For Mike Maloney, founder of KOTA Longboards, the only thing that stays the same is change.

Winner of the Chase Mission Main Street Grant and $150,000, the rush of publicity and recognition, including a national television ad campaign, fueled a sales surge — leaving KOTA and Maloney on the hunt for capital to finance more growth.

It’s the story of so many small manufacturers. “We’re growing at an extraordinary rate,” Maloney says. “The $150,000 was great. Now we’re ready for the next round.”

Chase is obviously a willing lender, but Maloney is wary of funding growth with more bank notes. “I don’t want to service debt with debt,” he says. “On our current pace, we should be cash flowing this fall, but we’re doubling and tripling our raw materials orders. It’s a close call if we have enough cash on hand to keep up this pace. However, over-leveraging the company is something I don’t want to do.”

It’s a challenge. Maloney is moving quickly to extend the successful KOTA brand into a line of soft goods, licensing agreements, and partnerships with other lifestyle companies. “KOTA’s a lifestyle brand,” he explains. “We have all of the attributes such as meaning, context, and authenticity. If we do this right, it could end up being a billion-dollar brand.” To back up the point, he flips through a catalogue with featuring KOTA apparel and describes plans for accessories like messenger bags.

Maloney’s vision is compelling in that KOTA seems well positioned to follow the path of other well-known gear and outdoor companies that started with a signature product, only to see an entire franchise blossom. Maloney will have to navigate the infamous “death valley” to become the next Burton or Oakley; KOTA’s revenues are still catching up with costs incurred from a first round of financing — in people, equipment, and new product development.

It’s why Maloney doesn’t spend any time now reveling in the ongoing national recognition from the Chase Mission Main Street Grant, as good as it continues to be. “KOTA is a ‘visual’ brand so the ongoing national exposure alongside Chase and Google, two exceptional companies, is invaluable for us,” he explains. The marketing reach alone is worth well more than the amount of the grant. The experience has been incredible.”

But he’s focused on the next round of investment capital he believes will push the company beyond startup phase into sustainable growth. “We used the grant money to prepare KOTA to rapidly scale. Increasing production staff and output, lining up multiple touch points such as international distributors, domestic rep groups, large co-brand partners, and introducing new product. We’ve always known we’ll need another, larger round of investment to take advantage of this growth. If we can get to cash-flow stability, we open up debt, convertible debt, and equity-based capital sources. If we need money before that event, additional equity investment may be our best — or only — choice.”

I’ve written how Brad Petersen, director of the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation is using lifestyle to recruit and retain outdoor brands. Petersen was appointed after Utah passed legislation in 2011 creating the Office and today, several outcomes suggest the decision was incredibly positive for Utah and the region.

For one, Petersen has set a precedent for using the office to bring together disparate voices to craft solutions that benefit recreation, business and economic development interests. The Office has also been a key ally for communities like Ogden that are busy attracting new companies by selling them on a compelling vision involving outdoor industry clusters.

Utah’s collective mission to fully leverage its outdoor recreation brand is also having a regional impact. Last week, Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) took a similar step that also has the potential to help the state’s growing community of lifestyle and consumer manufacturers. Following Utah’s lead, OEDIT has established the nation’s second Outdoor Recreation Industry Office with Luis Benitez as its first-ever director.

The mission of Outdoor Recreation is to “provide a central point of contact, advocacy, resources and support at the state level for the diverse constituents, businesses, communities and groups that rely on the continued health of the Outdoor Recreation Industry,” according to the press release detailing the office’s launch.

It sounds much like Utah’s charge, and the man selected to lead the fledgling office, Luis Benitez, has similar recreation chops as the uber-active Petersen. I spoke briefly with him after the announcement last week, the day before he left for Ecuador to advocate for industry investment, and, of course, participate in an expedition to climb the country’s iconic Cotopaxi.

Both states are interested in brand extension to create far-reaching economic impact. In comments to me, Benitez is focused initially on how the state’s outdoor and recreation assets can benefit any company doing business here or that would locate in Colorado. “We’re selling the lifestyle attributes of our outdoor industry, and really trying to focus on the entire life cycle of a company and how they might make a difference in areas like workforce,” he says.

Benitez cites “stewardship” as a core mission, something he’s no stranger to in his hometown of Eagle, Colorado, where he’s on city council. Mountain communities have been out front in developing effective, collaborative strategies that benefit all stakeholders including business. “This office will be the start of creating not only the collective voice for the outdoor community in our state, but also starting to craft the collaborative vision for the future of the Outdoor Recreation Industry in Colorado,” Benetiz said.

