A visit to a football field to throw around a ball with his three sons inspired Marcus Webb to create a niche cleaning company that specializes in cleaning high school stadiums after football
games. Webb is the co-founder and CEO of Knoxville, Tennnessee-based Goldenseal, which now has nine full-time employees and more than US$500,000 in facility cleaning contracts.
In 2018, Webb was working at a call center when his brother, Bryan Webb, approached him about starting a cleaning business. However, the two struggled to acquire clients.
But that fall, Webb had a breakthrough. He regularly took his sons to a local high school football field, where they threw a football on the field on Sunday afternoons. During one such Sunday, after viewing the completely trashed football stadium and field, he had an epiphany: High schools need help cleaning the stadium grounds after Friday night football games. Webb called his brother with the idea, and the two agreed this idea would help them break into the cleaning business.
Slow beginnings evolve into rapid expansion
The new company had to wait until the next high school football season—fall 2019—to start. After that, the business grew quickly.
“We went from zero business in our first year to cleaning seven high school stadiums,” Webb said. “And they thought it was the best thing because their custodians in the school were overworked and underpaid. They were going on strike. There was a shortage of employees doing school custodial work here in Knoxville, so the timing was perfect.”
Years two through four of the business were challenging, though. COVID-19 hit the business in 2020, and his brother stepped away for a couple of years. Marcus then ran the business with his
girlfriend at the time, who helped him stay in business. They went from having seven schools in 2019 to nine in 2020, and 12 in 2021. Then, in 2022, his brother returned, serving as Goldenseal
co-founder and vice president, and they scaled back to seven schools.
Soon after, a high school where they had worked for nearly five years approached Goldenseal about taking on custodial tasks inside the school. Then they got an offer from a large cancer center.
“We ended up cleaning both of those buildings, so I quit the call center at that point,” Webb said. “In the summer of 2022, we went from $15,000 and scaled the business all the way up to $200,000.”
Although Goldenseal has expanded its services to schools and medical centers, it continues to clean stadiums after football games. Cleanup after one game can take about four hours and requires
picking up all the trash from the bleachers, track, and walkways, as well as cleaning the restrooms. Webb and his brother have found it most efficient to use a leaf blower to remove trash from bleachers, a synthetic turf sweeper to pick up debris from the football field, and a pressure washer to clean the restrooms.
“We got so good at what we did, we were able to cut that time,” Webb said, adding that he and his brother can finish a stadium in under two hours.
Scanning the field for new opportunities
Webb continues to keep his eyes open for new opportunities. He recently put in a bid to service the new baseball stadium that the Chicago Cubs AA minor league affiliate is building outside Knoxville. “That would be like a full circle moment, going from servicing the high schools in our area to now being able to service a minor league baseball team,” he said.
Webb also is interested in bidding on servicing the new Tennessee Titans football stadium under construction in Nashville. “We’re gonna go after that contract as well, because stadium cleaning is
where we cut our teeth and really broke into this business, and so we want to continue cleaning stadiums,” he said. “We just want to do larger-scale projects now that we understand cleaning
inside [facilities], the details that it takes.”
When offering advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs, Webb stresses the importance of self-confidence. “Just believe in yourself,” he said.
“Believe that your dreams can become reality. Believe that you can live the life that you want to live, regardless of where you come from or your background.”
