I am curious, if you were to start your own model rocket company, what would you do? Who would be on your board of directors ? Who would be your department heads?

In today marketplace, in what direction would you take your new company.

Keeping in mind, this has nothing to do with any past or present companies, this is a totally new company, of your own, in the 21st century.

How much money do you think we have, to start a company with a board of directors and department heads in place at the very beginning?

I don't think even the larger hobbyist-oriented model rocket companies have all of those positions.

__________________
John Thro, NAR #84553 SR
I was too old when I started! Now I'll *never* become a BAR!

I'm not sure even how to begin to answer this question without further information.
The most important piece being how much capital do I have to work with and is it all cash-on-hand or is it in the form of a credit line.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Well, everything would start with a good business plan and model for the company you wish to start. Business plans are not easy since a good part of it, especially the "financials" are sometime based on speculation and ideal business conditions. Entering the rocket market could be difficult, but if you have a good plan in place with some cool, different designs and other different product offerings then it could be possible. Also, you wouldn't have to have all of the capital start up money - with a good plan it is possible to find potential investors to help offset costs in the beginning, including startup costs.

Marketing would take a BIG chunk of your fund in the beginning. Surveys and other information gathering would have to take place in order to see if a new rocket company would be worth starting up. I dont' think that you would need a board or anything for such a small company, but I would have the minimum of a President, VP-marketing and sales, VP-operations, office manager, administrative staff, and warehousing/shipping. Design engineers and manufacturing could be handled in-house or contracted out, especially the manufacturing.

There are numerous other things to consider but these are the top things I could think of off the top of my head.......

What I am curious about is, if anyone, wanted to start a new venture in this 21st centruy, how would you go about it, who would you have and what would your objectives be.

It would take a while to build capital so I'd be forced to start off small. I'd try to purchase a small stock of tubes from Euclid or other supplier in a few sizes and try to custom make as many of the other rocket parts myself as possible. Sell via mail order through an internet store front. Any money from parts & kit sales would be dumped back into the company. I've thought from time to time of doing a few limited kit runs of projects I've built but purchasing all the parts would price the kit well out of reach of what most would be willing to spend, even for a really nice rocket so having the ability to custom make some parts would seem necessary.



My dad. He expressed interest in what he could do after retirement and he is considering purchasing some new tools and building a small workshop at his house. We discussed a custom parts business for rocketry scratch builders and he seemed interested.



I'd want to build a few model rocket & mid power kits but like LOC with their novice kit series and SEMROC with there SLS kit series, I'd be sure to allow flights on Estes D and E motors on at least a couple of the larger dia. kits. I'd try to cater to the guy that doesn't have a table saw that needs his own fins cut from plywood, G-10, basswood or perhaps the guy that needs custom centering rings. Perhaps a basic rocket kit for dual deployment with everything included, even the altimeter sled pre-drilled for the altimeter of your choice with vent holes sized & pre-drilled in the airframe.

I'm laid up recovering from surgery right now and both Carl & Cheryl at SEMROC made me custom fins from basswood that are normally only supplied in balsa. It was a custom order, a terrific price and I couldn't have done them better myself even if I tried to. I also sent Barry at LOC an order for three sets of fins ..... one for a 2.6" dia. mid power design that he cut from 1/8" plywood and he figured the thru the wall tabs and cut for me. Both SEMROC and LOC did a fantastic job of supplying custom parts to my specifications, when I wasn't able to make them myself.

Supplying custom parts to the scratch builder with a few kits for sale to the rocketeer that wants a complete package would be my main objective. There is a market, albeit small for this type of business. Just look at the great job Sandman does with his nose cones. He has turned me some of the best hardwood, basswood and walnut cones you could ever lay eyes one. I've been able to recreate early 80's sounding rockets from SSRS/Crown that featured these cones and FSI clones with real hardwood HNC-101 Sandman cones to fit Carl's SLS grade LT-125 tubing. His prices are reasonable and his products are high quality and unique.

