In this episode of Born Scrappy I sit down with Jordan Schupan, the new CEO of Schupan, to talk about what it really means to take the wheel of something that took someone else 53 years to build and how you grow it without losing what made it great.
Jordan didn't walk straight into the family business. He traded equity options in Chicago, spent years on the sales side of venture-backed software startups, and in 2016 was getting close to joining Snowflake when he stopped and asked himself a harder question. The answer brought him back to Kalamazoo, and to Schupan, the third-generation recycling and metals company his grandfather started with five people in 1968. He joined in 2017, grew the trading business from a Midwest processor into a global supply chain partner, and recently stepped into the CEO role, succeeding his father Marc who led the company for 53 years.
This isn't a conversation about succession from 30,000 feet. It's about the real work of scaling trust, in a supply chain, in a family, and across 600 people in 18 locations.
In this episode, we talk about:
👉 Choosing legacy over the startup
👉 What truth seekers really means
👉 Trust as competitive advantage
👉 Aligning incentives for growth
👉 Building a culture that scales
👉 And more!
Whether you're running a family business or thinking about what the next chapter looks like, this episode will challenge how you think about people, culture, and what real growth requires.
Born Scrappy.
Brought to you by Buddy.
One platform to manage end-to-end trades. We call it Sell-Side Software.
Built for scrappies, by scrappies.
https://www.tradebuddy.io/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/tradewithbuddy/
WHO IS STU KAGAN ANYWAYS?
28 years in the metal recycling game and still learning and growing…
I learnt from the best and worked my way up from yard labourer to Executive Director of Trading and Operations for the largest metal recycler in sub-Saharan Africa. Responsible for 4,500 employees, 85 sites, and the overall profitability of a multi-billion dollar operation.
I brought my breadth and depth of knowledge to bear and co-founded the fastest growing, most-loved, and most awarded metal recycling company in New Zealand.
I thought it was time that tech worked for our industry, so I built THE killer scrap app, Buddy - built for scrappies, by scrappies.
Father of two crazy-awesome boys. Husband to Lisa. Kids rugby coach. YPO member. Founder. Lifelong learner. Mentee. Mentor. Committed Stoic. Aspiring cowboy.
COME SAY HI ON LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stukagan/
