Fred Tomlin and Sherrod Hunter were not in waste when they noticed valet trash at a luxury apartment complex. Tomlin had left a marketing firm. He is an Army veteran who had also done corporate work. Hunter came in as the other half of the bet.

The first valet-trash service struggled. Adding junk removal is what they say changed the slope. Junk Shot, their app, asks a customer to photograph the pile and get a price.

They say the brand now serves more than 20,000 doorsteps, with 22 franchise locations. The longest-running franchisee, they say, reached about $1 million a year after four years.

A photo instead of a visit

On Upflip they walk through why the first service stalled and how a picture of the junk replaced a slow estimate. The app is the part they want operators to copy.

The doorstep count and the franchisee figure are theirs. The start was an apartment trash closet nobody had productized.