We caught up with Michael, the founder of Pure Fix Cycles to give you guys an insight into how he created the brand and hopefully a load inspiration for starting your own business right out of college!
UNiDAYS: What was your first ever job? Tell us a little about your career progression.
Pure Fix Cycles was my first job - I started it with my two childhood best friends while a senior in college at UW-Madison. I was a Real Estate major at the business school at UW-Madison but knew I always wanted to start my own business. My friends and I were passionate about being outside and riding bikes, and we saw that there were no affordable (sub $400) bike on the market that looked cool. At that moment of realization we went on a mission to create the simplest, most affordable and stylish bike we could all in an effort to get more college students riding bikes. Five years later we have grown way past our imaginations and our mission has only slightly changed… to get more people on bikes!UNiDAYS: What do you think has made PureFix a success?
1. Good timing - the world needed affordable, cool looking bikes in 2011. 2. We are our own customers so we have been good at creating products that millennials want. 3. Amazing customer service - we make sure every customer is happy no matter what it takes. 4. Teamwork and trust - I’ve known my two partners my entire life, I went to kindergarten with them both. We have created a really great culture in our company based on creating a fun atmosphere where everyone is your friend. 5. Disruption - the bike industry is very old school (ex: almost all bike companies rely on independent mom and pop bike dealers to sell their bikes). Bike sales in the US have been flat over the past 10 years but we keep growing because we are focused on distributing our products in more convenient channels - primarily online through our website. 6. Passion & hard-work. Everyone at our company works very hard and we are all very passionate about our mission of getting more people on bikes.UNiDAYS: What has been your favorite moment in business so far?
I have a few! 1. Selling out of our first batch of 165 bikes in the first 2 weeks that we received them. 2. Moving out of our first office (an abandoned house under 1,000 sq/ft) and into a shared office/warehouse space over 40,000 sq/ft. This happened 1 year into the business in 2012. 3. Launching the business in europe 2 years ago! 4. Having 30 employees and interacting with them everyday.UNiDAYS: What advice would you have for college students who are thinking about starting up their own business?
Go for it, you have nothing to lose. Find something you are passionate about and dive in. Your business won’t be a success unless you are 100% obsessed with it. Don’t let people tell you that you haven’t researched enough or that you don’t know enough about the service/product/market to start your business.
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