Episode 161: Revolutionizing Pool Service Through Partnership with Augusto, Eddie, and Hal of NPP (National Pool Partners)
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Episode Summary
Today we do a deep dive into the recently established National Pool Partners. Officially launched in January 2021, the multi-regional pool service company has changed the game by partnering with local businesses to provide them the scale and resources of a national enterprise to better serve their customers, teammates, and partners.
In this conversation, we sit down with National Pool Partner CEO Augusto Titarelli, VP of Operational Excellence Eddie Skehan, and President of Texas Hal Denbar. All three of our guests are founding partners of the company.
Even with over 10,000 accounts under its belt already, NPP strives to maintain a kind of relationship with its partners typically only formed between local businesses and local customers. It does just this through its heavy involvement with the business of local brands and doing everything it can to nurture direct relationships with customers, elevate the standard of living of its employees, and support the front line.
Listen in as Augusto, Eddie, and Hal explain how their paths crossed—leading to the groundbreaking consolidation of pool companies in the form of NPP—and where they plan to take the brand from here on out.
Augusto Titarelli
Eddie Skehan
Hal Denbar
Topics Discussed
01:05 - An introduction to our guests and NPP’s origin story
06:56 - Eddie’s partnership with NPP
12:47 - NPP’s approach to acquiring local companies
14:18 - Systemic process for listening to employees
18:05 - Bringing Patriot Pools into the NPP fold
26:13 - Why pool companies have never consolidated up to this point
35:58 - NPP is creating opportunities that have never existed
38:43 - What changes Hal and Eddie are most excited about
41:55 - Freedom for leadership to do what their passionate about
50:02 - The importance of supporting the front line (technicians)
58:46 - Catering to individual strengths and giving opportunities to grow in the industry
1:05:30 - NPP’s overall vision for the industry
1:11:37 - Why aggregating companies unlocks opportunities and elevates the industry
1:18:12 - Where NPP is now and where they plan to go in the future
Key Quotes From Episode
There’s a huge responsibility when you become a very large organization. We do $1.7 billion dollars of service in one single company. You can have that level of respect by building local brands. ~Augusto
You have to exist to support the front line. That’s your only mission. If you’re not there to help your tech do their work well and know everything he or she needs to know to do that work well, you have no reason to be there. ~Augusto
The only reason I partnered with NPP is because we were aligned on the value for the employees, the customers, and the company. It has to be all three. If you don’t have those three, together, it’s not going to work. ~Eddie
I like swimming pools. I might say I love swimming pools. But I’m not in the swimming pool industry because of swimming pools. What I’ve always found enjoyment in is creating jobs and opportunities for as many people as possible. That’s what gets me up in the morning. ~Hal
Passion is going to drive this industry; but, when passion is subject to the bureaucracy of having to get things done right, passion kind of gets smothered. ~Augusto
Whenever we improve any core area of a company such as leadership, that has trickle-down effects that affect everybody else. ~Eddie
It’s not about how you’re going to fix something that’s broken; it’s how you’re going to make it better. ~Augusto
