By closing the loop between waste and raw material, Tom Szaky turned a dorm room project into a profitable and transformative business model. TerraCycle now churns out recycled products as varied as backpacks and dog bowls. Tom hatched the idea for TerraCycle while using worms to compost organic waste as a Princeton freshman. In “the pursuit of opportunity,” he left Princeton and formed TerraCycle, producer of the world’s first product made from waste (“worm poop”) and packaged in waste (used plastic bottles.) Despite numerous awards for TerraCycle’s business model, Tom suffered obstacles. There were “times when my team and I were totally out of money,” Tom says. “I had only one small sale to a local garden center in Princeton, and I was ready to give up, sell back the equipment, recoup as much of my losses as possible, and move on with my life.” But a well-timed invitation as a radio guest initiated an investment from a listener. They were “back in business.”