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Willy Schlacks

Co-Founder & President, EquipmentShare.com Inc.

Search every verified Willy Schlacks interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Willy Schlacks, co-founder and president of EquipmentShare, discussed the company's growth from operator pain in the field into a vertically integrated construction technology platform spanning technology, equipment, and services on the Outsider Inc. podcast in April 2026. He described his upbringing in rural Missouri, where he began building businesses with his brother at a young age, and contrasted that experience with the San Francisco startup environment, where he observed founders raising money without building value. Schlacks said he considers failure to occur only when someone stops trying, and he expressed that constraint can serve as a strategic advantage rather than a limitation. In an August 2023 appearance on The Full Ratchet, Schlacks spoke about trends he is bullish on, including the next wave of AI that he said would be legitimately useful as opposed to previous algorithmic approaches. He also described his venture fund and seed-stage metro fund as vehicles for "altruistic capitalism," stating that he wants people to struggle to build wealth because they will later distribute that wealth in impactful ways.

Recent appearances

  • Turning Struggle into Strategy w/ Willy Schlacks, Co-Founder & President, EquipmentShare

    April 01, 2026 · 📺 Outsider Inc.

    In this episode of Outsider Inc., host Ian Hathaway sits down with Willy Schlacks, Co-Founder and President of EquipmentShare, to explore what it really looks like to build a category-defining company outside Silicon Valley. Willy shares how EquipmentShare grew from operator pain in the field into a vertically integrated construction tech platform spanning technology, equipment, and services, and why embracing constraint can be a strategic advantage, not a limitation. They dig into the chaos of jobsite operations, the early decision to take a platform approach, what Willy learned from time ins…

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  • Investor Stories 284: What's Next (O'Malley, Viswanathan, Schlacks)

    August 08, 2023 · 📺 Nicholas Moran

    On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Brian O'Malley Ravi Viswanathan Willy Schlacks Each investor discusses sectors, drivers and/or trends that may have significant impact in the future and are potentially positioned for outsized-returns. The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran, General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our Website. Also, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter!…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →