He Left Tesla to Buy a Plumbing Company. Here's What Happened Next.

**John Wilson** (0:00)
Today, we're talking about why going from tech to plumbing, which obviously is the most rational move ever.

**Jared Worthen** (0:04)
You know you're going to get punched in the face.

**John Wilson** (0:05)
You don't know what angle and how hard.

**Jared Worthen** (0:07)
A lot of wins, a lot of punches in the face. When we bought this, we just kind of said, let's make sure we have the war chest.

**John Wilson** (0:12)
Any dip can buy a business. It's the running it profitably. That's the actual skill.

**Jared Worthen** (0:17)
You want your team to be able to grow. You want your team to have opportunities. And I think that's something that I strive for. The team has given me a ton of trust. They've jumped right in, which has been awesome.

**John Wilson** (0:26)
What assumptions did you have on ownership that were just totally wrong?

**Jared Worthen** (0:29)
I think I...

**John Wilson** (0:37)
Welcome back to Owned and Operated, a Top 150 Business Podcast. I'm your host, John Wilson.
During the day, I run a plumbing, HVAC, and electrical company across Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee. And for fun, I run this podcast where I talk to my friends about how to grow their home service company. Today, I have my good friend, Jared Worthen on. I met Jared four years ago at one of our Breaking Fives. Today, we talk about his transition from Tesla to owning a plumbing company. Jared, welcome to the show.

**Jared Worthen** (1:05)
Thanks for having me.

**John Wilson** (1:07)
This will be fun to reconnect. You were out at our first Breaking Five, which was in 2024 or four.

**Jared Worthen** (1:17)
I think March of 24

**John Wilson** (1:18)
March 24 That's crazy.
Today, we're talking about your background. We're talking about why going from tech to plumbing, which obviously is the most rational move ever. We're talking about the plumbing and drain industry. Just like your journey and ownership since you've acquired your business. Welcome. I'm excited to dive in to this with you.

**Jared Worthen** (1:40)
Excited to be here.

**John Wilson** (1:42)
Awesome. Well, how about you get us started a little bit. Just give us the background on Jared.

**Jared Worthen** (1:47)
Yeah. I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest.
First generation college. I came from a family of tradespeople, went to work for some construction companies, a pool service company and served pro during college to pay my way through school. Then graduated and I moved to Silicon Valley because there's opportunity and people were doing cool stuff. So went down there and I started at Tesla and spent about four years on their sales and business side. So it was when they were selling the original Roadster, a few hundred of us in an office in Palo Alto.

**John Wilson** (2:23)
Dude, that thing is sick. That thing is sick. Supposedly, they're making a new Roadster and I do want it.

**Jared Worthen** (2:30)
Yeah. So that, I mean, honestly, that's a great tie to the next part of my career or next path there. So I spent four years on the business and sales side, but I had studied manufacturing in college. So it was always like, how do I get to the engineering side of the company? And so I was sales manager for the ninth store that Tesla ever opened, which was fun. And yeah, was there for four years. And then I got coaxed away by an old boss to a little fintech startup. I spent about a year and a half there and I saw the runway running out there. And so I got recruited back at Tesla and actually got an opportunity to manage operations for our design studios and rapid prototyping. So the night that we revealed the Roadster, that was secretly built in the shop I was managing in combination between the Bay and LA, which was pretty fun. And the very first semi trucks that rolled across the stage, if you ever saw a prototype vehicle, it was built in the CNC shops, the fab shops, the 3D printing labs that were part of my team. So super cool job. And then COVID hit and my wife and I, we moved back to her hometown. And I was able to go remote for a while and then eventually Tesla started calling people back. And it was at the same time I had been given by a buddy to buy them build book. And I'd always wanted to do something on my own. And it just didn't make sense to start a car company on the Central Coast of California. And so I was looking at what are my other options. And we're in a smaller college town. It's on the coast, smack dab between LA and the Bay is where we live. And so you just start looking around and it's the core three, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. Those aren't going to go anywhere. Having grown up in a family of trades people, having worked in construction for a while, having managed machine shops and fab shops. I love the people in it. I love the culture in it. And so it felt natural to go back to.