Grit gave duo's company an edge
Two entrepreneurs are honored for building Vortex Racing into a motorcycle parts business.
By JODIE TILLMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 5, 2007
ODESSA - When it started, Vortex Racing was a motorcycle parts maker without much motorcycle business. So to pay the bills, Vortex used its equipment to make arrowheads for an archery company. Lots and lots of arrowheads.
Not exactly the tools of extreme sport enthusiasts. But these days, nearly 10 years later, Vortex doesn't need to make arrowheads anymore.
Distributors' demands for everything from sprockets to handlebars have grown as Vortex made a name for itself. The company, which makes parts for many leading motorcycle brands, sponsors its own racing team and has seen its name featured in two PlayStation games and in the 2004 biker movie Torque, starring rapper Ice Cube.
Earlier this year, Vortex moved into a 22,500-square-foot facility on Gunn Highway - more than twice the size of its former space at West Pasco Industrial Park.
The company's steady growth caught the attention of the Pasco Economic Development Council, which Tuesday night named Vortex a manufacturer of the year.
Vortex was started by Matthew Griffin, 38, and Daniel Geberth, 36, two childhood friends from New Jersey who grew up racing motorcycles and dreaming of starting a business in the industry.
After high school, Geberth left for Florida, where he got work in a machine shop. He recalls telling someone, "Bike's in my van. I'm going to Florida." Griffin followed about three years later.
Not a lot of company executives wear T-shirts and shorts to work, or cherish their resumes of broken bones Griffin broke seven bones while racing; Geberth broke at least 20, but the pair said their youthfulness has turned out to be an asset when dealing with motorcycle parts distributors.
"Sometimes they didn't take us seriously," Griffin said. "But now they like that we're younger. They know we'll be around."
A decade ago, Vortex was the very picture of a young, struggling company built on borrowed shop equipment and crazy hours. The executives cold-called officials at motorcycle parts distributors, sometimes following them into elevators at trade shows, to get their business. Their fax machine and telephone - with a company answering machine recording by an ex-girlfriend - sat in Geberth's two-bedroom condo in New Port Richey.
"People would call there thinking they were getting a big factory," Geberth said.
They plugged away, one small order at a time, with about $10,000 worth of equipment they eventually purchased. One of their first big breaks: a request for $17,000 worth of sprockets from a Michigan distributor. Along with a handful of employees, the pair pulled a couple of all-nighters to finish building the parts before they shipped them north.
Shipping, in this case, was a Ford pickup truck owned by Geberth's father and driven by Griffin. Griffin remembers driving the order to Michigan in one day, picking up their check and then heading back.
He struggled to stay awake on the return trip. He held the bottom of an apple juice bottle to one eye, then the other, hoping it'd keep him awake.
Suddenly, on a road in northern Georgia, the truck hit ice. It spun around and around and glided in front of a semitrailer truck before coming to a stop on the side of the road. Geberth's father, who had been asleep in the passenger's seat, woke up and announced, "I'll drive."
Their business plan is a little less risky these days, especially to their personal safety. (For one thing, all orders are now shipped via UPS or FedEx.) They've got 30 employees, ranging from machinists to engineers. They've got room to grow. And they've got more than a million dollars worth of equipment.
And those machines provide another visible sign of how far Vortex has come. Back in the early days, Griffin and Geberth had to hand stamp "Vortex" onto each part they made. These days, the company name is engraved.
Jodie Tillman can be reached at (727) 869-6247 or jtillman@sptimes.com.
FAST FACTS:
2007 Pasco Economic Development Council Winners:
Manufacturing, Category I (less than 36 employees)
Vortex Racing, Odessa
Manufacturing, Category II (36 or more employees)
U.S. Signs & Letters Inc., Hudson
Service Distribution Industry, Category I
ABC Supply Inc., Hudson
Service Distribution Industry, Category II
Patriot Bank, Trinity
Technology Award:
Datamentors Inc., Wesley Chapel
New Business Award:
Freedom Sales & Marketing, Odessa
Special Contribution Award:
Florida Hospital Zephyrhills
Special Recognition Award:
Dade City Business Center