Jeffrey Martzall took his idea and self-produced it until his company grew to the point where he needed an outside manufacturer to keep up with demand.
As a junior at University of Texas-Pan American home for vacation, Martzall got his idea after an excursion on his family’s boat in Lake Chapman near Warsaw. When Martzall and his friends had some difficulty finding their dock one evening in the dark, Martzall said to himself, “there has to be a better way for me to find my dock.�
After searching for a solution and not finding a suitable one, Martzall started designing a solar-powered light that would attach to dock posts and make the dock easy to identify in the dark from the water.
Martzall founded Lake Lite Inc. and began self-manufacturing his invention, “Solar Powered Dock Lites,� by modifying garden lights from a local hardware store in his dorm room. Because he didn’t have a car at the time, Martzall would ride his bike five miles to the store, duct-taping garden lights to his bicycle and ride five miles back to his dorm room where he would modify the lights so they would fit on dock posts.
When his company started producing 500 lights a month, Martzall decided demand was higher than he could produce himself and started researching manufacturing companies in Asia that could produce his dock lights for him.
The first batch of lights began shipping from China at the end of 2005, at which time Martzall graduated and relocated his company, Lake Lite, to Fort Wayne.
Getting financing for his manufacturing venture was a big obstacle for the 25-year-old inventor. Martzall said several banks denied his request for loans because he did not own a house or have other collateral.
“The banks just laugh at you,� Martzall said, saying after several tries it became embarrassing. But a silent partner finally joined the company, willing to finance the overseas manufacturing, Martzall said.
Martzall said he has reinvested all the profits into growing the company so far but expects the company to become profitable in the near future. Lake Lite projects annual revenue of $20 million by 2012. But Martzall said he’s worked hard to make that kind of growth happen.
Photo by Janelle Sou Roberts.
No comments yet.