Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

A group of about two dozen gathered at the Smoky Mountain Brewery in Turkey Creek to hear Ben Nibali, Founder of APTUS DesignWorks, share his entrepreneurial journey. In September 2007, Nibali left a secure position at a large corporation to launch his own innovative engineering and product design company.

He saw a market opportunity by recognizing how difficult it was to find a design and engineering firm that could deliver high-quality work at a reasonable price. This realization inspired him to venture out on his own and turn his vision into reality.

“The market had just hit its peak, and then it dropped, leading to what we now know as the 2008 recession,” Nibali recalled, acknowledging the uphill battle he faced in the company’s early years. “That taught me humility.”

From the beginning, Nibali focused on building the best possible team, and 18 years later, his team is a testament to that effort. Though it took time, Nibali emphasized that the company’s slow growth was intentional.

“In the history of our company, no one has ever left. We have 15 employees, and 14 have been with us for years,” Nibali said. “To many start-ups, that may sound like a failure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve built a team of dedicated people who excel at what they do.”

In addition to providing contract design and engineering services, Nibali and his team also work closely with start-ups, helping bring their big ideas to life.

One example Nibali shared involved a professional cabinet maker who was determined to streamline the cabinet painting process using mechanical engineering. Traditionally, painting cabinets required painting one side, waiting for it to dry, then flipping it over to paint the other side.

The cabinet maker envisioned a system where cabinets could be hung and mechanically sorted, making the process more efficient for the more than 30,000 cabinet shops in the U.S.

“Every one of those cabinet shops faced bottlenecks in the painting process,” Nibali said. “We helped him design a system that holds the wood at a specific angle, allowing spray paint to reach all sides and angles. It cut the painting time in half.”

Nibali noted that while this company was an outlier, not every innovation leads to millions in revenue. However, over the years, APTUS DesignWorks has collaborated with dozens of start-ups.

During his talk at the Innovation Crossroads’ Founder’s Forum, Nibali shared his seven elements for start-up success. While the founder may not embody all seven, someone on their team should.

Ben Nibali’s Seven Elements of Start-up Success:

1. Have a clear idea or vision for a market opportunity.
2. Be obsessed and somewhat overconfident that the idea will work. “Keep pushing it forward.”
3. Charisma: At least one person needs to be a magnet for business. “If the obsessed person has charisma, even better.”
4. Access to resources such as money, networks, or equipment.
5. Business competence: Someone who can strategically manage finances.
6. A strong salesperson: “Often, this is the obsessed person with charisma.”
7. Luck and timing.

Learn more about APTUS DesignWorks.

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