Carl @ SEMROC, Barry @ LOC/Precision, Gordon/Sandman @ Roachworks these are the go to guys for custom parts and there are many other possibilities of custom work / parts that could be offered.

.

__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates

I have sold every kit I have ever offered and did not make a dime. And I am not complaining a bit. I really enjoyed the experience and managed to break even. I consider it a success.

Considering past experience...to earn a living doing this would require a very LARGE infusion of cash to be invested in marketing, research, and huge quantity buys of components.

__________________
Gerald Wallace...BAR in Ky.
BoRocks Rocketry Systems
jonrocket.com
"An armed society is a polite society." - Robert Anson Heinlein
"Its a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" - MacBeth

We're supposed to make a profit????

On my last batch of scale kits this is what I went through;

The initial planning, laying in bed at night designing the parts (yea, some people count sheep, I design stuff) computer CAD time, redesigns, time on the phone finding parts, time and travel to laser cut parts (the laser cutter I use is a 2hr drive away), changes in the laser cut parts, more trips to the laser cutter, finding the material to laser cut, finding & ordering tubes, shock cords, making metal motor hooks...then finding balsa, turning the balsa, misc. additional machining on the turned parts (drilling holes for nose weight, making plugs, making another trip to Home Depot to get screw eyes), pouring lead or weighing out bags of bb's, printing patterns and cardstock parts, running out of ink for my printer in the middle of a job and having to run and get more ink ,

WRITING THE INSTRUCTION!!!

More time on the computer...computer crashes in the middle of the job...OK I backed everything up...have to buy a new computer! Oh,so now I get to spend a day and a half loading all of my programs and backed up data into the new computer.

Finally got the kits finished...start to sell, get the orders write shipping labels, everybody pays with Paypal...they get their cut of the money up front! Wrap boxes with craft paper before shipping (people get mad if you just slap an address label on the kit box ).

Did I mention the price of gas?

My latest calculation is I make about $0.12/ hr.

Member Gus and I talked about this and he says I should raise my prices 'cause, "Gordy, you're worth TWICE that!"

BTW I love doing it!

__________________
"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/

None of the above, actually. The first course of action is to seek out a niche within a given market, where there is a measure of demand but no one filling that demand. Figure out what is required to fill that need. Determine what portion(s) you can easily handle, as well as what you still need to "farm out". Seek out suppliers and pricing schedules for a "ballpark figure" on regular per-unit costs. Also seek out whatever capital equipment you will need to produce any special parts to get your "one-time" investments. Add into this mix the costs for legal work, accounting, shipping, advertising, and "contengency funds" (having enough money in reserve to cover the first months of operation, before you start to see real sales). Now you can start working out your "business plan" to take to the bank (or other SBA lender). There may be additional things that are needed before you can get funding.

Listen to the lender for any suggestions to smooth out the process, and to avoid the pitfalls that other would-be SBOs have fallen into...

The first big mistake is in trying to fill too many niches at one time. The second big mistake is trying to become a big business before you become a small business.

__________________
Craig McGraw

BARCLONE Rocketry -- http://barclone.rocketshoppe.com
BARCLONE Blogsite -- http://barclone.wordpress.com
BARCLONE Forum -- BARCLONE Forum

BARs helping BARs

SAM 0044
AMA 352635

I agree with that but...none of the niches in this hobby are large enough for you to make a decent living.

Possible niche catagories;

Scale models

Super Scale (very accurate very expensive)

Futuristic Sci-Fi. There's a niche with a lot of existing players.

School market (everybody does that. BMS, SEMROC, Flis, Estes...)

Competition engines, Man, that will take a conciderable investment with little return.

Big box stores (Wal-mart, K-Mart) good luck getting in that door with a start up company.

Export market...forget that, too much paperwork! No big profit there.

Competition models. How many NAR members compete compared to the total membership. Face it, when you are talking competition you are talking NAR. No other organization has a rocketry competition.

Sorry, I can't see any niche large enough to justify a corperate structure.

Four cheifs and one or two minimum wage indians stuffing kits in bags.

Don't quit your day job!

__________________
"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/