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Tommy Mello

Founder & CEO, A1 Garage Door Service

Search every verified Tommy Mello interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Tommy Mello, founder and CEO of A1 Garage Door Service, appeared on a podcast hosted by Lucas Jensen in October 2026, where he discussed the growth of his company to over $400 million in annual revenue. During the conversation, Mello described his approach to scaling through acquisitions, stating that he buys businesses at lower multiples, improves their performance, and sells or holds them at higher valuations, comparing the process to a game of Monopoly. He also shared his goal for technician compensation, saying he wants his technicians to earn at least $250,000 per year as a base, and that those who cannot reach that level within two years are a problem. Mello also mentioned that he drove an older, high-mileage truck until every technician and installer had a new vehicle, and stated that he plans to give tens of millions of dollars to nonprofits in the coming year. He is scheduled to speak at PaintCon 2026, an industry event taking place in November, where he and Jensen will appear together.

Recent appearances

  • How Tommy Mello Built a $400M Home Service Empire

    October 15, 2026 · 📺 Lucas Jensen

    Tommy Mello built A1 Garage Door into a home service business doing more than $400 million per year. In this episode, Lucas Jensen sits down with Tommy to break down the strategies behind scaling, marketing, hiring, profitability and building a home-service contracting company with massive enterprise value. Tommy shares what he would focus on if he were building a home service company today, from pricing and customer experience to culture, market share, financials and acquisitions. Interested in hearing Tommy Speak live? Get your tickets to PaintCon 2026 and come meet Tommy & Lucas in person…

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  • Gary V on The Content Excuse Keeping Home Service Owners Invisible

    July 16, 2026 · 📺 Tommy Mello

    🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Tommy Mello sits down with Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of VaynerMedia and VaynerX, for a conversation every home service owner needs to hear. Gary breaks down how he transformed his dad's New Jersey liquor store into Wine Library, why he saw the internet coming in 1995, and what he looks for before investing in any company today. He explains kind candor, the feedback system he trains 2,700 employees on, and answers the 10 million dollar question about starting over from zero. Then Tommy runs him through a true or false speed round o…

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  • Marketing, Sales, Capacity Planning, and Scaling Home Services with Ismael Valdez

    February 23, 2026 · 📺 Tommy Mello

    Tommy Mello hosts a Super Bowl day episode of The Home Service Expert with Ismael Valdez, founder of VE and NextGen (Anaheim), discussing how to scale home service businesses through disciplined marketing, sales process mastery, and operational execution. Ishmael explains how he would evaluate investing in a $20M company by first assessing the energy and leadership of the C-suite/upper management, then reviewing data systems like CRM/ServiceTitan and financials, contrasting this with smaller $4 - $5M owner-driven businesses. They discuss the importance of competitiveness, infrastructure, and r…

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  • What I Learned Building a $300M/Year Blue-Collar Business

    January 27, 2026 · 📺 My First Million

    Want to master the CEO playbook like Tommy? Get the guide here: https://clickhubspot.com/bfr Episode 789: Sam Parr ( ⁠https://x.com/theSamParr⁠ ) and Shaan Puri ( ⁠https://x.com/ShaanVP⁠ ) talk to Tommy Mello ( https://x.com/RealTommyMello )about how he turned garage door repairs into $1.7B. Show Notes: (0:00) A1 Origin story (14:04) Learning persuasion (18:36) Finding the blueprint (23:00) Kill the hustler (25:53) Training (employees) like a SEAL (28:50) business bootcamp with a mentor (35:55) Home Services Sales and Marketing masterclass (45:26) 7 principles (51:41) Using AI for call cen…

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  • Why Control Keeps You Small | Tommy Mello - $1 Billion Company Founder (A1 Garage Doors)

    December 31, 2025 · 📺 Scott D. Clary - Success Story Podcast

    ➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com ➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory Tommy Mello is a billionaire entrepreneur and founder of A1 Garage Door Service, which he started in 2007 with $50,000 in debt and transformed into North America's largest independently-owned garage door company, now operating in 19 states with over 700 employees and generating over $200 million in revenue. He is also a bestselling author of books including "Elevate" and "Home Service Millionaire," host of "The Home Servic…

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  • E427 Home Service Expert: Journey of an Automotive Expert with Aaron Stokes

    August 07, 2025 · 📺 Tommy Mello

    In this conversation, Tommy Mello interviews Aaron Stokes, a seasoned expert in the automotive repair industry. They discuss Aaron’s journey from humble beginnings to becoming a successful entrepreneur and coach. The conversation covers essential business concepts such as understanding financial metrics, the importance of gross profit by the hour, effective sales techniques, and the significance of live events in fostering community and growth. Aaron emphasizes the need for business owners to embrace change, understand their numbers, and create a supportive environment for their employees. The…

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  • How Tommy Mello Built A1 Garage into a 250,000,000 Business

    December 19, 2024 · 📺 Roofing Insights

    Connect with Dmitry: https://dmitrylipinskiy.com/ Join my daily marketing program: https://www.mymarketingfitness.com/ Subscribe to our other channel for full podcasts!:    / @dmitrylipinskiypodcast   Roofing Insights T-shirts - https://roofinginsightsstore.com/ ============================ Insights: 00:00 Intro 01:02 How are you different from others? 03:16 What was the hardest like? 06:16 What was your darkest year in business? 10:17 How long people stay in your company? 11:50 Lack of financial education 14:08 Live beyond the means 19:19 What defines you? 22:28 Push people to…

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  • Lucrative Home Service Barely Anyone Talks About!!

