Out of the Ashes This company faced sure disaster--but came out shining.
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Things were looking bright for Michael Feldman and JonathanMafrice in the early days of their start-up, Pyramat LLC, in LosAngeles. Founded in 2000, their company designs and manufactures aninnovative floor mat that folds into a chair for video gameplayers. As avid gamers and recent college students, they knewthere was a market for such an item. Says Feldman, "We wereable to isolate a need."
By February 2001, the business was humming along nicely. Feldmanand Mafrice, both 27, were manufacturing the Pyramat signature itemand selling their wares at industry trade shows. They'd alsojust received their first significant purchase order from abig-name store, Bed Bath & Beyond.
Then disaster struck. The warehouse where they'd beenstoring their inventory caught fire. They lost $100,000 worth oftheir product--and were due to deliver to Bed Bath & Beyond inthree weeks. "We sat there with our heads in our hands,laughing for a couple of minutes because it was so strange,"recalls Feldman. "Once we got past having no idea what onedoes in a situation like that, we said, 'We're in themud,' and we knew we needed to get out and get clean. We gotright to work."
They started with their insurance claim. Then it was time to dosome serious reorganizing. "We had to be creative,"recalls Feldman. "We had to convince our suppliers to send usterms; we had to work with factory agents to speed up the paymentterms on the other end; and we had to beg, steal and borrow fromfriends and family to tie the two together." In the end, theywere able to fill the big Bed Bath & Beyond order--thanks to atwo-month extension they'd negotiated.
Two years later, that creativity in the face of adversity haspropelled Feldman and Mafrice to major success. Not only is Pyramatprojecting $9 million in sales for 2003, but their latest creation,a mat with built-in speakers, won top industry honors at the annualConsumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Today, Pyramat products canbe found in large retailers like CompUSA, Fry's and Kohl'sand on Amazon.com.
Feldman hasn't forgotten the road it took to get where theyare today. "You have a plan, you have a vision, you know whereyou're going, and you know how to get there," he says."There are so many things that happen along the way that areout of your control. This was just one of those episodes forus."
