Alumni Spotlight: Jeffrey Wright (B’07), Owner and CEO of American Backhoe Service and Excavating Co.
Interview by Genesis Ramirez (B’25)
Meet Jeffrey Wright (B’07), Owner and CEO of American Backhoe Service and Excavating Co. Learn more about Jeffrey’s story as an entrepreneur through acquisition, and his path to buying and leading a company.
Tell us about your current company.
I acquired American Backhoe Service two years ago. It is a Chicago based construction company, and we do infrastructure work including excavation, site utilities and electrical work.
Was there any specific aspect of your time at Georgetown that influenced you to pursue entrepreneurship?
100%. My best friends at Georgetown were two or three years older than me, and seeing them all go to Wall Street is what inspired me to go into finance initially. They helped prep me for interviews, look over my resume, and essentially helped me get a job in finance. The community at Georgetown is so important, and I was encouraged by how people were willing to take time to mentor me. Our community got me into investment banking, and got me into entrepreneurship. Those same friends, since then, have started some entrepreneurial ventures. To have this community alongside me trying to figure it out definitely encouraged me to just go after it.
What does a day in your life look like?
My day is full of decisions. I make really important decisions, many times throughout the day, with limited and imperfect information. You always have to weigh priorities, consequences, and trade-offs of one choice vs. another. At the start of the day, I always try to look ahead and take time to make a plan. I have a lot of meetings back-to-back most days: with my leadership team, my banker, and my investors. I try to power down at around 6:00 pm. to spend time with my family. (I have two small kids). I try to prioritize family time from 6:00-9:00 p.m, and then I log back in at aroundlike 10:00 p.m., until 2:00 a.m. Then I get up at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. and do it all over again!
Business partnerships can be tricky — is there anything you look for in partners or who you choose to work with?
Integrity -- that’s the number one thing that I look for. If you can’t trust the person that you work with, nothing else really matters. Also, being a really honest and clear communicator is really important. As an entrepreneur you face many tough situations and decisions, so having someone that will be honest with you and communicate what they see really matters. This means you can align as a team, since you can’t have multiple visions and missions at the same time. One more is work ethic. It can’t be someone who just wants a job. You need to work with people who understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur. It takes a lot of time and energy.
What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
The people, for sure. Being able to provide opportunities for people, recognizing them for their work, and helping them grow professionally. As we grow the business and hire more people, I realize that we are directly impacting more people’s professional lives, and even their families.
Also, there is something very powerful about having an idea and translating it into action. I went into the deal to buy this company three years ago now, I spent a long time looking everything over and raising the money. I had to convince the bank to give me the money to do it. I had to convince the seller. I had to convince investors to believe in my vision for the business and invest in me. Once you do all of that, and you close, it is so empowering and you feel like you can do anything. It’s still going to be hard, of course, but I feel like I don’t have as many limits. It’s very empowering and encouraging.
Is there anything you wish more people knew about being an entrepreneur?
More people need to understand that the path of entrepreneurship is stressful and isolating entrepreneurship. We hear the success stories and how fun those are, when people win and make money. But there’s months or years of uncertainty, and honestly, a lot a bit of pain. Unless you have a lot of entrepreneur friends, you don’t really have many people to talk to about it. I wish more people knew how much entrepreneurship requires, and how hard it can be on the psyche. The true cost of entrepreneurship.
How do you continue to stay connected to Georgetown as an alum?
Some of my best friends are from Georgetown. I talk to these guys everyday. We try to get together every year. We try our best to coach and mentor each other, as well as others. Some of my friends still live in DC, so they help me connect to young students who are trying to figure out their career paths. I also worked with the Alumni Admissions Program for a while, and I would interview kids from Chicago who wanted to go to Georgetown. That really kept me engaged with the values of Georgetown, to help see who would become part of our community.
Finally, what is one piece of advice you would give to any Georgetown student who might be interested in entrepreneurship?
There is a lot of value in learning a skill – learning what you are good at, learning what you like – before becoming an entrepreneur. But, there is no perfect time to become an entrepreneur. There is an inflection point where you have learned all that you can learn, and know all that you can know, without actually doing it. I talk to people often that say, “I just need one more job, or one more skill, then I’ll be ready to become an entrepreneur.” It’s a fallacy! At a certain point, you have to jump.
It’s never going to be comfortable. There is never a good time to introduce that much risk and intense change into your life, and you’ll always feel like if you waited another year and had more money or more experience, that it would have been easier. But remember: there is a cost to waiting past that inflection point. Essentially, it’ll be different for everybody, but it’s important to be honest with yourself and remember that another job or saving $100,000 more isn’t going to prepare you. Once you learn what it is that you like and have the necessary skills, you just need to go for it.