Being a disruptor in a long stagnant industry has become the new goal for most tech entrepreneurs these days. Everyone wants to be the next Uber, Airbnb or SpaceX, but sadly most aren't.
However, when it comes to Ben Moore, founder of custom packaging company tForm and a recent Graduate of the Greenville Founder Institute, he actually is. And is doing it in more ways than one.
The founder's recent launch into the custom packaging space is set to disrupt a $10 billion industry where it usually takes 11 days just to get a quote and 3 months to see your finished product. That's because the current status-quo dictates that everything about the experience has to be custom, not just the packaging. Which leads to long wait times, tedious back-and-forth discussions and delays.
tForm wants to change that with a streamlined, customer facing instant quote platform coupled with standardized pricing models that will expedite the ordering process and enable them to deliver orders in a third of the time it usually takes. All without any sacrifices to product quality or custom specifications.
tForm manufactures their custom plastic packaging through a process called thermoforming, where sheets of plastic are heated until they're pliable enough to be molded into custom shapes and designs for clients in the medical, automotive and electrical industries.
According to Harv Rettberg, another co-founder of tForm, businesses are taking notice of the new guys in town:
We’ve touched many local customers that are interested in this kind of packaging, and they have given us a very favorable idea that they would do business with us."
On the tForm website they already have several case studies showcasing how their molds and design and engineering experience enable them to produce packaging at a lower cost than their competitors and faster than them too.
But the guys at tForm aren't just disrupting the custom packaging industry. They're also taking an alternative approach to funding their startup as well. Instead of seeking funding from capital investment firms or angel investors, they bootstrapped $500,000 of their own money and are using that to fund their manufacturing start-up.
They say that using their own capital gives them more freedom and independence, yet they acknowledge that there are major risks involved as well, “There’ are a thousand different factors that could cause this to fall flat on its face,” said Moore.
But Moore says it's worth the risk and is excited about the challenges that it brings. “This is an opportunity to see a company grow from the ground up, if you fall, there is no net. It’s thrilling,” says co-founder Harv Rettberg.
Now, before you go out and start forming your own venture, this isn't their first rodeo in entrepreneurship or the manufacturing industry.
Ben Moore is a recent Graduate from the Greenville Founder Institute, a rigorous three and a half month tech incubator and entrepreneur training program where they refined their ideas and learned how to avoid common start up mistakes. Out of the 150 applicants to the program, only 34 made the cut and only 12 actually graduated.
The company is planning on using their $500,000 inaugural budget to hire fifteen employees in 2016 and are projecting a 50 person expansion within the next 3 years. Their current manufacturing space is located in Williamston, SC and with only 6,000 square feet to call their own, they're planning on out-growing that space very soon.
