2006.10.01: October 1, 2006: Headlines: COS - Hungary: Business: Furniture: Chattanooga Times: Hungary RPCV Stephen Culp, founded Smart Furniture
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2006.10.01: October 1, 2006: Headlines: COS - Hungary: Business: Furniture: Chattanooga Times: Hungary RPCV Stephen Culp, founded Smart Furniture
Hungary RPCV Stephen Culp, founded Smart Furniture
Smart Furniture products can be assembled or reconfigured to create a variety of office shelves, trade show booths, store fixtures, books cases and home furniture items. Consumers may create their own designs on the Web and Smart Furniture promises on its Web site (www. smartfurniture.com) to ship the item within seven days.
Hungary RPCV Stephen Culp, founded Smart Furniture
Pieces come together for Smart: Web do-it-yourself furniture seller sees growth, hiring
Oct 1, 2006 - Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
Oct. 1--Chattanooga-based Smart Furniture, with a fresh infusion of capital, is embarking on a major expansion as it boosts its work force and enhances its Web presence.
"We have left the start-up zone and are in the growth phase," said Stephen Culp, the company's chairman and chief executive.
The business, which now has 23 workers, is aiming to go to 150 employees by the end of the decade, he said.
Mr. Culp said the business has secured $4.1 million in new cash and plans to obtain another $1 million in 30 days.
The money will enable the company to continue to build its Internet-based platform of selling its customized, tool-free interlocking laminate shelves and bookcases, Mr. Culp said.
He said the business has hired a chief information officer, Chris Matthews, to help it construct what the CEO calls "a world-class" Web platform.
T.J. Gentle, company president, said the company's strategy is to become "the Dell of furniture."
"We use the Internet to give buy- ers a customized product," Mr. Gentle said.
Smart Furniture products can be assembled or reconfigured to create a variety of office shelves, trade show booths, store fixtures, books cases and home furniture items. Consumers may create their own designs on the Web and Smart Furniture promises on its Web site (www. smartfurniture.com) to ship the item within seven days.
While the company doesn't release sales figures, Mr. Gentle said revenues advanced about 350 percent in the past year. He said the company's aim is to become a $70 million business within five years.
Mr. Culp said the additional workers to be hired within that period will be in the technical, sales, fulfillment and customer service areas.
The company outsources manufacture of its products to American companies.
"Our model is partnering with trusted manufacturers in the local area. To the extent they can take us forward..., we'd like to keep the model going," Mr. Culp said. But he added it might bring a portion of that side of the business inside in the future.
J.Ed. Marston, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's vice president for marketing, said he is heartened by Smart Furniture's acquisition of new capital.
"Their record of growth to date is extremely promising," he said. "We see Smart Furniture as one of those companies with the potential to really demonstrate the value of working with startups and helping them mature." Ray Childers, the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association's president, said that at times it makes more sense for a company to outsource some operations. But he welcomes the expansion.
"We know we can't make everything here," he said. "Our location is still prime. We have transportation facilities and access that are the envy of many parts of this country."
Bob Marshall, a Smart Furniture board member, said the business has done stellar work so far with fairly limited resources.
"With this capital, it can more aggressively attack those markets and enter new markets. It's a real opportunity to get the word out to a broader consumer base," said the official with the merchant banking firm Livingston Co.
Mr. Culp, a former Peace Corps volunteer who holds a law degree from Stanford University, said the business is examining its own growing space needs.
"We're trying to stay downtown," he said, noting its Market Street location is out of room.
The company's warehouse space on Polk Street should be sufficient for the next year or so, he said.
"We try to turn our inventory quickly," Mr. Gentle said. "We have to find space to do more product development."
Mr. Culp said customer service is a key component of the company's success, and officials want to keep it that way.
"From a business standpoint, there's value in it," he said.
E-mail Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com
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Story Source: Chattanooga Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Hungary; Business; Furniture
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