The founder of Tundraland Home Improvements, Forbes Books author and keynote speaker is recognized for turning $3,000 and a folding table into a family of businesses that sold for just under $100 million, for a bestselling leadership book now shortlisted for an international business book award, and for a national veterans’ initiative that has rebuilt bathrooms for hundreds of former service members.
HG HomeClub has named Brian Gottlieb, founder of Tundraland Home Improvements, Forbes Books author and keynote speaker, to its list of the 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living.
The list, published by HG HomeClub, recognizes 25 leaders who are shaping these three industries in the right way. It spans manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades. It is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical ranking, because the leaders on it exercise influence in fundamentally different ways, and comparing a keynote stage to a distribution network, or a franchise system to a product platform, would flatten what makes each of them consequential.
Gottlieb earns his place on it for a path very different from most others on this list: rather than run a public company or a national roll-up, he built, scaled and exited a regional family of businesses, then turned what he learned doing it into a leadership framework now taught well beyond home improvement. In 2009, he founded Tundraland Home Improvements on a plastic folding table with $3,000 in cash. Twelve years later, the family of businesses he built, Tundraland, Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin, and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona, had grown to more than 600 employees and generated nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales.
Those are the numbers. The story is in what he did with the exit, and with everything he learned getting there.
How Did $3,000 on a Folding Table Become Nearly $1 Billion in Lifetime Sales?
Gottlieb founded Tundraland in Wisconsin in 2009 with just $3,000 in cash and a plastic folding table. By 2019, roughly a decade in, Tundraland employed more than 220 people and generated more than $42 million in annual revenue. Gottlieb went on to found two additional businesses, Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona, and by the time he began selling the businesses, the combined family of companies had grown to roughly 800 employees and approximately $150 million in annual revenue. Tundraland was repeatedly named among Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing private companies in America through the Inc. 5000.
Why Did Brian Gottlieb Sell Three Businesses Instead of Building One Bigger Company?
Rather than consolidate his businesses or hold them indefinitely, Gottlieb exited each on its own terms. Jacuzzi Corporation acquired Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona in 2021, and Leaf Home Enhancements acquired Tundraland that same year. In the fall of 2022, Gottlieb sold Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin directly to his own executive leadership team, a succession path uncommon among founders his size. Across the three transactions, Gottlieb sold businesses generating more than $150 million in combined annual revenue for just under $100 million in total.
What Did Brian Gottlieb Do With What He Learned Building and Selling Three Companies?
In September 2024, Forbes Books published Gottlieb’s debut book, Beyond the Hammer: A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High Performance Teams, a business parable built around what he calls his Five Pillars of Leadership: a well-defined strategy, empowered teams, world-class training, and consistent execution. The book has drawn a run of industry recognition, including a 2025 shortlist for the Business Book Awards’ Business Journey category, a 2024 Global Book Awards gold medal in Business Leadership, a 2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards bronze medal in Business, Career, and Sales, and a 2025 NYC Big Book Awards distinction for nonfiction cover design. Chef Wolfgang Puck has blurbed the book, calling it an inspiration to “both successful individuals and future entrepreneurs.”
The philosophy at the center of that book, and of the culture Gottlieb built at Tundraland, is simple: “if you want to build a great business, you must first commit to building great people.” That belief system, distilled into the Five Pillars framework, helped make Tundraland the best place to work in the state of Wisconsin.
What Has Brian Gottlieb Done Since Selling His Businesses?
Since exiting all three companies, Gottlieb has become an active angel investor, board member and one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in home improvement and corporate leadership, advising next-generation founders and companies on scaling, culture and exit strategy. He is a Harvard Business School Executive Education alumnus.
What Is Baths for the Brave, and How Big Has It Gotten?
Gottlieb founded Baths for the Brave in 2016, a national partnership of home improvement companies that provides free, safer shower systems to veterans facing mobility challenges. The program grew out of an earlier local Tundraland initiative and now spans more than 35 states. As of a November 2025 nationwide event, participating companies had installed roughly 250 free shower systems, worth nearly $4 million, since the program’s inception, and the initiative has been covered by outlets including NewsNation. “These veterans have given so much to us, and the least we can do is give them a safe shower they can use,” Gottlieb has said of the program.
What Else Has Brian Gottlieb Built to Give Back?
Under Gottlieb’s leadership, Tundraland ran an annual community campaign, Windows for a Cause, auctioning off windows painted by community volunteers to benefit Make-A-Wish Wisconsin. In August 2018, the campaign set an official Guinness World Records title for the largest display of painted windows, with 1,651 windows painted and put on display. Gottlieb has also been recognized with the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce.
Why Does Brian Gottlieb Belong Among the 25 Most Influential Leaders in These Industries?
Influence in these industries takes several forms. Some leaders influence through a keynote stage or a book. Some through a franchise system that creates business owners. Some through a distribution network, a software platform, or the price of a pallet.
Brian Gottlieb influences through the example of the exit as much as the build. He took $3,000 and a folding table to nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales across three regional businesses, then sold each on its own terms, including handing one directly to the team that ran it, rather than forcing a single, bigger sale. He then wrote down exactly how he did it, in a book now recognized by four separate industry awards, and built a national veterans’ program that has quietly rebuilt hundreds of bathrooms across 35 states. That combination of builder, author and philanthropist, at a scale most regional operators never reach, is exactly the kind of influence this list was created to recognize.
About HG HomeClub
HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services and outdoor living industries. Created to champion media back to its original purpose of informed transparency, HG HomeClub curates the top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations across the industry and presents them in one consolidated, easily consumable destination, helping both homeowners and professionals make better-informed decisions. More information is available at hghomeclub.com.
