As the world is moving towards the green initiative, Rich Littehale, A student from yale university is definitely playing his part after starting up a company called yourenew with his friend Bob Casey, Yourenew is an online platform that you to get paid to recycle your old electronics.

So i decided to speak to the company’s Co-founder, Rich Littlehale about his life as an entrepreneur.

How are you doing rich? Thanks for taking time to be here on YHP

Can you give us some background about you and what you do?

I’m originally from outside of Boston and attend Yale University.

When I’m not in class, I am working on YouRenew, a company that helps people responsibly remarket or recycle their old electronics through our online platform. We built the company on the belief that people want to do the right thing with their old electronics.

Describe/outline your typical day?

There really is no typical day as I’m constantly on a different call or going out to meeting. But in general I aim to start off the day by blasting through the big thing I’m aiming to get done that day. Once I finish that, I’ll dive into emails which I usually get lost in for a few hours. I have a great team that I enjoy working with, so fun is always mixed in with work!

How many hours do you work a day on average?

On average, probably about 12 hours.

How did you finance your business?

My co-founder and I provided the initial seed capital, had some family and friends join in then raised a larger round from angels and early stage venture capital.

What is the most crucial decision you’ve made so far regarding your business?

Hire the best people who believe in your vision.

What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?

I’ve been an athlete my whole life so working out and playing sports are my most favourite.

How do you market your products or services?

Right now, we try to spend little to no money on advertising. We’ve been fortunate with press and hope to continue more. Most importantly we’re trying to build a loyal following through outlets like social media.

What has been your most satisfying moment in business?

For me there have been many, but I think launching the website was definitely up there. It signified us building it and achieving a pretty amazing goal.

If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
Tough question, but I’d say John D. Rockefeller. I’d like to understand better how he kept control over his organization as he scaled and continued to execute beautifully.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

I’ve had numerous failings. One in particular was actually growing a bit too quickly initially. It ran me and my team members ragged trying to keep up with the flow of business and we started making sloppy mistakes. We’ve learned now that you need to make sure the organization is scaling to meet demand.

Do you have a favourite business tool or resource?

I read a lot of books on business as resources. My favourite is Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Otherwise, I try to reach out to more experienced people to see what they’ve done and how they have succeeded.

Where do you see in yourself and your business in the next 5 years?

Our vision is to be a leader in the industry.

What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

Good question – too many things. Most likely it’s when on Halloween dressed up as Axel Rose, I sang Sweet Child of Mine to my now girlfriend to try and get a date.

What is one thing that people wouldn’t believe you do?

Play guitar.

Any last comments before we leave you for now?

The key to entrepreneurial success is finding something you’re passionate about and doing it with people who are as passionate as you. If you don’t find that balance, it’s too hard to successfully execute.

Thanks for your time.