Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
INFORMER :: NEW PRODUCTS
After years of licensing,
BlueSky Designs to
launch own product
by Beth Ewen
Since 1997, BlueSky Designs has created prototypes of products to help people with disabilities, then licensed them to other companies to bring to market. Now, owner Dianne Goodwin is getting ready to launch their first product themselves.
The product is called the Mount?nMover, a mounting system for a laptop computer that a person using a wheelchair could more easily move. ?With a pound and a half of force, a person can unlock the elbow and shoulder joint and move it,? she says. ?We?ve got a real sweet design now.?
The two-arm version sells for $900 to $1,100 retail. ?That will give the distributors their 40 percent markup, which is typical,? she says.
Two reasons are behind the change: ?The control issue,? she says. ?I want to bring it into the world.?
By contrast, they licensed their accessible tent to Eureka, which renamed it the Freedom Tent and sold it under the Eureka brand. ?The Freedom Tent didn?t turn out how I wanted it, and for the Garden Rocker, the same thing,? she says, referring to the company?s ergonomic stool, also a product they licensed.
?The other thing is, I really want to bring more revenue into the company,? she says. ?At some point then we have a nice family of products, or we could be purchased.?
She found distributors for the Mount?nMover by attending a national conference in the Twin Cities that focuses on assistive technology. ?That?s our strategy, to sell though distributors who already sell? other assistive technology products, she says. ?At least two of those distributors want to co-launch it with us,? at another major industry conference this spring.
Five manufacturers in Minnesota and nearby states are producing custom pieces for BlueSky?s Mount?nMover. ?We?re trying to do it regionally. I didn?t trust going overseas for it, even though people said it would be so much cheaper.? She hopes to produce 2,000 units this year.
The new business model brings new concerns to Goodwin. ?There is the $240,000 of tooling that you have to put in. Inventory won?t be cheap, probably $100,000 each run, so cash flow worries me.?
Company funds have financed about half the needed amount, plus private funds have been offered so ?we?ll do loan agreements on that.?
Dianne Goodwin, BlueSky Designs: 612.724.7002; di****@************ns.us; www.blueskydesigns.us
