What's that sound coming from little Nunica?
It’s loud. It's clear. It's booming.
If you haven't heard of
UpBeat Audio, be prepared. This small company has a way to make your iPod sound like that sweet receiver you bought for $800 back in 1985. It can make it louder too – like turning the proverbial amp up to 11, one louder than 10.
The 3-year-old company has two main products right now, the Boosteroo, a tiny amplifier you can plug into your MP3 player that boosts the volume and allows for more than one listener, and the much more interesting Boosteroo Revolution, which vastly improves the quality of the sound coming through headphones or speakers.
You may have noticed that MP3s have a tinny, flat sound. Not with this device. Gadget mag
Gizmodo had this to say: "Without Boosteroo, my own iPod sounded fine. I have some nice Ultimate Ears ear buds and they have kept me happy for almost two years now. However, once I plugged in the Boosteroo stick, I realized most of the music I was listening to had originally sounded like a truck backing over gravel."
Other rags, like
The New York Times, also have given it good reviews.
And who is at the helm of this company? Linda Langs, who makes her home in Nunica, east of Grand Haven. Her products are now selling in Radio Shack and In-Motion Pictures stores across the nation and her sales are about to hit $1 million.
Her success is proof that succeeding in the new economy has more to do with good ideas than physical assets.
"What I had been before this was a film producer. Then I went into Web marketing back in 1999," Langs says. Several years passed, and then "I was approached by friends to see if I could help the original owner of the Boosteroo. I had the opportunity to purchase the patent from him and I did."
Global groupLangs went from film producer, to Web marketer, to high-tech gadget-maker. Now, greater Grand Haven isn't exactly known for its high-tech electronics engineering and manufacturing, but that doesn't really matter nowadays.
"We partner all over. Our manufacturer for Revolution is in Phoenix; Boosteroo is in China. In Detroit we put the casing around it and put it into the final packaging," she says. "In Grand Haven, there are four of us. We have two engineers in California, three people in Detroit. Our graphic designer is in Utah. My national sales manager is in the San Francisco area."
Where did she meet these folks?
Through trade shows and connections with the
Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center, headquartered at Grand Valley State University.
She also found partners. She hooked up with Delta Research, a Detroit-area manufacturer/product developer that took a 40 percent stake in the company and infused it with capital for growth. She got a partner in Traverse City, Mike Pahl, who helped finance some growth and now acts as chief controller.
"Logistics aren't an issue anymore. The magic of remote access is 'I can sit right here and do everything from my computer,' " says Pahl, who also owns an equipment leasing company and manufacturing company in Angola, Ind.
She landed a financial backer and adviser in Infinite Learning, a Detroit-area corporate training firm. Tom Buck, the founder of Infinite Learning, said he thinks UpBeat Audio has a bright future. All of the partners in the company, who have a variety of backgrounds in business, are trying to add value to the company.
"I think all of us that are in the investor group are taking some type of role, either working on the manufacturing side or the human resource side or the legal side," Buck says.
Langs says the advice she's received from these partners has been the key to the company's growth. The partners may know nothing about electronic gadgetry, but they know business and people. Their guidance kept her from following paths that could have led nowhere.
Making more noiseAnd now her company is preparing to launch another product that could further jolt the company into growth mode. She can't talk about it just yet, but let's just say it'll make some noise in another fast-growing electronic segment.
One of the coolest aspects to UpBeat Audio is that it could function, and flourish, anywhere. And when she and her husband moved from Grand Rapids 10 years ago to be closer to the water, she didn't have to give that up to start the business.
"Grand Haven is a gorgeous area. Think about five minute commutes and lots of gorgeous waterfronts," she says. "We are less than two minutes from the highway. In 20 minutes we can be in downtown Grand Rapids and it takes 20 minutes to be in downtown Muskegon. And we can be in Chicago or Detroit in 2 ½ hours."
Langs spent a long time in California before moving back to Grand Rapids to be near family when her mother was ill. "What really hit me was how green it was and how I missed the green. And how stressful it is there. When you are in it, you don't really realize it," she says.
Now Langs can take advantage of the silicon in California, without having to live in the Valley.
Mike Ramsey is innovation editor for Rapid Growth.
Photographs:
Linda Langs of Upbeat Audio
Upbeat Audio booster product photo courtesy of Upbeat Audio
Linda Langs with booster applied to a mini-dvd player
Close-up of booster
Photographs by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved