an Impact Company of 2019, and we are delighted to have Jeremy join us for our Leader Round Table Interview. The Lawn Love story is very interesting, and we are very excited to not only interview Jeremy about his very successful business and entrepreneurial spirit, but also put Jeremy through our popular speed round as well.
Jeremy, thank so much for taking the time out of your busy day for this interview, and answering some questions about leadership, your vision, and your passion.
1. Can you describe what the “elevator pitch” for Lawn Love is?
Sure thing! So we’re Lawn Love, a digital marketplace for lawn care and gardening services. We’re like Uber or Lyft, but for the lawn care space. We’re building a software layer on top of the very large and largely low-tech lawn care market.
The current state of the lawn care industry is crazy. It takes multiple phone calls, hours of back-and-forth, and an in-person visit from a service provider just to get a quote for your lawn service. We are doing it better. Lawn Love provides customers with a more modern, streamlined experience, while also helping our partner lawn pros operate more efficiently, leverage technology, and thrive.
2. Many of our readers are just starting to build a company. What advice can you give CEO’s just starting out regarding keeping a company moving forward, and please tell us the key to your company’s success?
Do the work. You don’t build a great company by spending your time networking, in pitch competitions, and trying to be part of the scene. Great companies are the by-product of two core actions: building a product and talking to users. Repeat that cycle ad nauseum, and you’ll find you’ve built a great product, thanks to the collective feedback of a metric pants ton of user conversations.
3. For other entrepreneurs seeking to build a business as successful as Lawn Love, what advice can you give them when times get a little challenging?
Be antifragile, learn from adversity, and keep pushing. Startups are a roller-coaster, both metaphorically and emotionally. Just remember that the highs are never as high as they seem, and the lows are never as low. If you have conviction in what you’re building, and you truly believe that it needs to exist in the world, you will have a lot more staying power when it comes to the inevitable challenges you’ll face as an entrepreneur.
4. How important is the commitment to client satisfaction at Lawn Love, and how do you make sure your customers will become raving fans of your company?
Without customers, your don’t have a business, and if you lose sight of them you’re likely to be in a world of pain. Most of the things we work on at Lawn Love are ultimately focused on the goal of delivering a better, more delightful, more consistent experience to the customer.
5. What is the one overriding belief that Lawn Love has about what it is doing?
That we are bringing lawn care into the 21st century. The existing options are archaic and the status quo sucks. We think we can dramatically improve both the customer experience, and the efficiency and lives of our lawn pros through smartly leveraged technology. The whole process of finding and managing lawn care is frustrating for millions of Americans. We are changing that.
6. In today’s fast changing business environment, what do you do to keep up with the changes? What do you read to stay abreast of things?
I read a lot. Most of my job all day is reading in some form or another. Surrounding yourself with smart people that you can learn from helps too. The team at Lawn Love are all passionate about new business ideas and technologies and we are always trying out new things to see how we can be more effective.
7. What is your “Why”? Why do you get up in the morning, and how do you keep yourself at peak performance to lead Lawn Love?
There are two primary things that drive me:
1. The ability to work alongside an incredible team to achieve our mission. I learn from them and grow with them every day.
2. The fact that Lawn Love is truly a net positive to both our customers and the lawn pros we partner with. For our lawn pros, we’re effectively helping democratize technology leverage that has historically only been available to the huge industry players in the space, and we’re giving it away to tens of thousands of small business owners to help them compete and thrive. That’s amazing!
8. Can you recommend a book that has had an influence in your career? How did it influence you?
Almost too many to name, but ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ by Daniel Kahneman, and ‘The Hard Thing About Hard Things’ by Ben Horowitz were both amazing. I’ve applied learnings from both of those books in a million different areas since reading them.
9. In one sentence, can you tell us what the most important thing about being a leader is?
To maintain a clear vision for the company, and make sure everyone is working toward the right goals.
10. In one sentence, can you give some advice to fellow entrepreneurs wishing to build a company as exciting as Lawn Love ?
Paul Graham said it first. “Make something people want”.
Jeremy, we would like to have some fun and do our famous “First Reaction” round with you!
We will ask you ten more questions that we want you to answer in just one to three words only.
Here you go!
1. In three words or less, what makes a successful CEO?
Driven and passionate.
2. Describe Lawn Love in one word?
Growth.
3. Describe Lawn Love customers in one word?
Smart.
4. What one attribute do you look for when hiring an employee for Lawn Love?
Their attitude towards growth and development. Are they looking for a position where they can grow personally and better themselves professionally? Or are they just looking for a job.
5. What is the one word you want your customers to say about Lawn Love?
Delightful.
6. In three words or less, describe your passion?
Impact at scale.
7. In three words or less, describe what it takes to be successful?
Always be learning.
8. In three words or less, describe your first year in business at Lawn Love?
Scrappy.
9. In three words or less, describe how running a successful company has changed you?
I’ve grown personally.
10. What is the one word that you believe has the most power in the English Language?
Yes.
Jeremy Yamaguchi, thank you so much for sitting down with us at our DotCom Magazine Impact Player Round Table. We very much appreciate the time you spent helping others to learn more about your company and what it takes to be a leader. We we wish you, your family, and of course Lawn Love, nothing but the best. Thanks again!
The Jeremy Yamaguchi Roundtable Interview brought to you by DotCom Magazine.
