Conversation with Aaron McKee – Founder/CEO Purplewave.com

11/17/23 • 63 min

Machinery Pete talks fast-moving changes in the auction industry with recent notable consolidations and rapid technological advances. Pete chats with Aaron McKee, Founder/CEO of Purplewave.com, a long time leader in the online only auction space, about their big news last month (Oct. ’23) of a new partnership with Copart, Inc., a worldwide leader in the online auto auction space.

[:35] - Machinery Pete’s talks consolidation
[11:06] - Interview with Aaron McKee begins
[11:45] - Purple Wave and CoPart’s partnership
[15:25] - Finding the right sellers to work with
[20:24] - Early days of Purple Wave
[26:03] - Why Purple Wave believes in no-reserve auctions
[34:27] - Helping people make big decisions
[47:09] - How Aaron got into the auction business
[59:04] - Final words from Machinery Pete

Machinery Pete was founded in 1989 and has grown from its humble beginnings to a full-fledged marketplace for farming equipment. Greg Peterson, founder and host, has also released Machinery Pete content across platforms including YouTube with his long-running Machinery Pete TV show.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

[:35] - Machinery Pete’s talks consolidation
[11:06] - Interview with Aaron McKee begins
[11:45] - Purple Wave and CoPart’s partnership
[15:25] - Finding the right sellers to work with
[20:24] - Early days of Purple Wave
[26:03] - Why Purple Wave believes in no-reserve auctions
[34:27] - Helping people make big decisions
[47:09] - How Aaron got into the auction business
[59:04] - Final words from Machinery Pete

Previous Episode

Tractor Collector Market Trends with Kurt Aumann

Machinery Pete catches up with Kurt Aumann, owner of Aumann Vintage Power in Nokomis, IL. Kurt has been one of the foremost auctioneers in the vintage tractor, farm memorabilia, pedal tractors, toy tractors and farm signs space for decades. Kurt and Pete talk about Aumann Vintage Power 5-Day Annual Fall Auction Oct. 22-26 plus the 14 collector auctions they have coming up Oct. 27 – Dec. 3, 2023.

[:40] - Machinery Pete’s intro, latest market update
[5:48] - Interview with Kurt Aumann begins
[10:00] - About the items in the sale
[14:56] - Connecting with people and adapting to online-only auctions
[19:09] - What is the rarest tractor Kurt has seen?
[29:35] - State of collector market
[38:00] - Connection between farmer & tractor
[50:34] - Final words from Machinery Pete

Next Episode

Rodney Miller – Founder/Host of “Small Town Big Deal” TV Show and Big IHC Collector

Machinery Pete chats with Rodney Miller, host of the well-loved TV show “Small Town Big Deal” on RFD-TV and 300 other TV stations across the country. Rodney has deep farming and farm equipment roots, being from Benton, IL where he still has a farming operation. He was also a force behind the growth of Montana Tractors from $3M in annual revenue to $80M+ back in the day, before moving on to CEO position with McCormick. Rodney is a huge IHC tractor and equipment collector and shares many wonderful stories with Pete on all things Red equipment, including a Fire Truck that was actually at Ground Zero on 9/11.

[:34] - Machinery Pete’s gives background on today’s guest
[5:31] - Interview with Rodney Miller begins
[11:46] - About Rodney’s show “Small Town Big Deal”
[22:11] - The first episode, importance of telling stories of veterans
[26:15] - Positivity in media
[31:56] - Rodney’s tractor collection
[45:09] - Growing up in Benton, IL, farm roots
[1:14:02] - Final words from Machinery Pete