    December 09, 2024 · 📺 UpFlip

    (ad) Turn your idea into a legitimate business - https://bit.ly/3VfgTZX Tommy Mello turned the heads of many when he beat the entrepreneurial odds and turned a one-man business with $50K in debt into a thriving venture. And now he has over 700 employees and a business about to cross the $220M revenue threshold across 22 states. Tommy was also named top entrepreneur in Arizona under the age of 35. Tommy grew up from humble beginnings as his parents worked three jobs in order to provide for him. As he became older, he took on the entrepreneurship mindset early as he wore different hats mowin…

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  • Movified Mondays: Tommy Mello from A1 Garage Door Top Business Lessons & Personal Stories

    November 04, 2024 · 📺 Movified

    Join us for a powerful and insightful episode of Movified Mondays straight from the Moving Titan Retreat in Tampa, Florida! 🌴✨ Host Mark Hirschi sits down with Tommy Mello, the powerhouse entrepreneur behind A1 Garage Doors and the acclaimed Home Service Expert podcast. In this candid fireside chat, Tommy shares invaluable lessons for aspiring and seasoned business owners, recounts pivotal moments in his career, and dives deep into what truly matters for long-term success. 🔑 Key Highlights from the Interview: Top 5 Business Tips: Must-know strategies for anyone in the service industry. The V…

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  • A1 Garage Doors Founder Tommy Mello on How To Make Employees Want to Work Harder

    July 15, 2024 · 📺 Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

    If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe! It helps the channel grow and allows us to make more. Thank you! https://www.youtube.com/user/jacobmor... ---------------------------------------------- Hard work often sets individuals apart in competitive environments, showcasing dedication and commitment. But in today's work environment, where work-life balance and employee well-being are top priorities, is a strong work ethic still relevant in the workplace? Tommy Mello, Founder of A1 Garage Doors, believes so. In this episode, Tommy explains the role of leaders in promoting hard wo…

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  • How Tommy Mello Built a $250M Home Service Business Empire! | A1 Garage Door | Paul Giannamore

    June 29, 2024 · 📺 POTOMAC M&A

    In this captivating episode of "Off The Record," Paul Giannamore sits down with the dynamic and innovative entrepreneur Tommy Mello, founder of A1 Garage Door Service and host of "The Home Service Expert" podcast. Tommy shares his incredible journey from humble beginnings to building a $200 million home service empire. The conversation delves into Tommy's strategies for scaling businesses, the importance of adopting cutting-edge technology, and his unique approach to leadership and team development. He emphasizes the value of creating a strong company culture, investing in employee growth, an…

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  • $200M Empire Almost Killed Me - Tommy Mello's Brutal Truth About Competing on Price

    May 16, 2024 · 📺 The Big Fish Cares

    Join us for an insightful episode of The Big Fish Cares Podcast as we dive deep into the world of home service entrepreneurship with Tommy Mello, the mastermind behind A1 Garage Doors, a $200M home service empire. From seizing opportunities in various industries to mastering the art of branding and recruitment, Tommy shares invaluable insights and stories that have fueled his remarkable success. Discover why competing on price is a losing strategy, the transformative power of compound interest, and the essential principles for achieving work-life balance while scaling your business. Tommy's jo…

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Notable quotes

“It kind of feels like Monopoly a little bit. I knew it was going to be great, but I started to learn about arbitrage. And arbitrage, it's on my license plate. Yeah, it says arbitrage. It spells a little differently, but you could go out and buy a business for five times, three times, five times, seven times, build it correctly and it's worth 15, sometimes 20 times. Sometimes even more than that. You buy 20 businesses”

“Look, when I had the wire come into me, um, I did something that most people wouldn't have done. I had I think I have like seven seven commercial buildings anywhere from 10,000 to 54,000 ft that I leased out back to Wrench. Um, so I had seven buildings. I had a like I have like nine houses that that I had. So, like when that money came in to me, I went and bought, you know, a watch and a car and like all the nonsense”

“So, here's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to spend as much possible money as I possibly could and still have a staff to where I've got to do outbound that day. So 20% of my volume in that market will be on my list. So I can pick up the 20%. But here's the deal. Same day call out. That's what I was going to say. I'm okay. Now I'm down. I only need to fill 10% of the board. I got a guy that his daughter just got sic”

“We're going to spend $4.3 million this month in marketing. Not afraid to spend a lot of money. And here's what I've learned. I was $30 million. I met a guy named Dan Atelli that Al Levy, my coach, he referred me. He goes, 'Tommy,' he goes, 'I think your wraps are garbage.' ... He goes, 'The best way to do it is I took a picture of your truck. I made it black and white.' And tell me what pops out of you. He goes, 'Tha”

“The original valuation was about 540 million. We were at 27 million of EBITDA. Now the business is north of 80 million of EBITDA. So now it's worth close to 1.7.”

“Well, this ownership mentality changes everything. It's called equity incentive programs. If you think about it, every publicly traded company has stock options for their leadership team. Sometimes they do ESOP where it goes all the way down. I don't like an ESOP because everybody gets equity, but the greatest people working the hardest don't get enough. ... But what I do is an equity incentive program where it goes ”

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 →