I asked Benitez how the office would be used to attract new lifestyle manufacturing companies and understandably, he’s not quite sure. “That’s a big question,” he answers, an honest assessment from someone not even on the job yet.

To be fair, Petersen is also focused on using the office to build consensus, to align and rally competing interests to development scenarios that protect the region’s lifestyle attributes as they provide economic lift. Using tourism or, more broadly, lifestyle, to recruit and retain companies is just one positive outcome.

But opportunity also lies in further refining the message and building cluster strategies that fully leverage the attributes of an outdoor recreation brand. Today, it’s local communities and industry leading the way, like Ogden, where the city’s inventive mayor, Mike Caldwell, is using outdoor recreation and the regional lifestyle brand to build a cycling industry cluster. Manufacturers, like carbon frame maker ENVE Composites, who resisted the move overseas to join most other cycling OEMs, lead the way. The strategy is now a magnet for related lifestyle companies and related composite manufacturing. Colorado’s Osprey Packs has recently located its distribution hub in Ogden.

A challenge Benitez faces is navigating his own economic development blueprint, Colorado’s ‘key industry’ framework, an organization that leaves outdoor-related manufacturing businesses scattered through Tourism, Creative Industries, and Food and Ag. Both states would do well to elevate ‘Manufacturing’ to key industry status – and from there bring resources to bear from across industries to help lifestyle and consumer manufacturers be more competitive, to make more stuff domestically.

The region’s development opportunity around outdoor recreation business is unmatched. Even though both states still view each other through a competitive lens, Colorado’s move to emulate Utah’s prescient decision to optimize sustainable commerce around outdoor recreation sends the right message. Outdoor and lifestyle-centric companies looking to launch or relocate need look no further than the Rocky Mountain/Wasatch corridor.

As inaugural events go last week’s Northern Colorado Manufacturing Trade Show (NoCOM) was a rousing success. Organizers say 600 people attended NoCOM, including representatives from nearly 60 exhibitors.

Paul Harter, CEO of Aqua-Hot and the event’s high-energy director, said the event also met its objectives. “The response and energy at the show told me that we hit on exactly what these manufacturers were looking for,” Harter wrote to me. “The point of this show was to better connect the region’s manufacturing community. Before the show was even over, I had exhibitors and sponsors telling me to count them in for next year.”

NoCom’s the latest in a series of regional Colorado events held within the last year to better connect manufacturers and promote the sector. A southern Colorado version – SoCOM – was the model for the northern version and will happen again this fall. The Western Colorado Manufacturing Association, now CAMA West, hosted its second annual expo and conference last month.

The push to bring manufacturers together reflects growing optimism but also real demand for qualified contract manufacturers and supply-chain partners. Across industries, business is improving. Colorado’s aerospace, food and beverage, medical, and ag-tech sectors, to name four, are fast-growth sectors. And I’ve heard more than one manufacturer say reshoring is finally producing tangible orders.

But manufacturing continues to lag in public perception and support. Part of it is employment: companies are doing more with less – technology is improving productivity. Manufacturing’s growing but employment is not.

There’s also a lack of consensus among economic developers and industry about how best to support the sector’s growth. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) identifies ‘Advanced Manufacturing’ as a key industry sector but doesn’t confer similar status to food and beverage or consumer manufacturing.

For their part manufacturers seem more comfortable operating within the silos that shaped opportunity a generation ago. The SoCom, NoCom and CAMA West exhibitor pools were comprised primarily of industrial, contract manufacturers. Food, beverage, and consumer manufacturers are largely absent (kudos to Palisade’s Talon Wine Brands for representing at CAMA West). So far, the events are developing along established industry boundaries.

But companies benefit when sectors convene. We’ve seen it out our events. Some are searching for new supply-chain partners or contract manufacturers and most make new and useful connections at cross-industry events. Workforce, finance, and regulation are common challenges; some are managing better than others and have lessons to share. Best practices are emerging from fast-growing sectors that would benefit most all manufacturers.

Its time to look at how the various entities that support manufacturing should partner with business to promote the entire sector in a more cohesive way.

Craft beer is nothing new to Colorado. In fact, it has slowly worked its way into the state’s DNA. What oranges are to Florida or potatoes are to Idaho, Colorado is becoming for craft beer.

