The birth of an ewaste business.
July 14, 2018
The official birthday of Franklin eWaste (now City eWaste).
It was one of those Tennessee summer Saturdays that felt like a test. Blazing sun, torrential downpours, then swampy humidity that makes you question why you live in the South. The kind of day where inspiration doesn’t knock—it kicks the door in, yells “Eureka!”
At the edge of Carters Creek Pike, where Franklin starts stretching its legs into country roads, a yard sale called my name. I was on my way to meet family at the Halfway Market in Southall when I felt the urge to stop. The rain had suddenly stopped and the tarps that were haphazardly covering the used goods started being pealed back again. On one table, exposed to the elements, a bunch of sopping wet server blades glistened in the sun and caught my eye. Right then, I uttered five little words that would change the trajectory of my life.
“How much for the servers?”
The seller shrugged, looked at the waterlogged pile, and said, “They’re ruined now. Just take ’em. They’re yours.”
The rear end of my sedan practically groaned under the weight as I loaded up every last one of my shiny new toys and took them home to my 6x10 foot tinker shed. It wasn’t much—a Ryobi drill, a pair of garden snips and a flathead screwdriver that was older that my granddad. I’ll never forget laying out my tools like a surgeon preparing for their first operation and Googled: "What are the valuable parts of a server? "
And just like that, I was hooked.
You know what they say: Find something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, let me tell you, whoever said that never hauled around soggy server blades in a Tennessee heatwave.
First version of the logo seen hanging in the back of Vintage, TN
V.1 / Place + Industry
Back then, my day was split between running a vintage shop—Vintage, TN, and freelancing branding & web design. I had spare room in the back, a head full of ideas, and a shiny new obsession. All I needed was a name.
My background in branding told me the answer: keep it simple. “The Where” + “The What.” It’s what domain investors call the “geo plus” formula—not sexy, but it works. Living in downtown Franklin, Tennessee, and wanting to collect as much ewaste as I could, the name came easy... Franklin eWaste. A quick logo, a no-frills website, and a Google Business profile later, I was open for business. And boy, did the business come.
Version 2 of the logo seen hanging in the wall facing Bridge Street
V.2 / LOCATION, LOCATIOn, LOCATION!
Not long after COVID turned the world upside down, we found our next home—a beautiful building near the corner of Hillsboro & Bridge Street and one of Franklin’s busiest intersections. It stood proud, one of the three major entry points into Downtown Franklin. The location was perfect, the team was strong (all seven of us), and everything felt like it was falling into place (until the building sold).
What started as a soggy yard sale find had grown into a thriving business. In order to take our model nationwide, Franklin eWaste evolved into City eWaste, but the spirit of that sticky-hot Saturday remains. Because sometimes, the best ideas are the ones that catch you off guard, shimmering in the sunlight after a storm.
Opening Day - April 1, 2024
V.4 / Leaner & Meaner
Six years in, and we’ve learned a thing or two. On April Fools’ Day 2024, we downsized to a sharper, more efficient space with an all new team. Armed with better volume and hard earned experience, we fine tuned our reselling department and brought in C-Suite talent to ambitiously take things to the next level.
Now, as America’s first ewaste franchise, we’re gearing up for nationwide expansion with bold plans to develop cutting-edge IP for streamlined materials management, process innovation, and AI-driven solutions, V.3 is just the beginning.
Stay tuned—V.4 is coming.