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Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Ep. 536 - Ally Waste COO Harrison Crum - Profitable Growth in the “Trash to Treasure” Industry

Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Second in Command with Cameron Herold

Business, Entrepreneurship, Careers, Management

4.9 • 225 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever felt overwhelmed by relentless growth, leadership friction, or the challenge of building teams that actually scale? What if you could gain proven, insider strategies for multiplying operations by 20X while keeping chaos at bay?

In this bold episode, Cameron Herold sits down with Harrison Crum, Chief Operating Officer of Ally Waste, to unpack the rarely-told story behind scaling a national waste-services brand—now operating in 40 states, with over 1,500 employees and a mission to dominate a niche few understand.


They dig deep on developmental leadership, acquisition integration, ruthless prioritization, and using tech and AI for surprising advantage. If you want to dodge burnout, outpace competitors, and solve execution pain now, don’t wait—this conversation reveals real advantages you won’t find anywhere else.


Timestamped Highlights

[00:00] – Harrison spills how sales intelligence and regional structure turn cold prospects into loyal clients

[02:31] – Why the “doorstep to dumpster” model wins in multi-family and what luxury tenants secretly value

[04:33] – The ugly side of apartment junk and how subscription junk removal flips the profit script

[07:03] – Ally Waste’s national play: how to dominate fragmented markets and win big contracts

[09:29] – Commercial expansion temptations: the real use cases for “waste leveling” in strip malls

[13:58] – Navigating hauler relationships, unions, and the anti-mafia garbage wars in New York & New Jersey

[16:51] – How 20X growth nearly broke the company—and the relentless focus that turned chaos into margin

[21:43] – Acquisitions decoded: finding the right people, fixing culture, and building tech that actually scales

[26:04] – Are robots or AI coming for waste? Harrison’s thrilling vision for how tech could flip the industry

[32:01] – The Ally Way: promoting leaders from within, tough-core values, and intentional development


About the Guest

Harrison Crum is the Chief Operating Officer of Ally Waste, a fast-growing, multi-state waste services provider specializing in multifamily and commercial property solutions. With deep experience in Fortune 500 and private sector operations—including past roles at Republic Services and Ford—he’s known for scaling Ally’s operations by 20X in four years, championing high-retention business models, and building game-changing technology for dirty jobs. Harrison is a seasoned leader in acquisition integration, organizational development, and culture-driven execution.

🔗LinkedIn | Website

Mentioned Resources


Important Links



The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Our sales organization is incredible and it's not part of my team, but our chief revenue

0:05.7

officer, Taylor McBride, has built out a structure that's, it's quite intelligent.

0:11.1

So he's got regional vice presidents in each kind of general area that they oversee.

0:15.7

And then we've got what are called, you know, sales executives that will go out and they'll

0:19.6

sell the individual kind of ones and twos. But we also

0:23.4

have a sales development team. So SDRs that will make the cold calls, do the cold emails.

0:28.6

I mean, our total addressable market is kind of until we can get more into the commercial

0:33.6

space, it's really just multifamily. We know, you know, we pay for a subscription to

0:38.2

an organization that gives us all the data, right? Like, we know who our customers are. So,

0:43.1

it's just getting in front of them in all the different ways.

0:50.7

Welcome to the Second and Command podcast, produced by the C.O. Alliance and brought to you by its founder, Cameron Harold.

0:59.1

In the Second in Command podcast, we talk to top COOs who share the insights, strategies, and tactics that made them the chief behind the chief.

1:08.3

And now, here's your host, Cameron Harold. All right, our guest today is the

1:16.9

COO Alliance member and Ally Waste Services Chief Operating Officer Harrison Crum. Harrison's in Arizona

1:23.3

Native with a great background spanning Fortune 500 companies and fast-growing private businesses.

1:29.0

He spent two years as a missionary in Peru, where he became fluent in Spanish, before earning

1:33.7

his MBA from Babson College. Harrison began a career at Ford Motor Company and leader transitioned

1:38.5

into the Stast industry, and then joined Republic Services, which opened his door to a career

1:43.5

in the waste services space.

1:45.1

I joked with him before we started that our parents must have been proud that we were both

1:48.6

garbage men because I came out of the 180-god junk era.

1:51.5

He has drawn on his blended skills as both sales and operations, and he's going to successfully

...

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