109: Tailgating for the 21st Century – Parker Duffey of Tailgate Guys

Background on Parker Duffey of Tailgate Guys:

Parker Duffey is the President and CEO of Tailgate Guys. Parker began laying the groundwork for his business venture at the age of 23. He joined forces with business partner Michael Otwell and launched Tailgate Guys in 2009. Tailgate Guys built its model as a reserved, turnkey tailgate system and quickly evolved into a full-service event management group that enhances the college game day experience. Tailgate Guys has partnerships with nearly 20 universities as well as several bowl games and PGA events. Parker launched a sister company, PRE Event Resources, focusing on large scale events in 2014.

Parker received a Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University. He and his wife Melanie, a professor at Auburn University, and daughter Elizabeth James reside in Auburn.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[2:46] Parker Duffey is the owner of Tailgate Guys, which he describes as an athletic pre-game hospitality. At the core, it was turnkey tailgate packages through partnerships with universities and athletic departments.
[3:59] At every game in Auburn University, they are hosting around 40,000 people.
[7:27] Parker always wanted to have his own business. It was something that he wanted ever since he was a kid.
[10:00] Parker talks about how his business idea began. Certain connections and key people gave Parker the opportunity to jumpstart his business.
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[15:43] Right before they launched, Parker has been getting both good and bad press regarding their business. The positive and negative attention they got proved to be a good thing for the business.
[18:29] Parker learned to ignore all the negative press and threats they received during the first year of the business.
[21:20] For Parker, money was only secondary because they love what they do.
[22:59] Parker has a very good working relationship with Michael, his co-founder. He says that he could not do this without his business partner.
[26:21] In 2012, Tailgate Guys made a major business expansion. This expansion was very challenging for both Parker and Michael.
[29:16] Initially, Parker thought that they were offering convenience, but now they see that Tailgate Guys is about building communities.
[33:14] 2016 was a big year for Tailgate Guys because they acquired a minority partner and a new business group.
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[36:49] The people surrounding Parker gave him a lot of support and sound advice to make the right decisions. Also, his gut feeling was telling him not to sell the business.
[39:49] There were some challenges when they did an acquisition of another group and the difficulties of the transitioning process.
[46:17] Parker talks about Trailer Guys transitioning into a larger organization. They are implementing new systems to their company, which is a part of their transition process.
[48:59] When it comes to hiring senior positions in their company, Parker uses a talent assessment firm to find out the capabilities of a person.
[57:05] Parker remembers several low points in the business that were not easy to handle.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Call me Ted by Ted Turner, Shoe Dog and Ahead of Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? K-Cups
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Hopefully the technology platform we are building now!
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Culture and personnel in a growing service organization.

Key Point from the Interview:

“You got to have people around you that can trust, and that you care about and care about you, and that you can lean on and give you that perspective.”

Resources Mentioned:

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