5 Questions with a Pipe Cleaning PRO – Jesse Aizenstat

Name: Jesse Aizenstat

Employer: Forward Lateral

Job Title: Founder, Owner

Years in the Industry: 2

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1. How did you get your start in the industry?

I was standing in my driveway after a sewer lateral inspection was just performed when I noticed the plumbing contractor filling out a paper form and getting ready to drive a thumb drive down to the city. What if I could do something to allow him to submit it all right here, I thought. A few weeks later I got a paper letter in the mail from the city saying the thumb drive was defective and the video would not play. The paper form would need to be filled out. The plumber didn’t have a copy, so we had to do another CCTV inspection. A lightbulb went off. I spent the next 8 months designing a streamlined, digitized software to serve every plumber, property owner, sanitary district in America that inspects laterals with CCTV inspections. I never looked back.

2. What does your typical day look like?

Head down to the office. Look at inspections in the handful of districts Forward Lateral works in. I then call plumbers to make sure they feel supported as they transition to a cloud inspection/review system. I then continue to call new districts, working with them to learn the details about how their sewer lateral program runs. The second half of my days are more focused on the software application (Forward Lateral), where I’ll work with my developer and take all the information learned through speaking with the people using the software to simply make it better. By better I mean it is easier to use, faster and more useful at helping all users quantify their time/money savings.

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3. What is the No. 1 challenge facing our industry?

It’s adapting. We’re now in the COVID-19 era, so budgets are getting cut and efficiency and remote work are key. But this does not mean that laterals need to be ignored. The districts that look to cloud software the fastest will do the best. Now is the time to be open to new efficiencies that continue to serve public health.

4. What is one piece of advice you’d like to share with your fellow PROs?

This is the United States. It’s all possible. Care about the job you do and the reputation you’d like to earn. Everything will follow.

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5. When you are not at work, what is one thing you enjoy as much as being a Pipe Cleaning PRO?

My free time is spent with my two kids and my wife. We’re avid boaters out to the Channel Islands off California, where we surf, dive and occasionally take a fish.