A garbage-truck salesman, a semiconductor engineer, and one very easy chore to forget.
BEN began with an embarrassing question: how does a guy who knows the trash business keep missing his own garbage day?
He sold garbage trucks.
He still missed garbage day.
Hunter Smith had spent years in industrial and commercial truck sales—including the waste industry—while also owning a franchise pizza shop. He understood routes, trucks, customers, deadlines, and busy days.
What he apparently couldn’t figure out was how to remember his own collection day.
For years, Hunter joked that garbage trucks needed a jingle like an ice-cream truck. Then he could hear one coming from his office and make a last-second dash for the curb.
This was not Hunter's first business idea. Not even close.
Over the years, there were dozens of brainstorms—ranging from Texas tourist spots to early fintech. Most stayed as sketches, while a pizza shop became his first operating business.
Chicken-Fried Steak HQ
A landmark Texas restaurant and tourist concept devoted entirely to perfected chicken-fried steak.
Mobile Barbershop
A Snap-on tools style mobile barber shop rolling directly into industrial job sites and commercial hubs.
Internet Dollars
Prepaid digital currency cards for safe e-commerce before credit cards were widely accepted online.
Monthly Essentials
Automated recurring delivery of household staples long before Amazon Subscribe & Save was a thing.
Hino the Dog Books
An illustrated children's book series chronicling the humorous adventures of a family dog named Hino.
BEN — The One That Stuck
While all those other ideas came and went, BEN was the single problem Hunter couldn't let go of.
First, Christmas dinner.
Then, an ice house.
Krause's Biergarten New Braunfels TX • Spring '26
At Christmas in 2025, Hunter told his oldest son, Hank, to invite any Texas State friends who had nowhere to go for the holiday. One of the guests was Tajwar, a graduate student focused on electrical engineering and semiconductors.
A few months later, Hunter knew the idea was bigger than something he could build alone. He invited Tajwar to a little ice house in New Braunfels, Texas. They sketched out the problem, the sensor, the hub, and the app on a table.
Hunter asked: “Can this actually be built?”
Tajwar thought it could.
Real ideas don't start in boardrooms — they start over cold drinks and open notebooks.
The journey from a seat at Christmas dinner to working hardware.
A seat at the table
A Texas State graduate student named Tajwar joins the Smith family’s big Christmas dinner.
The ice-house sketch
Hunter brings the idea. Tajwar studies the problem, sketches the system on a napkin, and says he can build it.
BEN comes to life
A working prototype proves BEN can finally sense bin status and send real-time reminders.
One knew garbage.
One knew how to make
hardware talk.
Hunter Smith
Waste-industry experience, commercial sales, small-business ownership, and first-hand expertise in forgetting trash day.
Tajwar
Electrical engineering and semiconductor expertise—and the person who turned an idea sketched at an ice house into working hardware.
Who actually named BEN?
Hunter’s wife and son still disagree about who came up with the name during Sunday breakfast. Hank designed the logo. We’re calling both of those facts part of company history and leaving the family to settle the debate.
"I came up with BEN while sketching concepts!"
— Hank's Claim"I said it first over breakfast coffee."
— Wife's ClaimA middle-aged bald guy.
A young semiconductor engineer.
One very annoying problem.
And BEN.
Today, the team is growing—adding engineering and marketing talent as we turn the original idea into a real business. The mix is the point: technical expertise, waste-industry knowledge, and practical business experience, all focused on making one small part of home life work better.
And we’re building the kind of company we always wanted to work for along the way.