infrastructure in California · In the Field Over Two Decades
Most contractors master the work.Alfred mastered the business behind it
and built companies from scratch.
Startup Investor
Companies Built From Zero
Zero Investors
Alfred Trejo · Silicon Valley
I was born in San José, California. My parents came from Mexico City with nothing but their will to work. My dad learned masonry here in the US that was our foundation. By the time I was 8, he was taking me to job sites on weekends. I didn’t know it then, but that was my real education.
At ten I burned pirated CDs with custom covers and sold them. At fifteen I flipped cars from auctions no license yet. I built a plexiglass cart and sold jello cups outside Catholic churches on Sundays, the only one doing it. At eighteen I walked into a Honda dealership in a wrinkled shirt with a Target tie I tied wrong. I learned sales. Then Comcast during the 2008 crash. Then three years training dogs. Ten days of silent Vipassana meditation. None of it wasted.
My dad was on a paving crew. I asked him to get me in. Fourteen dollars an hour, labor. Concrete crew. Then I got my CDL and moved to asphalt. Four years learning from the inside where the plants were, who the suppliers were, how the whole operation moved. I offered my bosses to build their website, do their YouTube, run their marketing. They said: “You’re a laborer. Grab the shovel.” That was their mistake.
I was living in my car by choice installed a 12V converter to run a mini fridge in the trailer, showered at the gym. Got robbed at Costco: three computers, five hard drives, cameras, GoPros. $8,000 gone. Extended the plan a year and rebuilt. We Love Paving started when my dad sprained his ankle playing soccer and had a month off. First job: $500 fixing pavers. Didn’t cover gas. I slept on the asphalt of job sites. Four hours of sleep every night for three years. Facial paralysis from stress. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. But whoever survives the hell the longest is who wins.
Projects went from $500 to $200,000 to $300,000. I built Margin Foundry Group to handle everything I used to do alone. In 2025 I stepped back from the day-to-day for the first time. The dirty laborer they told to grab the shovel is now reading his old bosses’ contracts and winning the bids. Northern California is not the ceiling.
— Alfred Trejo —
Full-service paving in California. No shortcuts. Built from the field up.
Three companies founded in the field. No investors, no shortcuts, no inherited network. Started with a shovel. Built the crew, the systems, and the standards.
We Love Paving · MarginFoundryBuilt the SOPs, the crew structure, and the reporting system so the operation doesn't depend on me being on-site. Multiple companies.
Companies · California · Remote InfrastructureNo degree. No mentor. No blueprint. Every workshop and keynote comes from a contract that nearly broke me, a payroll I almost missed, and a system I had to build because nobody handed me one.
From Tradesman to Boardman · Workshops · KeynotesMountains, summits, new cities, routes with no map. I don't rest by doing nothing I rest by doing something hard in a different direction.
Vipassana · Solo Travel · Minimalism
A construction operator's path