We're introducing you to our 40 Under 40 honorees.
President of Luxer One
Josh Middlebrooks was promoted to president of Luxer One, the Sacramento-based maker of technology-enabled package lockers, last November as the pandemic had scrambled its business.
Office buildings had been one market that was growing for Luxer One, but with workers sent home from the office, that market collapsed.
But thinking creatively under Middlebrooks' leadership, Luxer One found new markets — such as public libraries.
With more time at home on their hands, people were reading more. And librarians needed a contactless way to lend out and receive books.
"Responding to the challenges of a pandemic starts with the mindset and focusing on what you can control," Middlebrooks said in his 40 Under 40 application. "Quickly, we started asking, ‘in what ways is this pandemic an opportunity?’ and ‘how can we capitalize on what just happened?’. As soon as we made the commitment to succeed and treat it as something to overcome, we turned the page to figuring out how."
Age: 33
Education: Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Clemson University; MBA from University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School
What’s your biggest professional accomplishment?
"Prior to taking on the role of president at Luxer One, I took over the role of general manager of our New Ventures division. The goal of that team is to create and develop new market opportunities outside of our traditional package management solutions for multifamily apartments. When I took the team over, they had experienced mild success but growth was flat for a couple of years and the pipeline was inconsistent.
"During the first year, we transformed the team to get the right mix of people in place. The situation called for people that think differently about solutions and know how to move fast in a rapidly changing environment. Next, we started looking at the economies of scope for our smart lockers and where we could exploit new opportunities. Lastly, we had to instill a sense of urgency about meeting the needs of our customers. We underwent a big shift in our mindset to becoming a ‘customer obsessed’ company rather than a technology leader.
"As a result, the New Ventures division had 180% year-over-year sales growth in my first year, Year-over-year sales grew another 153% in the second year, and the team is currently on pace to set another sales record this year by a wide margin.
"This is my biggest accomplishment because it was a total transformation with a fantastic team. Success was created at the ground floor by a team of dedicated individuals and I was proud to be a part of it."
