Seeking Ideas

[jaudette3]

This is an unusual post, but anything goes here in Off Topic, right?

I've been a life long entrepreneur. Among other things I founded and sold four successful internet companies. I didn't make billions like Mark Cuban and others, but then again I did OK and all of my former companies are still in business. You can read about my business background if you're interested at LinkedIn.

Let me make it clear that I am not looking for funding of any kind. I'm well aware that there many, many successful achievers here, I've always believed that winners share, and I'm strictly looking for information, ideas and input from winners.

Audette Collection started out as a collection of vintage Porsches (15 at one time) and parts. Over time I have sold off most the cars and parts and things have evolved into my current activity: restoring various headlights and turn signals to a concours level. Things have become pretty robust for this little one man operation. I enjoy it and - here comes the entrepreneur - I'm interested in ways to expand and grow it. There are at least a couple of challenges.

The business requires a very high level of quality which requires proper training and constant QC. I'm OK with that. There are a lot of good and talented people out there who are under-employed and it would be a joy to help them out. My largest internet business grew to 100+ employees, most hired from ski shops and bike shops and the like, into their first professional job. Many have gone on to very successful careers, someting I find very rewarding.

Another challenge is a bit larger. I have a bit of brand and reputation in the early Porsche world as I have been around it a long time. Staying with my present types of services and products and growing horizontally would require expansion into other marques where I would have no brand. It seems like it might make sense to grow vertically and stay in the Porsche world, but I don't have a lot of ideas on what products and services to add. Of course the entrepreneur in me would like to grow both ways.

I would love to open a dialogue with some here as I'm confident that as enthusiasts and collectors you would have some interesting ideas. If you're interested please PM me and I will send you my personal address and phone number. And thanks very much for reading this.

Cheers,
John

[LiveFromNY]

Interesting post. And I can relate. It appears we've followed similar paths as I'm also an Internet entrepreneur who's founded multiple large companies.

I'm fascinated that you're considering taking your current projects to the next level. We've never done business but I've followed your work and I'm an admirer of your attention to detail. I wonder what your motivation is in making the transition and I've had these thoughts on a personal level many times. I'm honest in telling anyone who will listen that, given my druthers, I'd make my living doing what I love most: Porsches. But I can't imagine ever taking that kind of leap. I tell myself it's because every potential competitor has such a head start but, more likely, I have a fear of turning what I love into what I do for a living.

I wish you luck on your endeavor.

[jos.hall]

John, I'm by no means an expert nor do I have the business experience/success that many in this group do but here's my thought...

I believe horizontially you could pursue marques close to the 911; relatives per-say such as Early VWs (KDF, Split window, and oval window cars). To the other way, early Bentleys and Rolls Royce have the P100 Headlights that are NLA. I believe the only other company that restores such headlights are based in the UK.

I'm sure you've already considered these but would affirm that the work I've seen on your Porsche headlights is enough to gain respect and business in any circle. Is it worth pursuing a current restoration that is actively documented (say on a forum with a lot of hits) and offering your services discounted in exchange for publicity. (I'm not even sure that would even be persuesive)

just my $.015

p.s. I appreciate that you provide those underemployed with good opportunities. We need more people like that.

[Frank Beck]

For those who may have no personal experience, John is awesome to do business with. Quality, expediency, and communication are second to none.

As a shop owner who has been in this biz for 42 years I still love it and can't imagine doing anything else. John E.'s concern about turning one's passion into a job having disastrous results is valid but that can also be prevented if one takes the necessary precautions. (I.E: Racing and acquiring cool Porsches are the "perks" that keep my flame shining brightly.)

As a shop that has at least 6-8 restorations going at any given time I am the first to express frustration with some of the outside services that we use. This is NOT to criticize or bash anyone, as a matter of fact maybe these comments will encourage these subcontractors to "ramp it up" a bit... or at least be willing to invite competition.

