Summer 2026 · Chattanooga
The SummerHire Play
Building the Team — One Family, Two Businesses
The Thesis
Building the Team in Chattanooga
Iota co-located in Chattanooga. Bellhops remote, spread across cities.
Three Threads Running at Once
Why we need extra bodies in one place
Each thread runs simultaneously — demanding coordination.
Work inbound leads from referrals and website. Earn revenue, learn the industry, build pattern recognition.
Bellhops callbacks are the day job for everyone. It's how they earn, how they learn, and how they build pattern recognition. Every call is data: what customers ask about, what competitors are doing, what breaks in the moving experience. The permanent team should treat every conversation as field research for Iota, even while closing Bellhops business.
Thread 1 · The Day Job
Bellhops Callbacks
Work inbound leads from referrals and website. Earn revenue, learn the industry, build pattern recognition.
Bellhops callbacks are the day job for everyone. It's how they earn, how they learn, and how they build pattern recognition. Every call is data: what customers ask about, what competitors are doing, what breaks in the moving experience. The permanent team should treat every conversation as field research for Iota, even while closing Bellhops business.
Thread 2 · Live in Production
Iota Alpha Test
Bellhops is the first customer. The platform runs live on real moves all summer.
The Iota alpha test runs all summer. Bellhops is the first customer of the 4PL platform. While the team is doing callbacks and closing moves, the Iota technology is being tested in production — real moves, real data, real operational stress. Every bug found, every workflow friction, every 'this should work differently' is gold.
Thread 3 · The Main Project
Iota Go-to-Market
Build target lists, define the pitch, have exploratory conversations. Prepare to sell by fall.
Iota is the side project that's actually the main project. The CEO and two salespeople should each have standing Iota activity that stays alive all summer — mapping the competitive landscape, building target lists, having exploratory conversations. The principle: never let a full week go by where Iota got zero attention.
Two Branches, One Mission
Military-style command structure
Each branch has its own commander, people, and mission — but they serve under one unified command.
Iota 4PL (Army)
Chattanooga · Technology Platform
The 4PL CEO is the commander, based in Chattanooga with the full Iota team in one office. All new sales hires report to them.
TBD
CEO — Iota (4PL)
Salesperson 1
Callbacks + alpha test → Iota fall
Salesperson 2
Callbacks + alpha test → Iota fall
Summer Helper 1
Bellhops callbacks only
Summer Helper 2
Bellhops callbacks only
Joint Operations
The branches come together for joint operations: the alpha test (Bellhops as Iota's first customer) and the feedback loop (customer data improving both businesses).
The Roles
4-5 people, one chain of command
Everyone reports to the 4PL CEO. Clear lines, no ambiguity.
Responsibilities
- Single boss for all new hires
- Learn the product by doing Bellhops callbacks
- Run the Iota alpha test with Bellhops as first customer
- Build the 4PL go-to-market
- Sits as Nick's equal — both report to joint chiefs
Success Metric
By fall, should have a point of view on Iota's go-to-market, a short list of target customers, and a draft of how the sales process works.
Responsibilities
- Report to 4PL CEO on everything
- Summer: mostly callbacks and alpha testing
- Fall: mostly Iota sales
- Transition happens naturally as volume drops
- 4PL CEO throttles their allocation weekly
Success Metric
By fall, can walk into a room with a regional mover or 3PL operator, understand their pain because they lived it, and pitch Iota from experience.
Responsibilities
- Report to 4PL CEO (not Nick, not Ted)
- Follow Nick's callback playbook
- Plug into scripts, CRM, metrics
- Have a culture to join, people to sit next to
- When season ends, they're done — no loose ends
Success Metric
Convert warm leads. That's the job. If they're doing it, great. Inbound is the most forgiving sales environment.
The Hiring Profile
Who we're looking for
Two different profiles, two different bars.
Permanent Hires
CEO + 2 Salespeople
Hire for the Iota future, not the Bellhops summer. The summer role is training, not the job.
Look For
- Entrepreneurial energy
- Comfort with ambiguity
- Curiosity about operations and logistics
- Someone who tells you things about the market you didn't know
Screen Out
- Pure closers who only care about commission
- People who need a playbook before they'll pick up the phone
- Anyone who sees Bellhops callbacks as beneath them
What You're Watching For
Can they sell?
Bellhops callbacks tell you fast. Inbound leads are the easiest environment. If someone can't convert warm leads, they won't sell a 4PL platform.
Do they think like operators?
The ones who say 'here's what I'm hearing is broken' or 'I talked to a dispatcher at [competitor]' — those are your Iota people.
Is the CEO building something?
By midsummer, should have a POV on go-to-market, a target list, and a draft sales process. Not waiting for permission.
The Timeline
CEO throttles allocation as needed
Don't set a rigid cutover date. Let the season dictate it.
June
By October, if someone on the permanent team hasn't made the transition mentally — if they're still talking about Bellhops callbacks instead of Iota pipeline — you have your answer about fit.
Recruiting Pipeline
Track your candidates
Interactive board to manage the hiring process.
Sourcing
3 candidates
Sourcing
3Maria Chen
Ex-logistics startup founder
James Wilson
B2B sales at Flexport
Alex Thompson
Recent grad, sales internship
Phone Screen
1Sarah Kim
Moving industry experience
Interview
1David Park
Operations background, interested
Offer
0Hired
0Open Question
Where does the 3PL end and the 4PL begin?
We don't need to answer this before summer. But summer will force us to confront it.
The Immediate Gap: Carrier Onboarding
Bellhops needs summer capacity — more moving companies in the network. The 4PL team is also onboarding movers onto Iota as part of the alpha test. These are two different value propositions.
Bellhops
Join our marketplace
Overlap?
Iota
Join our platform
Two Possible Architectures
For Now: Keep Paths Separate
Bellhops continues its existing carrier onboarding unchanged. The 4PL team does not onboard movers into the Bellhops marketplace — that's Nick's branch. The 4PL team onboards companies onto the Iota platform. If a mover ends up in both, that's fine, but the two paths stay separate until the joint chiefs decide otherwise.
We learn, then we architect.
The One Thing to Get Right
Don't let summer success kill the plan
The Trap
If the team is crushing Bellhops callbacks and revenue is flowing, the temptation will be enormous to say"let's keep this going through Q4" or "maybe they should just stay on Bellhops."
Bellhops already has a CEO and a model. Iota has neither without these people.
The Summer Is
The On-Ramp
Not
The Destination
The principle: Two branches, one mission. The Air Force (Bellhops) and Army (Iota 4PL) each run their own shop with their own people. The joint chiefs set strategy and work through branch commanders only. The 4PL CEO manages all new sales hires, throttles their time across three concurrent threads, and uses summer volume as the forcing function. The legal separation is infrastructure. One family in one office in Chattanooga.