Want to talk about a new project? Colton will buy you coffee. Trying to sell us something? Tell us what you've got, and we'll go from there.
Looking for a job? Check out the careers page.
Thanks for getting in touch.
Colton will be talking to you soon.
Want to sign up for our newsletter?
See you in your inbox!
Colton Mulligan interviews Joshua Mundy and dives into the mind of one of Nashville's most serial entrepreneurs.
Joshua:
My phone just started ringing, and then I'm like, "What is going on? Why is my phone ringing and ringing and ringing?" And then my dad called and I'm like, "Okay, something's going on." So I picked up the phone. He said, "Hey, son, I think you've been hit." So I turned it on the news, not knowing a tornado hit. The very first picture I see, when I turned on News Channel Five was our building with the top gone.
Colton:
Josh Mundy is a self-made entrepreneur who owns cleaners, owns co-working space and a coding school. He is one of the passionate people that is actively working to address wealth, race, and educational inequalities. But he's one of the few people actually doing stuff about it, not just talking about it.
Joshua:
Right.
Colton:
That's why I'm hanging out with this guy today.
Joshua:
Come on.
Colton:
Tell me, you know, when you have to explain yourself at a cocktail party or a barbecue or a networking event, what do you tell folks?
Joshua:
That I am a passionate entrepreneur that finds community problems and creates solutions.
Colton:
Do you use the phrase, serial entrepreneur?
Joshua:
You know what, I'm going to really take that off. Because serial entrepreneur, sometimes when people utilize that word or the outside sees that word, it comes off as unfocused.
Colton:
At one point in life, were you an unfocused entrepreneur and then you became a focused entrepreneur? Are you saying that transition happened or no, you've always been focused?
Joshua:
I would say the transition happened.
Colton:
When?
Joshua:
It happened March the 3rd, 2020.
(News Clip):
Devastation across Central Tennessee. "People were crying and screaming. I mean, we didn't know what was going on." Two massive tornadoes ripping through communities in and around Nashville, killing at least 24 people.
Joshua:
I just could not believe what just happened.
Colton:
Because what did that mean?
Joshua:
That meant that, you know, I felt like I saw all of my dreams and vision and goals and all that in the dirt. I'm like, yo, I don't... Literally, how am I going to take care of my family?
Colton:
Did you have a backup plan?
Joshua:
Well, I didn't really have a backup plan, but 2019, we were on that trip.
Colton:
To Austin, yeah.
Joshua:
To Austin. We were going out to these tech hubs and they were in ther coding and building tech companies, and then these spaces look like my coworking space. And I'm like, "Yo, when I get back home, I'm going to make my coworking space a tech hub on Jefferson Street." Named it in 2019, Pivot Technology School. All right.
Colton:
Yeah.
Joshua:
Keyword word pivot. Finally convinced the community that Josh is serious. He's going to start a technology school. He's not only in the laundry business, but in the technology business. The people start signing up. Our very first day of classes, was what day?
Colton:
March second?
Joshua:
March the third. It was going to be our very first day of classes in that exact building.
Colton:
Holy cow.
Joshua:
I cannot make this stuff up. Two weeks later, guess what hits?
Colton:
Covid?
Joshua:
Covid-19 hits.
Colton:
As an entrepreneur, you had all of your roads kind of leading to this point.
Joshua:
Lead to this point.
Colton:
Yep.
Joshua:
And I don't know what people identify with, whether it be religion, God, the universe, whatever. It saw that all of this was going to happen. Put something in me that says, "Hey, you going to start this technology school? You don't have no background in technology. You don't know anything, but this is what you need to be doing." Look at the businesses that I was in. Dry cleaners, you work from home, people's working from home, co-working space off. We can't work close to each other. When I lost it all, it was like, I'm going to give you something that you can really focus on that can really thrive in a pandemic.
Colton:
What's the thing right now, there's always something that you're excited about and you're researching or watching or keeping tabs on. What is that thing for you right now?
Joshua:
The diversity and the inclusion space right now.
Colton:
Yeah.
Joshua:
Figure out ways that we can really be a resource to show people how to really effectively onboard tech talent that's never looked like me. Okay. When you look in your technical spaces that you've ever operated in, have you ever seen any African American people?
Colton:
Very few.
Joshua:
Very few. All right. So now we're telling you that we're going to really focus on training and giving minorities the skills to really operate in these spaces. Now, these spaces are now predominantly white men.
Colton:
Yeah.
Joshua:
All right. So how do we effectively onboard a black woman into a space that's predominantly white men? We belong in these spaces, but you really have to till the soil. You have to prepare them for this new change because everybody's not ready for change.
Colton:
So to make an estimate, I'm guessing in three to five years, you want to be that brand in Nashville, which is someone that's trying to upskill the labor force, lean in authentically to diversity, reflected in recruitment, whatever that looks like. You want to be the solutions, like you just got to go to Pivot. You got to go to Pivot Technologies, and they take care of it for you.
Joshua:
You better believe it. Not Nashville, but globally. We're building a global technology company. That is our vision. Just our home is Nashville, Nashville is home, and that's my heart. But at the end of the day, we have to grow a global company. We want to build a hundred million dollar company, and we can't do it just in Nashville. So we're going city to city, state to state, to really upskill minorities all across the country to give them the skills so they can thrive.
Colton:
You're doing great things.
Joshua:
Thank you, brother.
Colton:
I love it.
Joshua:
Yeah, man. You're doing amazing things as well, man.
Colton:
All the guests have the opportunity to bring a prop for our background if they want it. But I'm asking what's on your desk today? What's on your bookshelf? What's something you want to bring in that's important or got a story? What'd you bring?
Joshua:
So I brought in, a good friend of mine, his name is Jason Ridgel. He's from Alabama, went to Tennessee State University, and he has his own liquor. It's called Guidance Whiskey. And it's some good stuff, man. And I don't know if you a whiskey drinker.
Colton:
I can tell from how much is left.
Joshua:
Yes. It's not that much left, but this sits on my desk. On those days, I get all those no's and we can't do it. I just have to take a shot and just keep going.
Colton:
Been a couple of those days. I'm hoping that some of that is celebratory.
Joshua:
Yeah. No, this bottle, I've been having this bottle for a long time.
Colton:
All right, fair enough.
Joshua:
Yeah. So this is a good friend of mine. He's got this whiskey, man, and I always try to, anytime I go on platforms, I really want to help him build his brand and he's doing amazing work, man. So it's good stuff, man.
Colton:
I love it, dude. You get the option, what Pez you want? You want Mario? Not Donkey Kong?
Joshua:
I want Mario.
Colton:
There you go. All right. See what you got there. This is lemon. I think you got grape.
Joshua:
Yep, grape. I ain't had this in-
Colton:
It's been a minute.
Joshua:
It's been a minute, man.
Colton:
They're delicious.
Joshua:
They're good.
Colton:
Yeah, they're terrible for you.
Joshua:
Yeah.
Colton:
Chalky sugar.
Joshua:
Man, this is good, man.
Colton:
That's a hell of a pant you got there.
Joshua:
Oh, these?
Colton:
Yeah, it's nice.
Joshua:
Oh yeah. Thank you, man. Zara.
Colton:
Zara?
Joshua:
Yeah.
Colton:
You wearing ladies' pants?
Joshua:
No, no, no, man. They have men's. Sometimes it feels like it's ladies, they be so tight.
Colton:
It's soft. I get it.