TITAN Mobile Shredding, LLC owes its existence in part to an entrepreneurial workshop and a well-timed TV segment on CNN.
In 1989, Don Adriaansen started his first business, PRYSM Marketing, Inc. Ready for a new challenge, in 2005, he attended a three-day entrepreneurial workshop at his undergrad alma mater, Rochester Institute of Technology. Afterward, Adriaansen saw a piece on CNN about a husband and wife who started a mobile document shredding business. Adriaansen was intrigued. Eight weeks later, he followed up with research, a business plan and down payments for two mobile shred trucks, and the business was born.
TITAN Mobile Shredding provides information security and compliance for its clients through certified secure-destruction programs and training, including on-site destruction for documents, media, hard drives and products. Paper shredded by the company is baled and shipped to paper mills so the paper can be recycled into paper towels and toilet tissue.
In January 2018, the company became the world’s first certified product-destruction company. Adriaansen bought out his co-founder that year, and the company continues to grow, with plans to move into a facility four times larger than the company’s original location.
Adriaansen, though, recognizes that more than the business plan or the leadership, it’s the people who make a company click.
“The people make or break the organization,” the president and CEO said. “With the right people in the right seats all working for a common goal, mountains can be moved! In addition, holding on to the wrong people for too long can have long-term detrimental impact on the health of the organization.”
TITAN Mobile Shredding has been a Philadelphia 100 recipient three times and a Lehigh Valley Fastest Growing Company eight times. TITAN has expanded services into New Jersey and added hard drive and media destruction — including building a specific truck for on-site destruction of hard drives and media — which is a first for the region. In 2010, TITAN purchased a Lehigh Valley-based mobile shredding company, which expanded services into the Lehigh Valley, Reading, Lancaster and Harrisburg.
Adriaansen has served on the i-SIGMA Board of Directors for over 10 years and has spoken at industry conferences and to local organizations. He is most proud of building a supportive team that genuinely likes to work at TITAN, his team said. “Don continues to invest in facilities and equipment, but most importantly in the team members who support our clients,” the company said. “Every day, for our clients, we ‘protect your future by destroying your past.’”