Press room
Media resources.
Biographies, a fact sheet, interview topics, and contact details for journalists, producers, and editors.
Fact sheet
The verified basics.
- Name
- Aden Waters
- Title
- Founder of Allegiant Automotive and CTRL
- Based in
- Springfield, Missouri
- Allegiant Automotive
- Automotive retail
- CTRL
- Hospitality and live entertainment
Journalists who need figures not listed here — revenue, headcount, founding dates, or unit volumes — should request them directly. Nothing is published on this page that cannot be substantiated.
Biographies
Approved copy, ready to use.
Short — approx. 35 words
Aden Waters is a 24-year-old founder and operator in Springfield, Missouri. He founded Allegiant Automotive, an independent dealership doing more than $13 million in annual sales volume with a team of 15 or more, and CTRL, a production-led nightclub employing more than 40 people.
Medium — approx. 90 words
Aden Waters is a 24-year-old founder and operator based in Springfield, Missouri, where he has built two businesses in very different physical industries. Allegiant Automotive, which he founded in 2022, is an independent dealership on East Kearney Street. It retails roughly 55 to 75 vehicles in a typical month with a team of 15 or more and does more than $13 million in annual sales volume. CTRL, opened in February 2026, is a production-led nightclub built as an immersive live environment. It employs more than 40 people and is projected to exceed $2 million in annual gross revenue at its current pace.
Long — approx. 250 words
Aden Waters is a 24-year-old founder and operator based in Springfield, Missouri. He is the founder of Allegiant Automotive and CTRL — two businesses that share no industry, only a type of difficulty.
Allegiant Automotive, founded in 2022, is an independent automotive dealership operating from a facility on East Kearney Street. It retails roughly 55 to 75 vehicles in a typical month with a team of 15 or more and does more than $13 million in annual sales volume. Independent dealerships have no manufacturer's balance sheet behind them, so the margin lives in how well the operation is run: acquisition, reconditioning, inventory turn, and the condition a vehicle is in when a customer first sees it.
CTRL opened in February 2026 in a downtown building a previous operator had vacated. It is a production-led nightclub built as an immersive live environment, integrating a Void Acoustics sound system, custom-mapped LED visuals, programmed moving lighting, lasers and event effects into the customer experience. It employs more than 40 people, with 25 or more working across a typical major night, and is projected to exceed $2 million in annual gross revenue. Aden Waters founded CTRL and operates the venue alongside operations partner Jake Hildenbrandt. He is also an AI engineer, and builds the automations used inside both businesses.
Between them the two businesses support more than 50 people. "Every night has to meet a certain level," Waters told The Standard in March 2026. "Every interaction matters. Nothing is left up to chance."
Waters built both businesses in Springfield rather than relocating to a larger market, on the view that the opportunity lies where customer expectations have moved faster than the businesses serving them.
Story angles
Five stories, and the evidence behind each.
- 01
How a 24-year-old built a $13M+ automotive operation in Springfield
Gross sales volume, monthly retail volume and headcount are all on the record, and inventory counts for every independent dealer are public — so the scale is checkable rather than asserted.
- 02
Why a Gen Z founder chose physical businesses over internet ones
Runs against the assumption in most young-founder coverage. Inventory, payroll and fixed premises expose weak execution the same week rather than years later.
- 03
From automotive retail to a 40-person nightlife operation before 25
Two unrelated industries, both operationally demanding, both built in the same city within four years.
- 04
Building in Springfield instead of leaving it
The national angle. Physical businesses are local by construction, and the opportunity sits where customer expectations have outrun the incumbents.
- 05
Customer experience as an operating system, not a marketing function
A dealership and a nightclub make the same argument from opposite directions — the experience is the operation, not the advertising.
Interview topics
Subjects he can speak to credibly.
- Building physical, operationally demanding businesses instead of low-overhead digital ones
- Why midsize American markets are underrated for new businesses
- Running two businesses in unrelated industries at the same time
- Where AI automation fits inside a physical business, and where it does not
- Customer experience as an operational discipline rather than a marketing function
- What automotive retail teaches about inventory and cash flow
- Hiring, training, and holding a standard in shift-based businesses
- Downtown Springfield and reinvestment in existing buildings
Available for comment
Subjects he can speak to on deadline.
For reporters working on a story where Aden is a source rather than the subject. Each entry lists the basis, so the relevance is checkable without a call.
- Independent automotive retail
- Operates a dealership at $13M+ annual sales volume
- Used-vehicle inventory and pricing
- Acquires and turns inventory every month
- Gen Z consumer behaviour
- Sells to and employs that demographic across both businesses
- Nightlife and hospitality operations
- Opened and runs a roughly 440-capacity venue
- Live event production
- Built an integrated production environment from scratch
- Customer experience as an operating discipline
- The through-line of both businesses
- Hiring for shift-based work
- More than 50 people across two operations
- Springfield business and downtown
- Invested in both
Quotes
On the record.
“Every night has to meet a certain level. Every interaction matters. Nothing is left up to chance.”
“The goal was never to open just another bar. It was to build something people feel the second they walk in.”
“Everything revolves around the experience first.”
Coverage
Published coverage.
- CTRL: Where experience is everything
The Standard · Camryn Threlkeld ·
Photography
Approved images.
High-resolution photographs are available to journalists on request. Only authorised photographs are supplied — there are no stock images or generated likenesses in circulation, and any image purporting to be an official portrait that did not come from this page or by direct request is not authorised.
Media contact
Getting in touch.
Media enquiries, interview requests, and requests for figures or supporting documentation should go through the contact page.