Recipe for Success in Rural Colorado:

May 31

Written By Scott Olmsted

How to Create and Preserve a Made-in-the-USA Bike Rack Company

Main Ingredients

exceptional product
serial entrepreneur
proven manufacturer

Optional

1 pandemic and a supply chain debacle

Directions

1. Find an exceptional product.
For our recipe, we used the Quik Rack Mach2 bike rack by Cal Phillips, inventor/founder/owner of the popular 1Up bike rack. The Mach2 is his latest and greatest iteration of his tasteful first invention. With a redesigned hitch, being modular and toolless, having a one-key anti-theft system, fitting almost every type of bike out there, and being beefy enough to carry several heavy eBikes, it was the perfect base ingredient for the QuikrStuff success story. Everyone lucky enough to sample it loves it, recommends it to others, and asks for seconds in the form of add-ons or accessories. Having trouble finding this ingredient? Look no further than QuikrStuff.com.

2. Whisk in the entrepreneur.
We recommend Bryan Wachs. Why? His decades of starting, building, and turning around companies and using technology to enhance all aspects of those companies is the perfect “mise en place” of necessary skills and experience. His entrepreneurial seasoning and the know-how to withstand the beaters of incubation were the starter for QuikrStuff as well as the preservatives in ensuring it survived long past what could have been a very short shelf life due to COVID. Find CEO Bryan Wachs in Grand Junction, Colorado–home of QuikrStuff–where he’s always in the mix of economic development.

3. Fold in a manufacturer.
Stir in the final crucial ingredient–a well-seasoned manufacturer who boasts a pre-established factory right in Grand Junction. Yes, it may be difficult to find a JT Westcott, fattened on aerospace and oil and gas industry manufacturing. Look in specialty shops, such as Intrawest Machine & Fab. If you come across one, snag him and his shop.

4. Simmer the company in a community focused on outdoor rec and tech.

5. Preheat your sales with a waiting list.
If your main ingredient does not come with a list of thousands of potential consumers–as did the long-awaited Quik Rack Mach2–definitely forego the optional ingredient of a pandemic.

6. If incorporating a pandemic, be sure that a) your main ingredient is especially gourmet, b) consumers are willing to pay their bill up front, hoping and praying that things will eventually land on their table, c) investors are understanding and patient, d) management can go without a paycheck for a couple of years, and e) you’re peppered with grants and loans because you’re creating not only the most amazing bike rack on Earth but also good manufacturing jobs in Western Colorado.

7. Spice things up with quality employees and, if you prefer, zest in a few college interns from Colorado Mesa University.

8. Stay busy slicing and dicing those bike rack components. If you went the pandemic route and find yourself without raw materials, change strategies and switch to a slow cooking method. Baste your waiting customers with honesty, transparency, and appreciation.

9. Never stir the pot on your original vision of a high-quality product made in the USA.

10. Add your favorite garnishes. We use wheel locks, wheel straps, license plate kits, and ramps.

11. Age and serve to your salivating customers eager for their first bite of quality.