THE ENERGY STARTUP WITH A LEGACY

BARRILLEAUX ENERGY SERVICES LOOKS TO BRING A FAMILIAR NAME TO NEW HEIGHTS

Even as Canaan Barrilleaux builds his own legacy, he knows people in the oil and gas industry will recognize his last name. He's the president of Barrilleaux Energy Services, which he started in 2021 as a 30-year-old, but the Barrilleaux name is a well-established one, with his father in charge of Barrilleaux Inc. for nearly four decades before he retired and sold the business. That puts Canaan in the unique position of running a startup yet having a lot to live up to.

"He didn't tell me, 'Hey, go in business for yourself,"" the younger Barrilleaux said of his father. "I just went and grabbed it by the horns, and said, 'Well, I have to figure this out for myself.""

Armed with industry knowledge and solid connections, he's grown Barrilleaux Energy Services from a 12-employee startup to a major industry player, and he's just getting started.

Barrilleaux took risks and soon the company was growing by leaps and bounds, 20 new hires here and 50 there. He brought with him some key employees and a lot of lessons learned from the old company and learned a lot more on the fly.

In the end, though, the most valuable lessons were also the simplest, ones he learned early on. “Keeping my word, doing good work, and hiring good people” have been the keys to continued success, he told BOSS. It all comes down to relationships, with employees and with clients.

Without the people who helped him build the business, there would be no Barrilleaux Energy Services.

“I really appreciate the people who helped me get here,” he said. “I couldn’t do it without them.”