Today, Colorado holds five of the top 50 spots on the list of the nations largest craft brewers, well over 250 breweries in operation and dozens of brewpubs make up what we call “The State Of Craft Beer.”

Over the last year or so, the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) has been working with Bart Taylor’s CompanyWeek to showcase the stories of Colorado craft brewers. CompanyWeek is a website and e-newsletter that focuses on Colorado-based manufacturers and the stories of their success, challenges, and the ins and outs of everyday business.

Nearly every issue had at least one story about the business of craft beer. So when Bart approached me and proposed that CompanyWeek and the CBG to work together and create a brewery-specific newsletter called BreweryWeek, I quickly jumped on board.

We started by asking CBG member brewers to fill out a short online survey about they sort of information you would like to see in the new BreweryWeek newsletter. More than 35 brewers completed the survey and told us topics such as local trends and brewery profiles were of high interest. On the business side, manufacturing and supply chain issues got the highest marks.

We hope you find the coming issues of BreweryWeek informative and helpful, no matter what size brewer you may be. If there is a specific topic or story you would like us to cover, please let us know. We welcome your feedback.

Cheers,
Steve Kurowski
Colorado Brewers Guild

Does the language of manufacturing matter? Should we care whether a food company is labeled a ‘processor,’ a craft beer company a ‘maker,’ or an industrial business utilizing automation to build things a ‘technology’ company?

The reality is that today, in business, we do care. We artfully avoid using the term manufacturing when another term will do. ‘Manufacturing’ still connotes a dirty and dying industry sector. It remains a pejorative, loaded descriptor.

It’s an important difference for those who believe manufacturing’s experiencing a broad-based revival despite barriers – like an outdated brand. One of two things will likely happen. We’ll develop new verbiage to describe the manufacturing economy. Or industry will embrace its past as it transforms from smokestacks to lasers, soot to barley hulls.

What industry’s not, in some cases, is comfortable with its own moniker. Manufacturers have taken to avoiding, well, ‘manufacturing.’

Take the news story last week involving Karcher North America’s new Denver location. The Denver Business Journal noted that “Kärcher North America — a subsidiary of Winnenden, Germany-based Kärcher Group — produces high-pressure cleaners for industrial and wholesale use, window vacuum cleaners, industrial sweepers, floor care scrubbers and more.” Apparently Karcher doesn’t manufacture. It produces. But the DBJ is like everyone else; we’ve come to favor ‘producer’ instead of manufacturer. Or ‘processor’ or ‘maker’ for that matter.

I visited the Kärcher website, to the About page, and to my surprise, couldn’t find the word ‘manufacture’ there either. (Likely the same experience as the DBJ‘s intrepid reporter.) They ‘produce’ stuff, too.

Yet the shorter path to a modern brand will be a fresh embrace of ‘manufacturing’ — no other word or phrase is as inclusive — one informed not by old stereotypes but by the people and companies shaping today’s sector. Like Bob Wolski’s Spire-EMS team, leading a new generation of precision engineered manufacturing solutions. Or, as fresh new faces of manufacturing go, Josh and Zora Tabin of Wild Zora. Both are profiled today.

The Tabins’ epic journey is equally a great story and parable of the modern sector, with most all the components that ultimately are redefining manufacturing: motivated entrepreneurs, inspired by place and local materials and suppliers, with lifestyle informing business decisions and growth (one hopes) enabled by a supportive community. Josh and Zora Tabin’s quest to find a place to raise a family and start a business is a portrait of the new sector. As Margaret Jackson writes, “They rented an RV and spent half a year driving over 18,000 miles around North America looking for ‘the best place in the world to raise a family,’ says Josh Tabin, co-founder of Wild Zora.”

“I think Zora and I approached the move in diametrically-opposed but completely complementary ways,” Josh told me. “I’m analytical and make decisions with my head; she’s intuitive and makes decisions with her heart. I did research and compiled spreadsheets filled with city data, including everything from population density, proximity to an international airport, cost of real estate, types and amount of industry, healthcare, education, weather, types and frequency of natural disasters! Zora, for her part, tolerated driving with me all over the country, city by city, and when we’d roll into town, she’d usually give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down within the first few minutes.

“I suppose it was almost comical that sometimes my spreadsheets told me about a fantastic place to live — but Zora was so quick to say, ‘Nope — next!’ Of course, there’s no perfect place for everyone — but we’re very thankful we had the opportunity to discover the perfect place for us in this stage of our lives.”

And we should be happy they’re the fresh new face of . . . manufacturing.