4.6. SR 02-18-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

RANK 14 THE BUSINESS JOURNAL Growlh 50 lwinciliesbizjournals,com COUPAttY ~ESCRIPTIOlt M~.uractu~e~ or moto~sports accessories, specializingin thermorormin~ plastics rot snowmobiles, ATVs, motorcycles and personal watercraft products sold through original equipment manufacturers and distributors BY JOHN HOOGESTEGER SIAFF REPORTER Often it's the people who actually use a product who koow how to make it betten But it's not often that COllStlnlers call tul'n their knowledge rote a successftfl hush,ess the way Chris Carlson has. The CEO of E~ River-based Sportech h~c. latmcbed his motorsports accessories business h~ 1993 hi the basement of his home by workh~g with his dad on a sh~gle product. They invent- ed a soperior headlight cover for snox~qnobiles that wotfld prevent the light from packhlg with snow when a machh~e went flwough a ~h'ifl. Now Carlson is bufldh~g a second 20,000- squm'e-foot mantffactm-ing bu~diug next to the one he bu~t in 1998. The company grew fi-om $1.9 mffiion fl~ revenue in 1999 to $4.9 CEO Chris Carlson EMPLOYEES 25 .t-YEAR REVEHUE fiI10WTtl 155o, o 9001 REVENUE $4,905}535 ~000 REVEHUE $3,521,336 1999 RE~/EHUE $1,923,172 lion in 2001, a 155 percent increase that netted it the 14th spot on The Business Journal's Growth 50. And the business is expected to make about $6 milliou this year mantffactur- h~g parts for sno~qnobiles, all-terrain vehi- cles, personal watercraft and motor bikes. "I surely dithft have any idea it would grow hke this," Carlson said. "1 took it one day and one step at a tram, hdending to keep the growth rate conffortable, but the last few years have just been crazy" John Prusak, associate publisher of Maple Grove-based Powersports Bttsitless magazhm, said Carlson is a unique combination of sports vehicle endmsiast and savw businessman. "Every year we see the super enthusiasts at the sbows with a product, but they bare no idea how to market it, and they're gone Ibc next yeat;" Prusak said. "But Chris is a really smart guy First, ISportecbl came up wJlh a good product that was better than anything you cotfld get fi'om the mantffacturer or any other aflernlat'ket producer; and they success- hilly marketed it. Then they folh)wed it up with other superior products." The breakthrough product, Prusak said, actoaRy was a windshield that provides better wind resistmme. "They Ln~;e products that make you slap yom' head and go, 'Why didn't 1 think of that?~'" A key hlgredient to growth has been coutin- ued hmovation, and part of that creativity comes from baying employees who Inustly are sporl vehicle enthusiasts just like Carlson is. "When a designer goes on a site visit, tbey'H diSCLLSS issues, but they'll take their bike and when they're done tbey'H go out biking," he said. "We bare like-thinking people who have tim being around amid using these machines." Sportech now bas more than 500 products in its inventorg In addition Io capturing a nice cbuuk of the aaermm'ket sMes, Sportech sells directly to origmM equipment mantffac- turers like Pol~-is and Arctic Cat. The economy hasn't slowed Sportech, either: ff anythhlg, fewer vehicle sMes spur more purchases of add-on products. "The industry is driven by a passionate, affluent group of people who can aflbrd to spend money on it. They want their vehicles to look cliff, feet, just like lfarley ~tys do, so they accessorize and customize their vehicles, Carlson said. "No one waots to show up at a gathering of snowmobilers with one that