Entrepreneurship in Utah: Blackrock CEO Andy Gotshalk (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Why do these people want to join your company instead of doing research? What are you seeing as the driver for getting these people?

Andy Gotshalk: I think it’s a personality type. Most PhD’s get their PhD and want to continue in academics and research, but there are people that want to have, what they tell us, more of an impact in their daily lives. It could be through selling this technology to people to help improve their research, getting this technology to a point where it’s actually going to start affecting patient’s lives, helping researchers discover new applications for it, or being a part of the company and developing some of the new company. It’s a different track for them. It’s difficult for us to find good sales people in this business.

Sramana Mitra: I imagine it’s a very specialized personality type that can interact with science at that level and have the skills to sell, which typically do not go together.

Andy Gotshalk: Correct. If I had to find 100 of these people, I don’t think I could.

Sramana Mitra: How many do you have?

Andy Gotshalk: Today, there are seven.

Sramana Mitra: Each of them are carrying a pretty sizeable quota.

Andy Gotshalk: Correct. We sell worldwide. We have some people in Europe. We actually have an employee in China.

Sramana Mitra: You said you’re at about $10 million now?

Andy Gotshalk: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: What else is interesting and significant in terms of strategy that you have used in building your company up from the initial stages to $10 million in revenue?

Andy Gotshalk: One of my big philosophies is also customer service. For me, it’s about making sure that the customers are satisfied and we’re delivering exactly what they need. The most important piece, especially in this kind of business is that that’s going to be your referral base. Those are the people who are going to tell their friends and other people what technology they’re using, how much they love it, and why they love it.

At the very beginning, if a customer had an issue, it was a top focus for me that it was resolved and also to make sure that we go above and beyond so that they would turn from upset to, not just satisfied but actual happiness. If we have to repair something potentially in some of their pricing, I tend to be much more flexible in the beginning to make sure that, at the end of the day, we’re supporting the customer. If they require an additional trip for one of our service people, that can be expensive. To me, those are the important things that we need to do.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Entrepreneurship in Utah: Blackrock CEO Andy Gotshalk
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