Business question for Mr. Ethan Becker

D

Doc8404

Joined
Oct 6, 2013
Messages
131
I apologize if it seems inappropriate to ask you a business question on bladeforums, and I certainly won't take it personally if you decline to answer. I am a big supporter of Becker knives and am in awe of the loyal customer following you have built. Given the originality of your designs, your business acumen, and your dedication to customer service, I am curious as to why you have chosen to license your designs all these years rather than manufacture them yourself? I ask because I am a budding entrepreneur/inventor (nothing even closely related to knives or anything KaBar or Becker produce so not a potential competitor...I can't even sharpen anything other than a zero degree scandi so I certainly can't design a blade) and will soon be faced with the decision of licensing my designs to a larger company or attempting to manufacture/market/sell myself and begin the long process of building my personal brand. Anyway, if you are bored and would like to chitchat about business I would love to hear your personal experience on this. If this is in some way against forum rules, I apologize to the mods for my oversight. I am in no way trying to advertise a business or sell anything, just trying to mooch some knowledge from a successful businessman.

Thank you in advance,
Doc
 
not answering for the Boss, but knowing his history, and in general, a quick guess might be

o started a company and did this very thing
o it's a full-time job!
o antics!
o work!
o selling, marketing, more!
o your time is used up...
o whoa

licensing takes the pressure off you to work that hard. a company like KaBar *breathes* manufacture.

KaBar also happens to hire some very talented engineers and designers too, so they have it all. name brand Cults are a special bonus.

plus they have distribution, and dealers, and the whole deal.

partnerships work.

a proper gentleman of leisure ideally can find a good balance point.

when you're starting out though, chances are you have to make a brand SOMEHOW first. a tv show. a skillset. a book. making things.

if you can leverage yourself up all the way, more power to ya.

licensing also doesn't necessarily have to be an exclusive thing.

also, if you don't have a good lawyer/contracts, licensing is like giving your stuff away for free. cough.

but most of the above is basic "common sense" business stuff, more or less, eh?
 
Y'know if he ever reopened to making his own he'd have a bunch of Beckerheads signing on to work for steel and booze.
 
No reason he couldn't do both--imagine an Ethan Becker custom shop... Get your very own custom Becker designs made out of different steels and handle materials, custom sheaths, etc.

Another reason to license, of course, is that Ethan seems to be committed to bringing a quality all-American made product at an affordable price, and, from personal experience, that's very hard to do, particularly if you want to get paid for your time more than a few cents here and there. It's a LOT easier if you've got access to mass-production facilities and such.
 
A Becker custom shop? As if I don't have enough trouble buying multiple blades already! :D

But seriously, it would be awesome!
 
Ethan can't grind worth a damn.

Been there, done that.

Now, he does designs for folks with CNC machinery.

Moose
 
Starting a new facility to meet the demand for Becker knives would be a vast undertaking. Setting up millions of dollars worth of machinery, hiring and training a large and highly- skilled production staff, running a marketing team, developing a distribution network... that takes a heckuva lotta time, work and capital.

Ka-Bar has already done all that :)
 
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