Lauren Shaw spent nearly thirty years enjoying a secure, high-paying engineering job and enjoying any hobby that came to mind — scuba diving, racing, whatever fun thing he wanted to do next — until he got the opportunity to work with Amazon in logistics and delivery. He quit his job to start Arrowhead Logistics Company and hasn’t looked back since.
Raised in Belize, Shaw moved to the US to study electrical engineering. He was offered a full-ride to obtain a masters degree from the University of Southern California in 1991 and intended on moving back to New Jersey, where he got his undergraduate degree, after one year. Three decades later, he’s still here, hanging out with his sister and nephew.
“Once you come to California, you never leave,” he laughed.
In his career as an engineer in the defence industry working on military aircrafts, satellites, and ships, Shaw found himself in the unique position of being offered a military discount to bolster Amazon’s delivery services.
His newest venture, Arrowhead Talent Acquisition, started in December 2024, was just the most logical next step after he scaled his logistics company to the point where he could take his hands off and hire managers to oversee the day-to-day.
“I got kind of bored,” he said. “Long story short, I looked around and decided to start a staffing company.”
Financially, it made sense: many new businesses require hefty investments upfront to find or build an office, acquire inventory and staff, and get off the ground. Arrowhead Talent Acquisition, a franchise of professional staffing and recruiting agency AtWork, was relatively easy to start, with lower upfront costs.
Arrowhead’s first office is located in Monterey Park, but Shaw’s territory covers Alhambra, Whittier, Montebello, El Monte, Arcadia, and South Pasadena. His goal is to grow this office and then open more territories around Los Angeles. It’s a one-stop-shop for employment, helping companies find temporary, temp-to-hire, or direct hire employees. Arrowhead will also step in as HR, if you want to focus on manufacturing and let Arrowhead focus on your employees, for example.
While Arrowhead Logistics Company was the jumping point for Shaw’s career pivot, he’s always considered himself a bit of a serial entrepreneur. In his twenties, he used to start side businesses before he decided to live more comfortably on his engineering salary. Back then, his biggest problem was finding revenue.
One of his first businesses was a university sports calendar, created during his time as a graduate student at USC due to its fanatical football culture. At the time, the production timeline was too long and he couldn’t get the calendars in time for the new year. Shaw gave up on the idea, but then saw someone else pick it up. “Now, most colleges have a football calendar. When I started, none of them had it,” he said.
“I had no background in [entrepreneurship] at all, my background is pure technical,” Shaw said. “I went to school for electric engineering, but in reality I’m an anything engineer. One job was like, ‘We need a battery engineer,’ and so within two weeks I’d have to be a battery expert.”
The same adaptability, creative thinking, and continuous desire for improvement that makes him an “anything engineer” is also what makes him a good businessman now. He “always had the itch” to start his own business, and now he’s living his best life running Arrowhead Talent Solutions. As for engineering, he says, “I still do it for fun, I go home and tinker.”
If you’re in need of staffing resources, make Arrowhead Talent Acquisition your next call: (831) 256-7033.
