Small Haul: Size Isn't Everything
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A Humble Beginning
In 2016, Charles Conigliaro bought a truck with a trailer and a great brand name: Small Haul.
Charles, a Boston College Business School graduate, was chomping at the bit to put all the information he had learned in college to use with this new opportunity.
Charles worked 100+ hour weeks, tirelessly learning the ins and outs of the moving industry, and what it meant to be a true entrepreneur.
In 2018, Azuraye, an old friend from high school, had just moved to Boston and was invited to help out for "just a few weeks" during the Boston "Allston Christmas" of Aug 31 and Sept 1.
Little did these two know that that "few weeks" would change the trajectory of Small Haul, and their lives. ​​​
Dream Big, or Go Home
The pair had big visions for this small company: Uberize the moving industry. Bring technology into an ancient industry. Have a sweet brand, clean look, and exceptional service.
Moving isn't sexy. But it can definitely be cool.
From leverage, to hoisting, to techniques that made it so a 100lb, 5'4" female could get a 700lb safe down a flight of stairs....now that was cool.
So, How to Scale Small Moves?
Most moving companies don't touch small moves (moves under 4 hours, or just a couple items). The overhead is too high.
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But the duo found the sweet spot: efficiency.
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Stack tight routes, take small jobs that don't require a box truck or a CDL, and Sprinter cargo vans that can maneuver easily in Boston's alleyways and low-hanging bridges.
And TECHNOLOGY to weave it all together.
From Chaos to Order
As Small Haul started building out software to manage the chaos from so many micro moves, the order that started to develop showed just how needed and useful this service was in a bustling city of young professionals, busy families, and high-end artisans and collectors.
With the order, also came new team members that helped stabilize the company for the next phase of growth: expansion.
The Wild, Wild West
Colorado became the second Small Haul branch, Azuraye's hometown. A move back west that resulted in a surprise change from the original Small Haul plan...
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Movers with a Mission
Charles and Azuraye arrived in Colorado in October 2020, with the first stop being Azuraye's family's 100-acre farm. An easy home-base for Small Haul Colorado.
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2 days after arrival, a massive wildfire almost took out the entire property. And an idea was sparked: what if Small Haul could be utilized for the greater good?
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Trees, Bees & Automobiles
Small Haul has supported the build-out of Yellow Barn Farm - a regenerative agriculture demonstration site that partnered with a non-profit, Drylands Agroecology Research, to plant over 10,000 trees on the farm over the last 5 years.
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With a mission for good, Small Haul was building branches that were moving people's belongings and starting to support the fragile food system in Boulder County in the best way it knew how: trucks, Haulers, and software.
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From Waste to Wealth
The Small Haul trucks soon found dual usage in this new climate: as a food waste collection service to bring food scraps back to the farm for pig feed through Picky Pig, and as a food distribution services, through the Stalk Market. Talk about efficiency!
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People who were choosing Small Haul to move their furniture soon started recycling their food scraps to feed pigs & build soil!
It's Getting Hot in Here
All throughout this journey, Small Haul Miami came to life, as did Providence & Chicago. In the spring of 2025, all the Branch Owners, their teams of Managers and Haulers, all gathered at Yellow Barn Farm for the first annual Small Haul Summit to for all-team training, how to best serve our customers - new and returning - and how to create a pathway for Haulers to become Owners.
It's All Circular
The team that came out to Colorado to get the branch up and running to full-steam - Matt & Josh - had found each other through Yellow Barn and Small Haul Boston.
They succeeded in growing the branch from $25k to $275k in one year. And have now expanded to DC/DMV to build their own branches.
Small, Organic Growth
This has been our motto since day one. Don't scale too quickly. Learn what people need and how best to serve them. Be authentic. Be human. Be innovative, regenerative, and creative.
Small Haul has been an incredible vehicle for change - in individual lives, in impacting small communities, and on the greater environment and the world as large. Because, heck, we all need a little hope right about now.
