Stay scrappy, play smarter

Scrap is changing. What used to live in instinct and hustle alone now needs backup: better systems, more visibility, and a sharper way of operating.

Balls of Steel is part field guide, part wake-up call, and part tribute to the industry. It’s packed with real stories, practical lessons, a few scars, some strong opinions, and plenty of insights from people who’ve come up through the hard yards.

To dominate the next decade, scrappies will need to pair grit and hard-earned experience with better data – moving earlier, protecting margin, and spotting the opportunities that others are too slow to see.

If you want to build yards that endure, adapt, and come out ahead, this book is for you.

Stu Kagan

Stu has spent nearly thirty years in scrap. He worked his way up from yard labourer to Executive Director of Trading and Operations at the largest metal recycler in sub-Saharan Africa, before building one of New Zealand’s most-loved, fastest-growing recycling companies.

Today, through Buddy, he’s focused on helping the industry trade better, think sharper, and build for what’s next. He speaks at industry events around the world and is the host of Born Scrappy, the podcast where the trade’s hard-earned lessons get airtime. This book is him putting some of that on paper, finally.

Featuring top industry voices

Balls of Steel draws on stories and lessons from guests on the Born Scrappy podcast; heavyweights who've been in the trenches, taken the hits, and built something worth talking about.