washington business
8 a. m. ben marsh and mark estep:
Scout Systems
Ben Marsh and Mark Estep are the co-founders and owners of cloud-based Scout Systems in Kent. Mark has two sons— one age 2 and the other born in June.
Scout Systems makes video game-style software and hardware that helps manufacturers bridge the skilled labor gap. It monitors the interaction between the operator and equipment and gives plant owners and operators detailed, easy-to-understand data to uncover opportunities to boost the facility’ s production capacity. The goal is to support managers with information to assess where investments are needed, which can be staff training, proper tooling or processes, to help the operator do their job safer and more efficiently.
“ The product is not about spying on the operators; it’ s about fully understanding where operators find challenges and address them,” Ben explained.
In 2008, Ben called Mark with an idea for a form of data collection that he hadn’ t seen before. They came up with the concepts, but the project fell flat for a while— Mark went back to the business world and Ben went back to engineering.
In 2014, the best friends reconnected on the idea, built a hardware prototype, put together a business plan and“ jumped ship” from their jobs to start the business.
Like many small-business owners, they got the business off the ground by raising money from friends and family.
the day to day: juggling life, growing the business
Mark and Ben have early mornings and arrive at their modest office at 8 a. m., both with coffee and a sack lunch in hand.
Mark also has his 2-year-old son in tow. The grandparents are waiting in the parking lot for the hand off they make each day. They take care of their grandson while Mark and his wife are at work— she works in Seattle and takes the bus each day. The child care help is one important element that makes running a business possible.
Once in the office, they fire up their computers and put their lunches in the small refrigerator in the corner.
They quickly get to work at the table situated between their work stations. They go over a checklist of software upgrades one customer requested, in what order they should be tackled and how soon they should be available in the cloud as systems updates.
The discussion turns to customer feedback about the speed of software updates. Ben and Mark prepared and delivered the updates in a timely fashion, but it was a little sooner than the company was prepared to implement.
They agree that the“ quick turnaround” issue is something to keep in mind for the future.
A sales call at 9:45 a. m. means some research on the potential customer. What does the company make? Where are they located? Is Scout Systems a good fit? Mark pulls up the company’ s website. Looks like it could be a good fit, but Ben jots down notes and questions for the call.
They work with a programmer located in South Carolina, so they check their emails for feedback on new features a customer requested.
The day is planned— and full— and it’ s only 8:30 a. m. And, they always take work home, which Ben calls“ a bad habit.”
the business plan
All great businesses start with a great idea, but the glue that holds everything together is a strong business plan.
“ I went to business school and I always felt like a business plan was the core thing you needed,” Mark said, adding that the plan started out as 20 pages. They quickly realized they needed to narrow it down.
They decided to focus on their target market for the product first, with the understanding that they would not be out on a national stage anytime soon.
“ We had to begin by focusing on our local market, specifically businesses in the Pacific Northwest,” Mark explained.
They decided on the best customer fit— manufacturers that first and foremost understand the importance of data and how it can improve their process, and companies that make a host of products and have a lot of human interaction in the manufacturing process.
36 association of washington business