It feels like everyday...well actually it is every day the CEO asks "What are you doing to grow the business?" and frankly while we are working at growing our business we never have anything in the development that is going to get our $10-$15 million dollar business to that magical $100 million dollar that seems so out there and lofty a goal that we might never get there. Never the less it is the company goal I mean how could a small carrying case manufacturer possibly hope to grow that large in a short period of time its not possible. Our thinking has been recently we have to diversify into a whole new market that is much larger then carrying cases...or atleast that was until I read the 2012 Inc. 500. While scrolling thru the ranks wondering how we could possible make it to this level of growth I saw a familiar name. Otterbox a company that I knew as a maker of plastic carrying cases a small guy I had always been told like use in a niche market you could never get big in, and here they were on the Inc. 500 as one of the 85th fastest growing company in the U.S..(5th straight year on the list) They had grown from $10.2 million in 2008 to $347.5 million in 2011 or 3,312% in 3 years.
How OtterBox Did What We Couldn't
Now they haven't done this just by simple selling more of their standard plastic cases. They did it by studying trends in the market and going after those trends as soon as they spotted them. They outsourced their manufacturing so that they could focus their time on marketing and product design. Today they are one of the biggest brands of protective cases for smartphones. They also have shown a willingness to kill projects that are not working before they become anchors as a former hit product becomes a forgot memory. When they realized a product line didn't have a future they abandoned it and moved on to bigger and better things. They have created an R&D team that focuses purely on predicting and build up the future pipeline, this team doesn't get bogged down with trying to hit home runs today they are focused on where the company should be looking 6 months to a year from now if not longer.
growth tips from Otter box
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