Daniel McCarty is the founder and CEO of JunkStart, the first and only pay-by-weight junk removal company in the United States. Based in San Antonio, Texas, JunkStart is redefining the junk removal industry through transparent pricing, onboard weighing technology, and a franchise growth strategy focused on operational excellence and long-term value creation. Since launching in 2023, the company has expanded rapidly and recently signed its first franchise partner in Omaha, Nebraska as it begins expanding nationally.
What was your background before starting the business?
I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family and got to see firsthand what successful long-term family businesses look like. My family has been involved in industries like aggregate mining, ready-mix concrete, and waste disposal, and we still own and operate a landfill in the San Antonio market today.
Because of that background, I developed a deep understanding of the waste industry from an early age and learned a lot about operations, customer service, and long-term ownership. That exposure ultimately led me to starting JunkStart after identifying a major gap in the market and an opportunity to innovate in an industry that hadn’t changed much in decades.
When did you launch the company and what stage of growth are you at today?
We launched JunkStart in early 2023, so we’re now a little over three years into building the company. Since then, we’ve grown significantly in the San Antonio market, expanded our fleet, and built a strong corporate operation around our pay-by-weight model.
Today, we’ve essentially created a new category within junk removal as the first and only pay-by-weight junk removal company in the country. We recently signed and are launching our first franchisee in Omaha, which is a major milestone for us.
We still feel early, but there’s a lot of momentum behind the brand right now, and we’re excited about the opportunity to scale nationally over the coming years.
What made you decide to enter the junk removal industry and did you always want to build a franchise brand?
After selling a couple of businesses around 2020 and 2021, I spent time evaluating what I wanted to do next. I ultimately decided I wanted to build something from scratch that was large enough and scalable enough to dedicate the next 20 or 30 years of my life to.
I’ve always been fascinated by franchising and the franchisor model specifically. I love the idea of building a great operating system, constantly testing and improving it, and then partnering with other entrepreneurs to go execute it in their local markets.
From the beginning, I knew I wanted JunkStart to become a franchise brand. Originally, we launched with a fairly traditional model similar to everyone else in the industry. But over time, we realized there was a much bigger opportunity to completely rethink pricing and transparency. That ultimately led us to becoming the first and only pay-by-weight junk removal company in the country.
Your company uses a weight-based pricing system instead of the traditional model. What inspired that approach?
A big part of the inspiration came from the operational challenges of the traditional volume-based model.
Early on, we operated similarly to most junk removal companies. That meant our crews not only had to handle the physical work and customer service, but they also had to become onsite salespeople. Pricing could vary dramatically depending on the employee, the customer, or the situation.
As we grew, I realized that model was difficult to scale well operationally because there were simply too many subjective variables involved.
The breakthrough came when we stepped back and asked a simple question: if disposal is already charged by weight at the landfill, why shouldn’t pricing for the customer work the same way?
That led us to develop our onboard weighing system and become the first and only pay-by-weight junk removal company in the country. The result has been a much more transparent customer experience, a more scalable operating model, and significantly better operational consistency across the business.
What competitive advantages do you believe your business has in the marketplace?
The biggest advantage is differentiation. We are the first and only pay-by-weight junk removal company in the country, with patent-pending technology around our onboard weighing systems.
We can openly explain to customers that the traditional model is often inconsistent and subjective, and instead offer a pricing system that’s transparent, measurable, and based on actual weight. Customers immediately understand the concept because paying by actual weight simply feels more fair and intuitive.
Another major advantage is operational efficiency. Because we charge by weight rather than volume, our truck beds have continued getting larger over time. Our goal is to maximize productive capacity before our crews have to stop and drive across town to dump.
Our model aligns incentives much better for both the customer and the business. Customers get transparent pricing, and we get a more scalable and operationally efficient system.
What has surprised you the most about growing from a local operation into a franchise system?
What surprised me most is probably the range in quality across franchising as an industry.
There are some truly exceptional franchisors that create enormous value for their franchisees through systems, support, leadership, and operational excellence. At the same time, I’ve also seen concepts where, candidly, I don’t think they should have been franchised in the first place.
That contrast has reinforced how important it is for us to build the right way. We want to create a system that genuinely helps franchisees win by providing real operational support, a strong playbook, differentiated marketing, and a business model that creates value in local communities.
The best franchise systems are much more than a brand name or a licensing model. They’re real operating platforms that help entrepreneurs succeed faster and with less risk than they could on their own.
What qualities do you look for in franchise owners running the brand?
One of our core internal phrases is “hilltakers.” We want franchise partners who see an opportunity, see a hill worth taking, and want to go become the number one operator in their market.
We’re looking for ambitious people who want to scale, lead teams, serve customers well, and build something meaningful over time.
Beyond ambition, we look for high-agency people with integrity, resilience, and accountability. Ultimately, we’re looking for people who are competitive, dependable, growth-oriented, and excited by the challenge of building a great business the right way.
What kind of training and support do franchisees receive?
We’re extremely focused on building a strong support system for our franchise partners.
That starts with initial training, operational playbooks, systems, and ongoing coaching around how to run a high-performing business. We want franchisees to have a very clear roadmap rather than having to figure everything out from scratch.
One major differentiator for us is our centralized revenue and customer support infrastructure. We also provide marketing support including websites, local SEO, digital advertising guidance, and vetted marketing partners to help franchisees grow efficiently.
Commercial and recurring B2B accounts now represent over 50% of our business, so commercial sales is another major focus for us. Our goal is to provide franchisees with real operational leverage and revenue-driving support so they can focus on execution and growth in their local markets.
What has been your approach to building customer trust and brand awareness?
For us, customer trust starts with the business model itself.
When we shifted to pay-by-weight pricing, we intentionally positioned ourselves as a challenger brand. We openly explain how traditional volume-based pricing works and why we believe a transparent pay-by-weight system is better for the customer.
Our messaging is built around being fair, fast, and easy. We want customers to immediately understand what makes us different and why that difference benefits them.
So building trust has really been a combination of transparent pricing, differentiated branding, operational execution, and consistently trying to do right by the customer.
What have been some of your biggest lessons learned so far as an emerging franchisor?
One of the biggest lessons has been realizing that building a truly great brand is possible if you stay disciplined and execute consistently over a long period of time.
I’ve also learned that building a business takes significantly more time, money, and effort than almost anyone expects. Everything takes longer. Everything is harder. But that’s also what makes it rewarding.
At this stage, I’m incredibly optimistic about what we’re building. We have a differentiated model, strong positioning, talented people, and a business that resonates with customers.