Resources and Capabilities 33Opportunities, Recognition, and Intuition
Having the ability to see an opportunity, obtain
resources to exploit that opportunity, and
launch the business are critical entrepreneur-
ial capabilities. This profile is about action-ori-
ented and intuitive entrepreneurs who use this
process.
Chad and Andy Baker enrolled at Indiana
University, intending to major in finance and
accounting. Even before they got to college,
the twin brothers wanted to start and run their
own business; they had been entrepreneurs in
their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, dur-
ing high school, selling shirts, music CDs, and
computer equipment to their classmates. In
Indiana, they even operated a gumball vend-
ing operation to help cover their tuition
expenses. But their college grades were too
low for them to enroll as business majors at
Indiana University’s Kelley School of
Business, so they dropped out of school and
started pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities.
Their first idea was to place custom adver-
tisements for all sorts of products in the rest-
rooms of restaurants and bars; they thought
the ads could be geared to the demographic
group that the restaurant served, and specifi-
cally targeted to either men or women. But the
competition was fierce, and after a few instal-
lations they abandoned this effort.
Next, the twins became enamored with
rock climbing. They developed a business
plan for a company that would build and sup-
ply rock-climbing walls to health clubs and
free-standing rock-climbing businesses. With
a price tag of $30,000 per wall, this business
seemed to offer plenty of margin and profit.
But because the plan required a big invest-
ment, and because the twins were worried that
they would be stuck with a big inventory of
walls if the fad faded, they rejected this idea in
their entrepreneurial search.
Then, at a trade show, the Bakers found
what they were looking for. One of the
exhibitors was selling a license to manufacture
etched Plexiglas signs with a unique LED-illu-
minated edge. Based on their prior experi-
ence with advertising specialties and some
fabrication work, the brothers believed they
could manufacture custom-made signs easily
with this process. They obtained a license
and hired someone with artistic skills to help
with design. Because the fabrication tasks
were easy, they arranged to have the signs
made at a facility that employed handicapped
people, which saved them money and was
good for their community, too.
The signs, which are sold primarily to
restaurants and bars, have now led to a new
product: the Drink Tower. The tower is a ver-
tical Plexiglas tube with a spigot or tap that
dispenses drinks in place of a pitcher. It can
be filled with beer or soda or any beverage,
and is both portable and fun to use. The
Baker twins originally sold towers made in
France, but they have now obtained a Small
Business Administration loan to manufacture
Drink Towers in China.
While the Bakers sell their signs primarily
at trade shows, they now have a Web site
(www.drinktower.com) to market their newest
product in both 100- and 168-ounce sizes.
They hope to add more products to the Web
site in the future. The sales volume from their
businesses now exceeds $500,000, and Andy
and Chad have received the Indiana Small
Business Administration’s “Young Entrepre-
neur of the Year” award.
Their latest venture is back in their home-
town of Nashville. They are flipping houses
and providing second mortgages for home-
owners with financial emergencies. Real
estate financing may turn out to be their future.
Or it may not.
SOURCE:Adapted from SBA Young Entrepreneurs Award
Indiana Business13, May 2004; “Success Story: Indoor
Signs LLC,” Indiana Small Business Development Center
Newsletter, March 23, 2005. Retrieved from the Web May
17, 2006. http://www.isbdc.org/newsletter/001.indoor.htm,
http://www.drinktower.com; and personal interviews.PERSONAL PROFILE 1