I have started several ventures.
Consumer Products
I have co-founded Lantrix LLC $0.5 MM alcoholic beverage manufacturer and importer. During the time at Lantrix as every entrepreneur I was wearing many hats. However, most of my value add came in the shape of marketing and sales. I developed distribution agreements across NW states, commercialized our brands through on-line sales, added new brands to portfolio through international exclusive distribution rights.
Liquor business is difficult to scale up due to an immense amount of regulation in place. Once one is done with all the federal and state paperwork, that is when you can start getting your wheels turning. Being a small startup operation we found ourselves heavily underfunded and therefore had to think outside the box. Since we were based in idaho, being local US company from NW bought us some leverage for working with state distributors. Partnership marketing agreements played major role as well in allowing to market with limited funds.
Services
Soon after I started working for Wesmar in International Sales Management, I have run into contacts in Russia and former CIS states, that wanted additional equipment that wasn’t provided by my at the time employer. Given that demand I set up an export company Dolphin out of Seattle, that has specialized in equipment exports. Prior to grad school and to Global Financial Crisis this business has done over $150,000 in revenue. I have exported cars and marine equipment.
