Nov-2017

68 69 STOREBOUND I’m curious.What was the conversation when you de- cided that the world needed a 3-D pancake maker? DASH: “We certainly never looked at a 3-D pan- cake maker and said,‘The world necessarily needs this.’What value we saw in the 3-Dprinter wasn’t so much the overriding sales potential asmuch as away to get kids involved in technology in away that they could really love and understand.I’ve probablybeen a little bit over the top in terms of trying to encouragemy own kids to learn about and adopt newtechnologies, and I reallyhad themonmymindwhenwe decided that this was the right type of product tomove forward with.When you see a group of kids gathered around a machine like this,absorbing the premise of 3-Dprinting and howit works-the learning aspect of it and thewon- der withwhich theyapproach it,made it a stand-out product that we have loved launching.” BVM: So howis the product doing?And howmany people are going to spend the $300 for it? DASH: “It’s interesting.For a 3-D food printer,it’s very inexpensive; for a kitchen novelty,it’s in another strato- sphere.So,we’re kind of in this no-man’s landwith the pricing,andwe’ve had to lookat interestingmarkets for it.We have appealed to themaker communityand hackers who like to tinker with products.We’ve built it on an open-source platform that allows people to get in ‘under the hood,’andwe’ve seen people actuallybuild their own,or modify their own version of it,to be able to domultiple colors or to do things with similar viscosity to pancake batter that could produce a different end result.” BVM: So,speaking of pancakes is there anything else on the company’s ‘front burner?’ DASH: “We’re expanding extremely rapidly.We have growth fromalmost everyavenue in front of us; our existing retailer base,newretailers,andwe have tre- PREFERRED VENDORS n Alwex Insurance www.alwex.com Alwex Insurance is a full-service, independent insurance agency that has served clients ranging from individuals to large national corporations for over 50 years. It provides life, auto, home, group health, business insurance, and more for its clients throughout NewYork, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey. n White Oak Commercial Finance www.whiteoaksf.com White Oak Commercial Finance provides customized and efficient capital to support small and middle market businesses among the following sectors: Manufacturing and Industrial,Transportation,Aerospace&Defense,Healthcare,Con- sumer Durables,Apparel &Retail,Technology,Media&Telecom- munication Services,EnergyEquipment &Services,and Energy &Natural Resources.The companyhas financed over $7billion in term loans,asset-based loans,equipment financings,factoring, working capital solutions,and credit services. mendous international growth potential as well.Right now,in addition to the newproduct launches,we’re building out our infrastructure to allowus to continue to deliver with excellence and keep our retailers and the consumers happy. We’re focused on building the business intelligently,with a responsibility to the people whoworkhere. BVM: Do you ever watch theTVshow,SharkTank,and do you call the people on it who don’t get funded if you likewhat they’ve created? DASH: “I watch the showfrom time to time,but I’ve never tried to pickup somebodywho didn’t get a deal on SharkTank.I was on the CNBCshowMakeMe aMil- lionaire Inventor as an Investor.That’s the showI really like because it’smuchmore about the inventor’s story and it builds up the innovators,rather than reducing them to a product and trying to get the best deal that works for the‘shark’versus the right deal that works for the inventor.Some of these creative peoplewho don’t have another avenue are being taken advantage of.” BVM: What are some of your company’s long-term objectives or priorities? DASH: “Our focus is firmlybased onwinning the hearts of our retailers and the consumer.Andwe’re going to continue to do that product byproduct,retailer by retailer,one consumer at a time.We have bandwidth to devote a tremendous amount of focus to awide array of unique products.We’ve got great brands to pair with products and I think,sayfive years fromnow,wewill be amuch larger companyand a household namewith manyof the brands that we’ve created.I knowwe’ll still have a great teambecause that’s what gotten us here, so far,and that’s what been the most important to me as we’ve built StoreBound out. I would also expect that five years down the road,we will still have tremendous growth potential in front of us for our innovations on the global stage.”