Today we bought our business back.

14 months after selling Dirt Hugger to Atlas Organics and Generate Upcycle, my business partner Tyler Miller and I have purchased it back. This was not part of the original plan nor wholly expected, but this past year has been a wild ride, offering an educational experience for us and our team. 

We’ve informed our team and have planned to transition (again). We are all utterly invigorated. It’s a rare opportunity to be able to learn from a larger organization and receive a chance to come back to the business with fresh eyes. We’ve had 14 months to see 12 other facilities run, learn from site managers, general managers, and VPs - all things we never had in the past. We will absolutely keep some of our new learnings, especially in the areas of safety, recordkeeping, and compliance. We will revert to some old aspects, like our meeting rhythm, All Hands, and rafting trips. 

Dirt Hugger Team celebrating the purchase - Sept. 8th, 2023

Our entire team has grown leaps and bounds, to the point where they now want full P&L responsibility without us, the co-owners, getting overly involved. They want to run their business units and be held accountable for what happens at their sites. We’re happy and thankful for that evolution, which honestly would have never happened without us stepping away for a year. Turns out we grew too. 

We are super appreciative to the team at Atlas Organics and Generate Upcycle for the past year. They are a sharp bunch of people working hard to make an impact through organic waste solutions. I’m particularly thankful to Bill Caesar for teaching me about managing a bigger business, leadership, and holding accountabilities. He’s a great mentor, a wizard at keeping details straight, and a rare find - Generate is better for having him. We’re also thankful to our attorney Ron Greenman, who has seen us through a third transaction and taught us so much, including what it means to be fair and reasonable in negotiations. 

We are thrilled to be back at the helm and to get our hands dirty again. We’re stepping back into financial risk, managing people, and tangible challenges. I feel scared and alive, yet optimistic; and I wouldn’t want it any other way. 

Pierce Louis

Dirt Hugger Co-Founder | CEO | Swiss Army Knife