Shopping : Innovation + Job News

Sometimes, a small hobby can become big business.
 
For Ryan Batcheller and Andrew Duneman, an interest in aquarium supplies turned into one of the fastest growing companies in the state.
 
Started in 2007 by the entrepreneurial pair, Golden Valley-based Bulk Reef Supply has been on such a fast track that it recently landed on the Inc. 5000 list, coming in at number 258. Over the past three years, the company has soared from initial revenues of about $300,000 to nearly $4 million in 2010.
 
It all started with "fish chili," according to Batcheller. He made up a fish food for his own aquarium dwellers, and when some friends began asking for samples, he thought about selling it in bulk. From there, the idea blossomed into selling aquarium additives online, at bulkreefsupply.com.
 
Customers began sending them leads on products, and the pair started hiring and adding items to the site at a rapid pace. After creating some structure through the use of the Entrepreneurial Operating System, they managed to develop a system of their own that let them handle growth and keep hiring.
 
Currently, the company features 1,400 products and employs 21 people. Most likely they'll keep up the pace, but Batcheller isn't worried about hitting a wall: "We don't have revenue goals," he says. "We used to, but then we realized that revenue isn't where we'd find success. Instead, we want to be the best in the industry, the top saltwater aquarium supplier in the country. We'll get there."
 
Source: Ryan Batcheller, Bulk Reef Supply
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

From bubbles to the cloud: Rocware has a unique history, and an even more compelling future.
 
The Minneapolis-based company began after siblings Sarah Welle, John Erck, and James Erck worked at Extreme Bubbles, started by their father. The artisan toy company, which makes bubble solution and bubble wands, found distribution in boutique stores, but struggled with expanding in the marketplace.
 
The situation led the trio to consider more efficient ways to share product information with potential customers. Once they came up with the idea of putting catalogs into a cloud-based environment, they knew other small manufacturers and customers could benefit as well.
 
"The mom-and-pop store is back," says Welle. "These store owners want to buy local, but they need help in getting started. That's where we come in."
 
Rocware developed a site where a product purveyor can create an online catalog that can be shared privately with customers. Since manufacturers tend to have different pricing and different product categories depending on the customer, they can tweak the catalog based on who's viewing it.
 
For example, a natural foods store looking at a soap manufacturer can see a catalog that has only organic products, with pricing based on smaller orders. Welle says, "This makes things better for people on both sides of the equation. It's completely customized." Another benefit is that users can create a purchase order with just a few clicks.
 
Rocware is unique, Welle says, which may be why the company is growing quickly, with over 50 customers right now, and more signing on every week.
 
Welle says, "We're really passionate about helping small businesses, and connecting with artisan product creators and mom-and-pop retailers. We aim to keep growing, and have fun along the way."
 
Source: Sarah Welle, Rocware
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

At least a handful of local startups will have one cost area covered for them in the coming year: marketing and advertising.

Hopkins-based direct-response advertising company Marketing Architects and sister company MACatalyst have set aside $2 million for a new business incubator, called Project Lab.

Marketing Architects sells direct-to-consumer products through radio and television ads. The company began 15 years ago in radio, "very much at a time when everyone else thought that radio could not work for direct response," says Brand Manager Katelin Johnson. It is now the largest direct-response marketing company in the nation, she says.

The incubator is in response to the Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors' Entrepreneurship Accelerator," initiative, according to a press release from the company.

The Project Lab is a 5,000-square-foot space, designed to be movable and fluid enough to handle as many as 20 businesses, she says. Startups and existing customers may use the "creative" space for strategizing, research and development, testing, and as a "dedicated space � for their product lineups," according to the release.

The $2 million will actually fund businesses above and beyond the development of five products currently in various stages, says Johnson. Marketing Architects expects a couple of them--one a home-goods/lawn-and-garden product, the other a medical device--to launch in July.

"And by launch, I mean spots on the air," says Johnson. Direct-response marketability is a prerequisite for the startups and products, which otherwise may vary widely in type and stage of development, she says, starting with as little as "just an idea."

How much each company will get and how they use it will also vary, "depending on where they are in that startup process," she says. Marketing Architects and MACatalyst are open to dedicating more than the $2 million set aside for this year, and they plan further investment in the coming years, she says.

Marketing Architects has 115 employees, including those added when the company moved into television about four years ago, says Johnson. They stayed steady during the economic downturn and have about ten active job openings right now.

The incubator is in response to the Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors' Entrepreneurship Accelerator," initiative, according to a press release from the company.

 The Project Lab is a 5,000-square-foot space, designed to be movable and fluid enough to handle as many as 20 businesses, she says. Startups and existing customers may use the "creative" space for strategizing, research and development, testing, and as a "dedicated space � for their product line ups," according to the release.

(Watch a time-lapse video, with high-powered rock-'n'-roll music, of the Project Lab being built):

 

Source: Katelin Johnson, Brand Manager, Marketing Architects

Writer: Jeremy Stratton