Co-founders Louie Hinnen and Paul Outlaw explain how their company The Factory NYC utilizes human creativity and digital tools to establish itself at the intersection of art and commerce.
Securing Your Success, a series that highlights small business success stories and the importance of connectivity within entrepreneurship, is sponsored by Comcast Business. Learn more at entrepreneur.com/comcastbusiness.
Securing Your Success, a series that highlights small business success stories and the importance of connectivity within entrepreneurship, is sponsored by Comcast Business. Learn more at entrepreneur.com/comcastbusiness.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 What does the factory do?
00:01 Oh boy.
00:03 Oh, we make a lot of stuff here.
00:04 (upbeat music)
00:07 - The factory's been around for 10 years.
00:29 We opened in 2013, March, on my birthday, in fact.
00:33 We joked that Louie got me a company for my birthday.
00:35 - Paul and I met at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.
00:38 - We were both in the sculpture department.
00:40 That's kind of where our friendship started.
00:42 After graduating, moved to New York.
00:43 I think I kind of convinced Louie to move to New York
00:45 and come work in the fashion photography set
00:48 and event industry.
00:49 - Neither one of us are traditionalist sculptors.
00:52 We're really artists and we work in a variety of materials.
00:56 That really translates well to set and event fabrication.
00:59 - We worked for another company for a number of years.
01:02 We thought that we could be successful
01:04 at trying it on our own.
01:06 In the beginning, hunger had a lot to do
01:08 with our ability to tell any client
01:10 that we're capable of doing anything that they want us to.
01:13 Even if it's a false bravado,
01:15 it's a level of confidence in yourself
01:17 and your ability to adapt and learn very quickly
01:20 that really made this company possible.
01:22 - That first year was really tough.
01:24 The second year we made a profit.
01:25 The third year we doubled.
01:27 The fourth year we doubled again.
01:29 The fifth year we doubled again.
01:30 Before, we were doing a lot of magazine photo shoots,
01:33 advertising and editorials, small stuff.
01:37 And then the rest is history.
01:39 The experiential marketing blew the doors
01:43 off of everything that we were doing here.
01:44 And it's also like a lot more fun.
01:47 - We don't create and build the same thing every day.
01:50 And that's where we excel.
01:51 And that's what kind of sets us apart
01:53 from a more traditional fabrication shop.
01:55 - The biggest challenge was just starting.
01:58 Just telling yourself,
01:59 "Get out of the comfortable zone and just go for it."
02:01 - We really scrapped together
02:03 whatever Louie and I had in savings,
02:04 enough to buy us a couple of months on the lease
02:07 and the bare minimum amount of tools that we need.
02:09 We had to dump whatever money we had
02:11 into our next investment in order to grow the company.
02:14 So that meant taking a huge leap of faith.
02:16 - I went home and I talked to my wife about it
02:17 'cause Paul and I were, you know, we were mulling it over.
02:20 We were like, "Man, I think we could do this."
02:23 And I'm like, "How do we pay for it?"
02:25 I don't know, we'll figure it out.
02:27 I went home and I talked to my wife and I said,
02:29 "I could keep the job I have now.
02:31 "It's a good one.
02:32 "It's a little stressful,
02:33 "but it pays for everything we need.
02:37 "Or I can go take a shot at doing our own thing.
02:40 "And you're not gonna see me much.
02:41 "I don't think you're gonna see me much at all
02:43 "for a few years."
02:44 And she said, "Louie, I'll support you if you stay
02:47 "at the job that you have,
02:49 "but I'll support you more if you...
02:52 "But I'll support you more if you go out on your own.
02:55 "So go do it."
02:56 (upbeat music)
02:58 - Equipment investment is a huge part of what we've done.
03:03 And now we've really kind of recognized the future
03:06 of 3D printing and digital fabrication tools.
03:08 It's making our work more efficient.
03:10 It's making our products better.
03:11 - We have a massive 3D printer.
03:13 It looks like a giant microwave oven.
03:14 The objects that it can print in a single go
03:17 are four feet deep, roughly, five feet wide, six feet tall.
03:21 - The internet is essential to what we're doing here.
03:23 We use cloud-based storage and cloud-based transfer
03:27 for just about everything that we do.
03:29 - The ability to share information immediately
03:31 and to watch someone work on something
03:34 simultaneously as you is huge.
03:36 I mean, it's a game changer.
03:37 All the information that we share with clients
03:39 and also with all the team here at the factory
03:41 is usually under locking key.
03:42 And because of the amount of digital work that we do
03:45 and the amount of work we do on the cloud software,
03:47 the cybersecurity is a huge, huge part of us
03:50 keeping our clients' information safe,
03:52 keeping our business safe.
03:53 Our staff here is one of the features of our company
03:55 that we're most proud of.
03:56 We search for the highest skilled possible people
03:59 for whatever position that we need to have filled.
04:01 And once we get these people here,
04:03 we do everything that we can to keep them.
04:05 - It's not boring, and work can be very boring.
04:08 We're not an assembly line business.
04:10 We're not installing doors on cars
04:13 over and over and over again.
04:14 That's not fulfilling enough for a lot of creative people.
04:18 This is kind of that creative incubator for us.
04:20 That's what we hope we're creating.
04:22 - One of the reasons that we did start this company
04:24 is because we wanted the space, equipment, tools, materials
04:27 to be able to continue our art practice.
04:29 And we find that same mentality translates
04:31 into our employees as well,
04:33 because we know that's a vital part of their lives.
04:35 And that's the kind of people that we want to attract
04:37 and who we want to work with.
04:39 We like to think that we're one of the best in the business.
04:41 In order for us to continue to grow and expand,
04:43 we'll have to go into new markets.
04:45 - I know that I always want to make something bigger
04:46 and better and cooler.
04:47 We're addicted to growing our business.
04:49 - We like to make cool stuff.
04:51 That's really what we want to do.
04:52 And so why do we just have to make it in New York, right?
04:55 Why can't we make it in Vegas and LA and Miami?
04:59 Somebody's got to do it.
05:00 (upbeat music)
05:03 (upbeat music)
05:05 (upbeat music)
05:08 (upbeat music)
05:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]