Rubicon was recently profiled in Waste Dive, the leading industry publication in the waste and recycling industry, under the heading “Rubicon taking less combative tack, focusing on software business.” Here are some highlights from the feature:
Rubicon has been in business for over a decade and has received more than its fair share of press coverage, but it’s still not uncommon to meet people who don’t quite understand what the “technology company” does. If its latest play works, those questions may soon be answered once and for all.
“[Software as a subscription] is what’s going to be the predominant focus of how we grow over the future,” CEO Nate Morris told Waste Dive earlier this month at WasteExpo, citing an accumulation of scale, relationships and data as key assets to leverage. “That’s going to be a big bulk of our growth, but also is really going to be the future of our industry and how we are going to be judged in a public or private market.”
According to Morris, this subscription business is targeted to comprise more than 50% of Rubicon’s revenue in the next five years, including the company’s expanding smart cities line and more.
“I think every American company today wants to be a technology company. The big autos are talking about becoming technology and mobility companies,” said Chief Strategy Officer Michael Allegretti. “Everyone wants to be, but it’s more than office layouts. It comes to building tech products, and that’s what we are focused on.”
“If you are a technology company, how much of your revenue is derived from product and subscription?” asked Morris. “And that ultimately needs to be the real test. Just like Silicon Valley or some of the most sophisticated tech investors ask us that question.”
“As a technology company, drivers of value for us all come back to data collection,” said Allegretti. “So when we think of our technology penetration and the value of our business, it largely comes — and will continue to come — from all of those various places from which we can collect data points to help improve the industry, help cities run better and help consumers live more sustainable lives.”
