Richard
Powell didn't know, way back in the
mid-1990s, what the Internet was. He
couldn't believe anyone would send
his son, Ben, money for baseball
cards the teen sold on the Internet.
But
they did. The checks piled up -- 50
cents here, a dollar or two there,
$50 for a coveted Jose Canseco card
-- and Powell got an idea. If it
worked for his son's sports cards,
why not for his field of medical
technology and equipment?
Powell had wanted to go into
business for himself. And he knew
the market, after two decades in
sales for big companies in the Twin
Cities and the Upper Midwest. So he
hired a programmer and set up shop
in cyberspace in 1996.
"I
knew I had done the right thing. ...
The very first day it was up, I got
an order," Powell said. "From Chile.
Somebody sent me money from a
foreign country for a piece of
medical equipment, and it turned out
great."
Ten
years later, the business Powell
founded, Global Medical
Instrumentation Inc., or GMI, is
still going strong online.
The
company, with headquarters in
Ramsey, remanufactures, sells and
services medical and scientific
instruments.
Powell, 49, started GMI with
grass-roots financing, including
credit cards. The company had one
investor, later bought out.
GMI's
remanufactured instruments typically
cost half what the manufacturer
charges for a new model and come
with the same warranty, said Powell,
who has a business degree from the
University of North Dakota in his
native state. Even at the discounted
price, a single piece of equipment
can fetch tens of thousands of
dollars or more.
The
equipment GMI sells typically gets
used in clinical analysis, chemical
analysis and biotech applications at
research universities, hospitals,
laboratories and private companies.
The privately held firm has
customers in more than 40 countries
plus such local clients as 3M,
Medtronic, the and the
University of Minnesota. Biotech
research hubs in Boston, San Diego,
San Francisco and Seattle also
account for many orders.
Staying visible
GMI
works hard to stay visible on the
Web, devoting one of its 14
employees to the task, said Tom
Fagrelius, GMI's vice president of
sales and marketing. As a result,
GMI often appears above manufacturer
sites when users search Google. Yet
as much as GMI depends on the Web,
one of its strengths is that it is
not a strictly virtual company.
"In
our business, you've got to have the
bricks and mortar too," Fagrelius
said. That distinguishes GMI from
many that have little more than
websites and post office boxes, he
said. GMI has a shop with engineers
and technicians who rebuild,
validate and document their work on
each instrument.
GMI,
which started as a click-to-order
site, now has salespeople to help
clients choose the right instrument.
Prices include training sessions for
customers who fly to Minnesota and
stay at GMI's expense while they
learn how to operate and maintain
their equipment.
Fagrelius, a Minneapolis native who
has a bachelor's degree in biology
and microbiology from the U of M,
worked as a researcher before he
went into scientific equipment sales
for large companies. One day he
stopped at GMI hoping to make a sale
when he realized he had stumbled
across a competitor. He and Powell
hit it off, and Fagrelius, 48,
joined GMI in 1999 to help improve
the company's Web technology.
"If
we were in the Stone Age of the
website when Tom came on, we moved
forward into the Rocket Age pretty
quickly," Powell said.
Mitch
Sanders, chief technology officer of
Boston-area start-up ECI Biotech, is
a longtime customer who calls GMI
"the best at what they do in the
business."
Said
Sanders: "The beauty of GMI is they
sell you equipment that is almost
brand-new, or [is] brand-new, and
they have a great ability to follow
up to make sure they service the
equipment they sell."
GMI
rented office space in Albertville
and Eagan before buying its
13,000-square-foot headquarters.
Powell and Fagrelius figured they
would have enough room to last the
decade. But they're already planning
to build additions that will double
or triple its space.
Powell's son, meanwhile, tired of
online card-selling after a few
months and moved on to other
hobbies.
The expert says: Mike Ryan,
director of the Small Business
Development Center at the University
of St. Thomas College of Business,
said GMI could face new competition
if equipment manufacturers move into
refurbishing and serving their
equipment the way the Ramsey firm
does.
"A
lot of times, manufacturers create
this after-market competition by
keeping prices so high," Ryan said.
"That goes along for a few years and
smart people like GMI take advantage
for a while. Then the manufacturers
realize there's money to be made and
they get into it."
GMI,
however, appears to have a strong
foothold, and customers often are
loyal to such companies even when
brand-name manufacturers try to
compete, Ryan said.
GMI -The Smart Choice:
-
Substantial
savings short term and long term
-
Proven
technology at savings of
40 to 80%
-
Working
capital freed up for more 'critical' demands
-
We stand by our products with an iron clad warranty
