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It took a little more than two years for two Durango entrepreneurs to go from an idea generated during a weekend water-skiing on Navajo Lake to sales of their product, more functional and aesthetically pleasing boat fenders and dock bumpers, on Amazon.<\/p>\n
Impact CBS Inc.<\/a>, formed after that water-skiing outing in summer 2017 when Courtney Gates and Brian Slaughter began searching for boat fenders better than the existing awkward bulbous contraptions and discovered \u201cthere really wasn\u2019t anything better on the market,\u201d said Slaughter.<\/p>\n Gates and Slaughter think they are now ready to handle an onslaught of orders from the online retailing giant, after moving into a 2,400-square-foot manufacturing facility earlier this year on Animas View Drive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe make all our products ourselves, we have the equipment, we have the space for growth,\u201d Gates said.<\/p>\n Slaughter, who has a background in the manufacturing industry, currently leads production of the fenders and bumpers, but Impact plans to add three to four employees by spring 2020 to handle manufacturing duties.<\/p>\n \u201cWe realized we need to focus on sales, marketing and distribution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So far, Impact has had $60,000 in sales and plans to double that amount by the end of the year, with a push into wholesale and Christmas sales \u2013 led by a concentrated marketing effort on social media along with going live on Amazon.<\/p>\n Gates said the couple looked at manufacturing sites in Mancos and Aztec that might be more affordable. But in the end, taking into consideration travel time and weather conditions, they decided to keep manufacturing in Durango.<\/p>\n \u201cBrian has lived here for 32 years. We have kids in the schools. It\u2019s home. It feels good to grow an industry here and to employ people,\u201d Gates said.<\/p>\n Impact, an alumni of the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs<\/a>, is currently raising capital to expand its manufacturing capability, product development, marketing, distribution and wholesale operation.<\/p>\n A goal of $250,000 in capital has been set and Impact currently has commitments for $110,000 already, Slaughter said.<\/p>\n