In the early ’90s, Neil Hoynes and some college buddies wanted to tour the country following the Grateful Dead. To do it, they needed money, and that discussion sparked what would become Ripple Junction, a manufacturer and licensee of apparel.
“We discussed different options to pay for it like veggie burritos, grilled cheese and then T-shirts came up,” says Hoynes, founder and president. “We figured that T-shirts would be best, and we did the math on it, and the goal was to sell 15 T-shirts at every show to pay our way around for the summer.”
They sold all 80 shirts they brought to that first show, and from there, the company took off. Today, Ripple Junction is a leader in its industry and employs more than 40 people.
Smart Business spoke to Hoynes about how he grew Ripple Junction from the ground up.
How do you find the niche that your company serves best?
You’ve got to be able to adapt, and you’ve got to be able to adjust quickly to things that aren’t working and change them. If you don’t feel like you’ve found your niche, you’ve got to keep trying new things.
Also, finding something that generates cash flow while you’re looking for that niche is really important. That cash will let you live on for another day so you can find that one thing that you’re going to do and do well.
What challenges did you face growing from an entrepreneurial business to the next level?
The first thing is policies. When you’re a small company, you don’t have a lot of them. You try to balance policies and procedures without having too many of them because you don’t want to become bureaucratic. You also need to have standard operating procedures for everybody who’s doing any repetitive task or any sort of job. That’s the kind of stuff you have to get ironed out, and you’ve got to have a way to do it that everybody knows how to do.
It’s also determining specializations. As you grow, you’re going to need to start hiring specific individuals to take ownership of what you identify as a key success. If it’s a key success factor, there has to be somebody that owns it so they can really drive it forward. When somebody’s in charge of something and it’s not a natural part of their job, if it’s a small thing, that’s OK. If it’s a big thing and it’s crucial to your company’s success, you’ve got to have somebody that owns that and can drive on that.
How do you plan and hire for growth?
As you grow you start seeing the gaps that just kind of naturally present themselves. You start realizing that this isn’t happening, this isn’t getting done and you ask yourself, ‘Can we get this done with the people we have?’ When you’re growing, the answer is usually no.
You have to go out and hire somebody to do that specific thing. The quicker you can identify that gap and fill it, the better off you are.
More important than the timing is making sure it’s the right person. We’ve done the snap-hire before and it almost never works out. It’s better to be thorough and find the right person who is comfortable in your environment and also you’re comfortable with them. You spend more time upfront, but then a year later, you’re not filling the position again.
How do you find new hires and areas where your company can grow?
You have to hire people that round you out. You don’t want a bunch of people that have the same skill sets. I’m always trying to hire people that can shore up my short-comings or shore up someone else’s short-comings. You have to look to find that person that will complement other skill sets.
That’s my big thing is trying to chart the strategy of where we’re going looking at what our business is right now and then identifying how we are going to keep growing.
You look at who you’re selling to now and then look at that customer and find out what their needs are. Find out if there is an opportunity for a new product that nobody’s selling them or if there’s a new way to do things. Then try to put the pieces together and create a great product for them.
HOW TO REACH: Ripple Junction, (513) 559-3900 or www.ripplejunction.com
