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Author Topic: Starting a new bowling company  (Read 5656 times)

NeumannKnight

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Starting a new bowling company
« on: June 30, 2010, 05:47:29 AM »
Let's try this again since some people decide to be immature about everything.


I am truly interested in starting my own bowling supply company. I have been giving thought to this for the past few years because I would like to make an impact in the bowling industry somehow. I am knowledgeable when it comes to business so I do have the will to follow through on this. I have a passion for bowling as well and would really love to get it going. You have any ideas for me? Even if I would be able to get poured by another company so I can have my own product on the market.

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My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)
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Baboon

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2010, 02:33:27 PM »
There's already a saturated market of bowling supply companies in a declining bowling economy with no sign of an upturn.

What makes you think you can do a better job than those that have years of experience and an established client base?

If you can answer that question without hesitation, then maybe you have a chance.  But you still have to secure tons of financing and market yourself extensively.  You will not make money the first 3-5 years.

Edit: I just reread your post.  You mean a bowling supply company, or a bowling ball manufacturer?  Because the two are entirely different and seldom overlap.
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NeumannKnight

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2010, 02:36:04 PM »
quote:
quote:
There's already a saturated market of bowling supply companies in a declining bowling economy with no sign of an upturn.

What makes you think you can do a better job than those that have years of experience and an established client base?

If you can answer that question without hesitation, then maybe you have a chance.  But you still have to secure tons of financing and market yourself extensively.  You will not make money the first 3-5 years.

Edit: I just reread your post.  You mean a bowling supply company, or a bowling ball manufacturer?  Because the two are entirely different and seldom overlap.


You must really be a baboon huh?  I mean, he said BOWLING SUPPLY COMPANY....

pay attention you stupid Monday
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Smoother than a Brazilian Wax...



No need to insult the guy. and thank you for the links above
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My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)
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Baboon

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2010, 02:37:42 PM »
quote:
quote:
There's already a saturated market of bowling supply companies in a declining bowling economy with no sign of an upturn.

What makes you think you can do a better job than those that have years of experience and an established client base?

If you can answer that question without hesitation, then maybe you have a chance.  But you still have to secure tons of financing and market yourself extensively.  You will not make money the first 3-5 years.

Edit: I just reread your post.  You mean a bowling supply company, or a bowling ball manufacturer?  Because the two are entirely different and seldom overlap.


You must really be a baboon huh?  I mean, he said BOWLING SUPPLY COMPANY....

pay attention you stupid Monday
--------------------
Smoother than a Brazilian Wax...


Excuse me?  He said bowling supply company, which is what my response is tailored to.  He later mentioned ball pouring, which led me to believe he might be considering becoming a bowling manufacturer...which is an entirely different enterprise.

Grow up.
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NeumannKnight

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2010, 02:42:56 PM »
quote:
There's already a saturated market of bowling supply companies in a declining bowling economy with no sign of an upturn.

What makes you think you can do a better job than those that have years of experience and an established client base?

If you can answer that question without hesitation, then maybe you have a chance.  But you still have to secure tons of financing and market yourself extensively.  You will not make money the first 3-5 years.

Edit: I just reread your post.  You mean a bowling supply company, or a bowling ball manufacturer?  Because the two are entirely different and seldom overlap.


My plans were to never dominate over other companies. I just want to have my product out there. I guess youcould label it as a bowling manufacturing company. I apologize for the confusion.

I know the market is saturated and profit is very minimal if any at all. Again, my idea isnt to be the industry leader or even a really big competitor.

Like if you really want to make comparisons. I would like to be where VBP is right now in relation to the bowling world. People would at least know my company exists and would have a decent amount of customers.

This is not something I came up with on a whim. I have been dabbling into it for a the past 5-6 years now, but not really only taking it dead serious until recently.

I have a very limited client base due to the people I know through bowling at various centers in Southeastern PA. I'm pretty sure word of mouth would be my best bet along with internet advertising since production costs for paper advertisements would be astronical unless I'm only selling products in a maximum of 20 centers when starting out.
--------------------
My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)
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Badger856

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2010, 02:53:25 PM »
If you are serious, then i suggest to hire a consulting firm to look to see if it is feasible for you.  If you don't want to hire someone to do this then develop a busines plan on what type of market you want to capture (high end balls, medium price, plastic) and specialize. Good luck
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Baboon

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2010, 02:56:19 PM »
I second the idea of hiring a consulting company.  But moreover, the business end of it pretty much takes care of itself if you have a great product.  You need someone with an engineering or chemistry or whatever else background who can design the things, not someone who can market them.

I don't think you understand the high barriers of entry to becoming a manufacturer.  You won't find a company that's eager to pour 10 cores or even 100 cores, you'd have to have a contract for thousands and thousands of balls.
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NeumannKnight

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2010, 02:59:55 PM »
quote:
I second the idea of hiring a consulting company.  But moreover, the business end of it pretty much takes care of itself if you have a great product.  You need someone with an engineering or chemistry or whatever else background who can design the things, not someone who can market them.

I don't think you understand the high barriers of entry to becoming a manufacturer.  You won't find a company that's eager to pour 10 cores or even 100 cores, you'd have to have a contract for thousands and thousands of balls.