When it takes over a year to get a part restored that would be my cue to add that product to my list of offered services if I wanted to get into specialized component restoration.

John A, horizontal expansion is completely unnecessary; you have all the biz you could ever want right here. It may simply mean you think outside your current product line.

Maybe use this thread to survey members to find out where the needs are?

BTW: If ANYTHING deserves to be in the General section, it's this thread.

[mfitton]

I have done some business with John (radio's & shift knobs) and my experience was the same as Frank's very enjoyable. Ok, I am also an entrepreneur and have had my own business for the last 21 years, however I started out as a banker for my first 10 years (highly recommended as first step for any aspiring entrepreneur). I am like LFNY I have bought and sold some parts (radios, shift knobs, heat/air dash unit, orange hood badges) which allows me to upgrade or replace parts for my cars, so really just a hobby for me. I am not sure that there is a long term market for just the early 911 cars as with a limited number of survivor's, I think you would eventually run out of buyers. I have experienced some of this with radios as the market has really slowed down which tells me there are fewer cars needing radios. So maybe Jos.hall is right in thinking of expanding horizontally by finding some parts (requiring a similar process) that would be of interest to other marques. I also agree with LFNY about turning my hobby into a job with orders placed and deadlines, etc. I go down to my work shop in my basement and work on different parts on my own schedule now and only ramp it up when I have an interest in acquiring a part for one of my cars.
John, thanks for starting an interesting thread!

[Stevie]

This is NOT to criticize or bash anyone, as a matter of fact maybe these comments will encourage these subcontractors to "ramp it up" a bit... or at least be willing to invite competition.

When it takes over a year to get a part restored that would be my cue to add that product to my list of offered services if I wanted to get into specialized component restoration.

John A, horizontal expansion is completely unnecessary; you have all the biz you could ever want right here. It may simply mean you think outside your current product line.

That. Totally agree. But do you want to expand into different components with a different process, or do you want more of the same?

As far as the lights go, which other car with similar light construction was built in similarly big numbers that justifies such expenditure? 356?

[steve shea]

Victor Miles has established a brand and I think he does well restoring 356 parts to as new condition. I'm sure you know of him. he has been in business for years and the most knowledgeable restorers still use him for the best in small ancillary part restoration. Also Joris, 718RSK here, has restored and created switches and other parts for the 356 group. Then of course our own Soterik. I just saw his pickle forks, they are really nice.

I think if you targeted the right parts, and had an off the shelf inventory to keep wait times low you would have success and a long term business just with Porsche. Bill Doyle used to hire me off and on to work on restorations and restore small parts. You could have a network of small part restorers to keep you flush. No need to be on site. I think that restored original parts would still be first choice for most, then accurate repros. IMHO

[jos.hall]

That. Totally agree. But do you want to expand into different components with a different process, or do you want more of the same?

As far as the lights go, which other car with similar light construction was built in similarly big numbers that justifies such expenditure? 356?

Stevie, those two marques I mentioned were two off the top of my head that have similar construction (I believe some early vw headlights are the exact same as Porsche)

[37yrold911]

maybe expand slowly along certain lines - i.e. MB, or BMW which used a lot of Bosch headlights (or could) and pcar owners may own or have owned those brands too

or... modern headlight inserts for the older cars (non-concours crowd)

or... joint operations with other Bend automobile businesses:
- sound insulation for car - pre-cut or install services using Cascade Audio products
- there is a big guy in the VW Vanagon world, Karl Mullendore who moved to Bend

[jaudette3]

I appreciate the well considered input. I find that at times my reach exceeds my grasp (!) and after considering the input and thinking about things a bit I have decided to continue the status quo. The business has grown organically at this point as I haven't really marketed it at all. I'm happy with that. The one concern I have is that I really enjoy doing this but it really is a very small niche. As Mike says my main concern is that it could become saturated fairly quickly.

Thanks to all who took the time to contribute.

Cheers,
John