Let’s learn more about Tanner’s background and the journey that led him to be employee number one at Boomerang.
Q: Tell us about yourself, Tanner!
Hi, I’m Tanner, and I head up our Client Services and Operations here at Boomerang. I was born and raised in Southern California, studied at UC Santa Barbara, and currently live in Venice Beach, California. Professionally, I love solving problems and building strong relationships with my teammates and our clients. After a great work day, you can usually find me in the water riding waves if the weather and my work schedule allow it.
Outside of work and surfing, I’m the person in my friend group that pulls everyone together for fun trips and activities. I love curating a great group and having a shared experience together, whether it be golfing, snowboarding, and music festivals. I’m always the one initiating and planning friend gatherings!
Q: Before joining Boomerang, where were you working?
Before joining Boomerang as our first hire in late 2021, I worked in the automotive industry first at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I then joined the automotive tech industry, pioneering operations at both Fair and then at Repairsmith. At Fair, I was responsible for setting up Uber car rental locations around the nation. At Repairsmith, I managed delivery car maintenance for our largest fleet accounts. Combined with both of these startup experiences, I learned a lot about operational efficiency and how to set up strong processes that scale. Even more so, I also learned how operations needs to work closely with the product team to help shape the product. The operations team is truly the boots and ears to the ground, and the product team relies heavily on our feedback to continue reiterating to make our product better every step of the way. While at Fair and Repairsmith, I fell in love with startups. There’s just something so enticing about moving fast, hustling, and working well with a tight-knit team working hard to achieve a common goal where your work makes a huge impact.
At each startup I’ve worked at, I made friends that have turned into family. At Boomerang, I’m close with everyone, but in particular, I’ve become close pals with one of our backend engineers Cesar. Everytime we see each other, we snap a photo and share it with the rest of the team at Boomerang in our company’s Slack channel (like the one below).
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Q: What made you want to join the Boomerang team?
During my time at Fair in 2018, I met Augustine, Boomerang’s co-founder & COO, in the automotive industry, since he was an executive at YourMechanic. Since day one, we really hit it off, and we stayed in touch over the years with routine catch-ups. I’ve always admired Augustine –– he was an executive at such a young age, and the whole industry really respected him. He’s incredibly smart, a strong leader, and works both up and down an organization really well. When he told me about Boomerang and how he, Skyler, and Philip wanted to solve this unique problem of lost and found, I knew I needed to be a part of the journey and put my two weeks’ notice in immediately. I knew this would be a great ride and that we’d achieve whatever we put our minds to.
Q: What’s on your bucket list this year to accomplish?
Work-wise, a bucket list goal of mine this year is to continue going above and beyond for all of our clients every day. Happy customers equal returning customers, and I’m at the front line of Client Services since I’m their main point of contact. That comes with a great responsibility, which I take great pride in.
Outside of work, though, a few personal bucket list items for myself this year are to go off-the-grid on a backpacking trip somewhere up north and to break 80 on my golf score at a challenging course!
Q: What was your favorite Boomerang moment of 2022?
Oh wow, there are so many! It was awesome when we raised our round of venture funding, backed by really incredible investors who are putting their money behind us to solve lost and found.
Anytime there’s press on us, which seems like a weekly occurrence, it’s always a super cool feeling when you see your own company on TV or in your daily news. Even my family members will send me articles or segments they see on us, which is awesome.
Another special moment that stood out to me was when we got someone back a diabetes kit that someone had lost at a music festival. When you return valuables like that to people, it’s really heartwarming: just knowing not only how important that is to their own health but even those around them. We made that customer’s day much easier. Sometimes, you don’t know just how big of a difference you can really make, which I love.
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At Boomerang, we can’t solve lost and found without our amazing people like Tanner, who show up every day and go above and beyond for our clients and customers with a can-do mentality and a smile. If you’re looking to join a fast-paced and disruptive company made up of kind, diverse, and whip-smart people who are working hard to solve a big problem, then Boomerang is the place for you. Come join us at https://thanksboomerang.com/careers!
Skyler Logsdon
CEO, Boomerang
