Brett Ridenour

I write code that scales businesses. Marketing, automation, and products — from scratch.

2016

CS Student

Started in computer science. Learned to build things. Dropped out to go build things.

2017

Ten Second Promotions

Co-founded a social media company at UNC Charlotte. Grew a Snapchat account to 14,000 followers overnight, then scaled to 12+ universities providing social media management. Built a Campus CEO program to recruit on-site help and double launch capacity.

2017

51 Countries

Put everything in a backpack and left. Hostels across Europe. Night buses through the Balkans. Overnight trains in Southeast Asia. Boats in South America. No itinerary, no return ticket. Came back with zero money and a very different understanding of how the world works.

2018

Code Meets Marketing

Wrote software that bought ads. Turns out knowing how the machine works gives you an unfair advantage running it.

2019

Trolley Pub → Franchise Empire

Joined a small pedal-tour company as the marketing and tech guy. Worked directly with genius co-founders who mentored me. Scaled media buying, built automations, and helped turn a local operation into a real business. Then helped create and launch Paddle Pub, Tiki Pub, and Cruisin' Tikis — built the marketing playbook, scaled it across locations, and turned one brand into a franchise portfolio. I laid the foundation that took the company from 4 locations to 41 before I left.

85

Open business operations

75

Cities & markets served

25

States coast to coast

62K+

Five-star reviews

2025

BookJack

Wanted to see if I could build something people would actually use. Built a native iOS audiobook player from scratch. 500+ active users and a 4.8-star rating later — turns out I could.

bookjack.app →
2026

Freebo

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