About Brian Gottlieb
Brian Gottlieb, based in Appleton, Wisconsin, is the founder of Tundraland Home Improvements, Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona, a family of businesses he grew from $3,000 to nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales before selling all three between 2021 and 2022. He is the Forbes Books author of Beyond the Hammer: A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High Performance Teams, founder of the national veterans’ initiative Baths for the Brave, and a sought-after keynote speaker, angel investor and board member. More information is available at briangottlieb.com.
The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living
Presented alphabetically. There is no numerical ranking; each leader is recognized for influence exercised in a distinct way.
- Doug Black — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SiteOne Landscape Supply (Outdoor living)
- AJ Brown — Co-Chief Executive Officer, Apex Service Partners (Platforms)
- Paul Burleson — Senior Account Executive, Westlake Royal Building Products (Home improvement)
- Jenilee Common — Chief Executive Officer, Leaf Home and Erie Home (Home improvement)
- Greg Cummings — Chief Executive Officer, Power100 (Media)
- Bill Darcy — Global President and Chief Executive Officer, NKBA and KBIS (Associations)
- Mike Davis — Chief Executive Officer, Neighborly (Franchising)
- Ted Decker — Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Home Depot (Retail)
- Marvin R. Ellison — Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lowe’s (Retail)
- Aaron Erter — Chief Executive Officer, James Hardie (Manufacturing)
- Daniel Gluck — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Renuity (Home improvement)
- Ken Goodrich — Chairman; Founder, Goettl; The Goodrich Organization (Home services)
- Brian Gottlieb — Best-Selling Author and Speaker, Beyond the Hammer (Speaking and authorship)
- Maggie Hardy — Owner, President and Chief Executive Officer, 84 Lumber (Distribution)
- Brad Jacobs — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, QXO (Distribution)
- Kurt Kane — President and Chief Executive Officer, TruGreen (Outdoor living)
- Ara Mahdessian — Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ServiceTitan (Technology)
- Matt Malone — Founder and Executive Chairman, Groundworks (Home services)
- Tommy Mello — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, A1 Garage Door Service (Home services)
- Heidi G. Petz — Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sherwin-Williams (Manufacturing)
- Asher Raphael — Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Home Remodeling (Home improvement)
- Dave Regnery — Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Trane Technologies (Manufacturing)
- Marcus Sheridan — Founder, Marcus Sheridan International (Speaking and authorship)
- Dan Tinker — President and Chief Executive Officer, SRS Distribution (Distribution)
- James W. Tobin III — President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Home Builders (Associations)
Frequently Asked Questions About Brian Gottlieb and This Recognition
- What is HG HomeClub, and what is this list?
HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services, and outdoor living industries. It was created to return media to its original purpose of informed transparency, curating the industry’s top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations in one place for both homeowners and professionals. The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living is one of HG HomeClub’s editorial rankings, recognizing the people shaping these industries in the right way across manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades.
- Is the list ranked from one to 25?
No. The list is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical order. The leaders recognized exercise influence in genuinely different ways, through enterprise scale, growth, product innovation, franchising, capital, authorship, keynote stages, advocacy and media, and HG HomeClub declined to impose a hierarchy on work that is not comparable. Every leader on the list is recognized equally.
- Who is Brian Gottlieb?
Brian Gottlieb is the founder of Tundraland Home Improvements, which he started in 2009 with $3,000 and a plastic folding table, along with Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona. He is a Forbes Books author, keynote speaker, angel investor and Harvard Business School Executive Education alumnus based in Appleton, Wisconsin.
- Why was Brian Gottlieb selected for this list?
Because he built a family of home improvement businesses from $3,000 to nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales over twelve years, successfully exited all three companies, wrote a bestselling, award-shortlisted leadership book based on the lessons of that journey, and founded Baths for the Brave, a national initiative that has provided hundreds of free bathroom remodels to veterans.
- What businesses did Brian Gottlieb build and sell?
Gottlieb built Tundraland Home Improvements, Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin, and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona, together generating more than $150 million in combined annual revenue and roughly 800 employees at their peak. He sold Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona to the Jacuzzi Corporation in 2021, Tundraland to Leaf Home Enhancements the same year, and Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin directly to his own executive leadership team in the fall of 2022, for just under $100 million combined across the three transactions.
- What is Beyond the Hammer?
Beyond the Hammer: A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High Performance Teams is Gottlieb’s debut book, published by Forbes Books in September 2024. It is a business parable built around his Five Pillars of Leadership framework, and has been recognized with a 2025 Business Book Awards shortlisting for Business Journey, a 2024 Global Book Awards gold medal in Business Leadership, a 2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards bronze medal, and a 2025 NYC Big Book Awards distinction for cover design.
- What is Baths for the Brave?
Baths for the Brave is a national initiative Gottlieb founded in 2016 that coordinates home improvement companies across more than 35 states to provide free, safer shower systems to veterans facing mobility challenges. As of late 2025, participating companies had installed roughly 250 free shower systems, worth nearly $4 million, since the program began.
- What is Brian Gottlieb’s Five Pillars of Leadership framework?
The Five Pillars framework, detailed in Beyond the Hammer, centers on having a well-defined strategy, empowering teams, providing world-class training, using metrics for accountability, and executing with consistency. Gottlieb has said the underlying belief is that building a great business requires first committing to building great people, a philosophy that helped make Tundraland the best place to work in Wisconsin.
- What has Brian Gottlieb done since selling his businesses?
Since exiting Tundraland, Renewal by Andersen of Greater Wisconsin, and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona, Gottlieb has become an active angel investor and board member, and is now one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in home improvement and corporate leadership, in addition to continuing to lead Baths for the Brave.
