How I Started SampleServe

I'm Russell Schindler, I'm a Geologist, and I've been doing environmental work for 35-years. I'm also the CEO of SampleServe.

I started SampleServe in 2001 as a “sampling as a service” company right after the state of Michigan changed its rules on how to collect environmental groundwater samples. The rule change basically required more time and more data collection. It also involved specialized meters and pumps, and the industry was initially confused about the process of collecting these samples.

By around 2011 or so, SampleServe was collecting samples on projects all over the country. It was around that time, I was meeting with a certain large national consulting engineering company, trying to convince them to hire us to do their sampling. In my pitch to the company, I talked about the quality of our sampling, the meters that we used, our safety standards, our quality control measures, and, as an added value, I showed them our basic reporting software.

You see, back then if you hired us to do the sampling you could use our reporting software included at no cost. We had all the data digitally, and we used a lot of it to make our sampling processes more efficient. We decided, as a value add to our sampling services, we would let users create their needed tables, graphs, and even basic data box maps. It’s not nearly as good as it is now, but it sure was advanced for the time. At the end of the meeting, the company’s office manager said, “Look Russ, we like to do our own sampling, that's how we make money. But your software is very cool, is there any way we could just use your software?” My response at the time was, “No. I’m not a software company”.  So, they said “Thanks anyway. If you change your mind on the software, let us know”.

It occurred to me, as I was walking out of that building with zero business from that client, that maybe I should let them use the software. At least I’d be getting some revenue from them. The thing is, back then I never really thought of myself as a software company, even though obviously many of our customers saw significant value from it. It was at that point, while walking through that parking lot back to my car, that SampleServe started its journey from a “sampling as a service” company to a “software as a service” company.

It took us about a year before we could let individuals use the software as a stand-alone product. We had to reconfigure the database and access so that outside users couldn't see other outside users’ projects or data. Back then we were bootstrapping the software development, we could only afford a couple thousand dollars per month in development costs and if you know software development, that’s not much, even for back then.  

It was late 2018 that we started raising outside investment. This is when we were able to accelerate our software development and build our mobile applications. In the middle of 2022, we sold the sampling side of our business. We continued in the physical sampling business, although the volume of physical sampling was reduced dramatically after 2018. We continued to sample because the sampling was basically our own internal research and development department. We would use the early versions of our own software mobile applications and we would be able to be our own beta testers. I think it's because we basically grew up as a company in the sampling business, is why our software is significantly useful to the field samplers. I was one of those guys out there collecting samples nearly every day, so I understood all the pain points and subtleties of sampling and tracking the data. Our biggest fans of our product to date are the field technicians.

Background on the Industry

Most people don't know this, but the number one source of groundwater pollution in the United States is your typical corner gas station. There are other types of groundwater pollution out there from manufacturing firms, pipelines, refineries, your dry cleaner and even a home heating fuel tank. Each one of these sites of contamination is required by law to do an investigation to determine the extent of contamination, and then, if necessary, conduct a clean-up.

With approximately 150-million environmental samples collected every year, environmental professionals spend about 40% of their time turning sample collection data into actionable graphical maps and images. You would think that the environmental industry, an industry founded in science and technology, would be using the latest and greatest technologies for collecting samples and generating reports. Well, they're not, in fact, they’re still doing work the way they did back in the 80s.

Using the SampleServe platform, each step in the sample collection process is captured and digitized, which means, those same maps and images that would take days or even weeks, can now be completed in just a matter of seconds.

Oil companies and owners of properties with ongoing contamination projects typically have a set budget every year for conducting investigations, doing the required monitoring, and performing the needed clean-ups. By using the SampleServe platform, we can save contaminated property owners a significant part of their budget. Money that would normally be spent on inefficient sample collection and wasteful sampling and reporting methods, is now able to be spent on actually doing the clean-up.