I have people going to school for chemical and mechanical engineering. I got this figured out for right now. I have a business plan semi-developed. Also, my entrepreneurial management professor runs his own consulting firm and he thinks I would be able to pull it off. Well this was back in Spring of 2009 right before I graduated.
--------------------
My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)
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NeumannKnight

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2010, 03:01:50 PM »
quote:
I second the idea of hiring a consulting company.  But moreover, the business end of it pretty much takes care of itself if you have a great product.  You need someone with an engineering or chemistry or whatever else background who can design the things, not someone who can market them.

I don''t think you understand the high barriers of entry to becoming a manufacturer.  You won''t find a company that''s eager to pour 10 cores or even 100 cores, you''d have to have a contract for thousands and thousands of balls.


I understand that bowling manufacturers has a few monopolies (Brunswick, Ebonite*, Storm, 900 Global), but there are companies that are willing to take smaller companies and pour them. ex. VBP taking Insite at the time. 900 Global taking Seismic, etc. And Seismic has 4 balls, well 5 including their Kinetic release.
--------------------
My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)


Edited on 6/30/2010 3:03 PM
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Badger856

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2010, 03:28:15 PM »
Then the only two things you need are: 1) to take the plunge and do it   2) lots and lots of start up capital.
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ImBackInTheGame

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2010, 03:30:17 PM »
It would be a lot of fun if even a little successful.

Lane #1 (Global pour) and MoRich (Brunswick Pour) seem to be doing pretty well.  Each of them have their own "cult" type following, and both have some great products.

If you have the money and the time that it takes to get something like this off of the ground, do it.  Life is short!

I don't think you'll find the answers you seek on a forum like this though.  Talk to people you know that are in the business and get their thoughts.

Good Luck, and if you do get something going be sure to send me some testers, lol!
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icefiction

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2010, 03:33:42 PM »
In my honest opinion I think it is great to want to do what you want, why not take your business plan and market it to existing companies and see about becoming a sister company of one of the existing brands. Your start up costs and initial outlay would probably be half if you were tagged on to an existing corporation. Just my two cents, but if you believe you truly have a product that people want then it should be an easy sell to an existing company, and if they turn you down maybe they have suggestions on ways to improve what you are trying to accomplish.
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milorafferty

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2010, 03:34:47 PM »
quote:
quote:
I second the idea of hiring a consulting company.  But moreover, the business end of it pretty much takes care of itself if you have a great product.  You need someone with an engineering or chemistry or whatever else background who can design the things, not someone who can market them.

I don''t think you understand the high barriers of entry to becoming a manufacturer.  You won''t find a company that''s eager to pour 10 cores or even 100 cores, you''d have to have a contract for thousands and thousands of balls.


I understand that bowling manufacturers has a few monopolies (Brunswick, Ebonite*, Storm, 900 Global), but there are companies that are willing to take smaller companies and pour them. ex. VBP taking Insite at the time. 900 Global taking Seismic, etc. And Seismic has 4 balls, well 5 including their Kinetic release.
--------------------
My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)


Edited on 6/30/2010 3:03 PM


You might want to contact LaneMasters. They pour their own balls and are not set up to do thousands like the big guys. They might be interested in doing the work for you.
--------------------
Nine in the pit with the Tenpin left standing. dooooh!!
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qstick777

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #13 on: June 30, 2010, 03:34:50 PM »
Not to be smart, but since you mentioned Insite, maybe you could find Mark Russo and find out about his experiences.

I never met the guy, but I believe at one time he owned several (maybe 3 or 4) pro shops while he was running Insite.

You could also look at having stuff poured and imported from China - Check out http://www.alibaba.com/ - you should be able to find some info there.  You wouldn't have any problem getting shoes or bags with custom embroidery.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but you're going to be looking at quite a bit of money.  It's expensive to just have a company make you an exclusive - using their older cores and coverstocks.  When you get into designing your own cores it's probably going to be cost prohibitive.  I think the last number floated around was $10-15k just for the core molds.

Also, didn't somebody mention that Elite and/or Bowler's Paradise might be for sale?  Not sure if they were joking or not, but might be something to look into.
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NeumannKnight

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Re: Starting a new bowling company
« Reply #14 on: June 30, 2010, 03:36:29 PM »
quote:
quote:
quote:
I second the idea of hiring a consulting company.  But moreover, the business end of it pretty much takes care of itself if you have a great product.  You need someone with an engineering or chemistry or whatever else background who can design the things, not someone who can market them.

I don''t think you understand the high barriers of entry to becoming a manufacturer.  You won''t find a company that''s eager to pour 10 cores or even 100 cores, you''d have to have a contract for thousands and thousands of balls.


I understand that bowling manufacturers has a few monopolies (Brunswick, Ebonite*, Storm, 900 Global), but there are companies that are willing to take smaller companies and pour them. ex. VBP taking Insite at the time. 900 Global taking Seismic, etc. And Seismic has 4 balls, well 5 including their Kinetic release.
--------------------
My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)


Edited on 6/30/2010 3:03 PM


You might want to contact LaneMasters. They pour their own balls and are not set up to do thousands like the big guys. They might be interested in doing the work for you.
--------------------
Nine in the pit with the Tenpin left standing. dooooh!!


That's actually something I was looking into
--------------------
My current arsenal includes:
Columbia 300 Perfect Rival
Hammer Jigsaw
Storm Reign & Natural (best ball ever)
Nu-Line The Gauntlet (my favorite)
900 Global Break Out (my new toy)
Logged
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