SALES FIRST!

Two entrepreneurs chronicle the challenges of their joint enterprise and their winning formula in this memoir.

When Haugh and Shaughnessy first decided to start their own business together, selling liquid colorants, the odds were stacked against them. They were inexperienced and underfinanced, operating out of Cleveland, Ohio, a lackluster emblem of the Rust Belt’s economic doldrums. But they did have the “scrappy desire to be our own bosses” and the benefit of an “enduring, colorful plastic boom.” They chart the gradual rise of their company—originally Rosemar of Ohio and finally ColorMatrix—from a startup with a makeshift laboratory in a garage to a major company that expanded into Europe, Asia, and South America and was bought for nearly a half-billion dollars. They cleared some extraordinary hurdles—at one point, a disgruntled employee falsely accused them of using a chemical dangerous to consumers, and, as a result, they were raided by the FBI and threatened with imprisonment, enduring a “year of indescribable angst.” At the heart of this edifying and informative remembrance is their company’s strategy—“Sales First!”—which forgoes the raising of capital by investors in favor of aggressively “turning customer opportunities into sales.” They faithfully adhered to some basic entrepreneurial values as well: “We made chemistry, polymer science, process expertise, consistent production, and extreme customer service the combination for our success. We didn’t invent the wheel. Our product was a better version of something that already existed.” This is a lucidly conveyed account, avoiding torturously hypertechnical business parlance even when discussing subjects like tax abatements and loan financing. The authors’ story is refreshingly free of gimmicky strategies or bombastic revelations—they are remarkably straightforward and admirably humble. This should be a helpful guide to anyone else blessed with entrepreneurial gumption and a good idea but little else.

A useful and thoughtful reflection on the elemental principles of business success.