waste-management
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Dean Wallace Built a Company for the Work Nobody Notices Until It Stops
He spent more than two decades scaling the unglamorous, essential work behind factories, utilities and waste systems - then made succession part of the operating plan.
Michael Marmo
Michael Marmo is the founder and CEO of CurbWaste, a New York-based software platform for waste haulers. A fourth-generation waste industry professional, Marmo started as a scale operator at a family transfer station, built a NYC hauling company called Curbside, then sold it in 2021 to focus on the software he had built to run it. CurbWaste now serves ~150 haulers across roughly 40 states and has raised about $50M in total funding, including a $28M Series B in October 2025 led by Socium Ventures.
Zachary Irwin
Zachary Irwin is the co-founder and CEO of Downstream, a Dallas-based marketplace that lets contractors book equipment rentals, dumpsters, portable toilets, and site services with a few taps - the way you might order a pizza. Started in 2022 as 'Trash Gurus' and rebuilt into an AI-driven procurement platform with 100,000+ listings, Downstream raised an $8M Series A in November 2025 co-led by Brick & Mortar Ventures and Moneta Ventures. Irwin came to construction's least glamorous corner from an unlikely place: years as a healthcare-software (Epic) consultant building oncology and pharmacy systems across 22 states.
Graham Rihn
Graham Rihn is the founder and CEO of RoadRunner, a Pittsburgh-based company that uses data and AI to modernize commercial waste and recycling. A Cornell economics grad and former college linebacker who grew up in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, Rihn started RoadRunner in New York City in 2014 after watching garbage pile up on Manhattan streets and asking why an $85 billion industry had skipped the technology revolution. He moved the company to his hometown of Pittsburgh in 2017 and grew it from roughly 30 people in three cities to more than 500 employees serving over 12,000 customers nationwide, raising more than $150 million along the way, including a $70 million Series D led by General Atlantic.
Rebecca Hu-Thrams
Rebecca Hu-Thrams is the co-founder and CEO of Glacier, a San Francisco-based company building AI-powered robotic arms that sort recyclables in material recovery facilities. Raised by Chinese immigrant parents who instilled a 'reduce, reuse, recycle' ethos, she channeled her Bain consulting background and Thumbtack operating experience into tackling what she calls 'the most demented form of manufacturing on the planet.' Glacier's robots, trained on 3.8 billion images of waste, sort 70+ material categories at 60 picks per minute - preventing roughly 10 million items per robot from reaching landfill annually. Named Fast Company's #1 Most Innovative Company in Robotics & Engineering for 2026, Glacier has raised $33.2 million including a $16M Series A extension in April 2025 backed by Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund and New Enterprise Associates.
Lily Shen
Lily Shen is the Founder and CEO of Dimension, a San Francisco-based technology platform transforming waste management with data-driven, full-service solutions. A Princeton and Harvard Kennedy School graduate, she previously held roles at Niantic (Pokemon Go), Opendoor, Deloitte, and the Federal Reserve. Dimension, formerly Trash Warrior, has raised $19.5M in funding and operates in ~300 US cities with a mission to raise the national recycling rate from 35% to 75%.