Collin Austin, the founder of NS4L, grew up as a military kid, moving every two or three years. He bounced around all over the country, and even lived in England for three years. So when he arrived in Gainesville, it became his home—his four years at the University of Florida were the longest he’d ever lived in one city. He now had roots and saw opportunity.

New Scooters 4 Less began in March 2004 when Collin Austin was still a student at the University of Florida. Due to graduate in May, Austin had been going to career showcases dressed up in his suit and tie, meeting recruiters, shaking their hands, and hearing one question: “So, why do you want to work for our company?” When Austin didn’t have a genuine answer, he realized: “I don’t want to work for anyone!”

Soon after that, Austin was waiting for a bus to class, and, after a seemingly endless wait, the bus came. But across the top it said: “FULL BUS.” A lightbulb went off, and Austin thought, if I have this problem where I can’t even get to class, other students must have this problem too. “And I thought, maybe this is something I could work on,” says Austin. “Maybe this is something I could solve.”

As it happened, many students were having the same problem. The bus was often full, and parking at the University was extremely limited. Austin thought he could solve this problem by creating a scooter company, while also running a successful business.

And that’s just what he did.

“I jumped head-first into something I didn’t know anything about,” says Austin. “But we did it. We fixed that problem.”

Before founding NS4L, Austin had never had thoughts of being an entrepreneur, but in retrospect, he’d always had entrepreneurial tendencies. As a kid he’d mown lawns and sold cinnamon rolls and coffee at his parents’ garage sales. So, after an early iteration with a friend that combined online wholesale sales, in 2006 Austin turned his full attention to retail.

From that moment onward, Austin made it his mission to be the dealership that helped UF students move around Gainesville—and get to class on time.

Early on, he realized his greatest advantage was his obsession with customer experience. “I always felt that in retail, customer service was average at best,” says Austin. “So we coined this term, ‘UCE’: Ultimate Customer Experience.” This became NS4L’s core value: to create and recreate UCE.

“More than anything, that’s led to the growth of our company over all the years,” says Austin. “It’s effectively made us one of the top scooter dealerships in the country.”

As a passionate UCE leader, Austin explains his business card containing his Snapchat code. “I give this to students and tell them, hey, I’m the founder of the company, this is my direct Snapchat. If you ever need anything, feel free to reach out to me directly.” And they do. Austin tells the story of one Friday night when he got a snap from a college student who was stranded. “I helped her troubleshoot through this social media platform and helped her get her scooter started and get home safe.” Using the tools at-hand today, allows us to come up with new and innovative ways to deliver exceptional service to our customers and push the UCE to another level.

All this hard work has paid off. NS4L has completely transformed the UF campus. “The University of Florida from a scooter culture standpoint is now the example for college towns across America,” says Austin. Scooter parking, which barely existed on campus when they started, is now everywhere. Scooter parking is embedded in Gainesville zoning requirements. And of course, there are thousands and thousands of scooters on the roads. “It’s pretty cool to see the impact my team has had on the city and on the university,” says Austin.

Referring to both Gainesville and the University of Florida, Austin says: “We absolutely love this place. We wouldn’t have a business without them.” For more information on New Scooters 4 Less, visit newscooters4less.com.