Yesterday I was watching "The TurnAround" on CNN. For those who don't know, its a quasi-reality show that gets behind the scenes at small companies to help them take their businesses to the next level (or "go clipless"). The show profiled the small bike manufacturing company Independent Fabrication (IF). Now I'm going to assume that most readers of this site are aware of Independent Fabrication through an advertisement in a magazine or simply due to your enthusiasm in the sport of cycling, but did you know that the company only has 13 employees? Including manufacturing!
You probably also know that they are a high-end niche bike manufacturer, but do you know where their focus lies? Mountain or road? Steel or titanium? These are exactly the types of questions the show tries to highlight for the employees at IF to help them focus on building the business, in addition to the great bikes they already build.
The show airs on CNN on Saturdays at 11am. This is the second time I have happened to catch this episode so I think it is one of those shows that CNN recycles often when there is little or no news on weekends or late evening.
You do get a feel for the manufacturing process and the care that goes into each of IF's frames in addition to the business issues encountered by the leadership of the company. The company is clearly at a crossroads where they need to focus on being a business with a long-term growth strategy or they may implode. By the end of the show it seemed clear that IF is ready to begin making tougher business decisions and start to focus the business. For example, they made the decision that one of the keys to growth is to focus on advanced materials such as titanium instead of steel.
A look at the IF catalog shows some pretty sweet road bikes. I'm a little less certain about the value proposition of the mountain bikes compared with other less costly options out there. If I were the product manager of the mtb line I might think about focusing on singlespeeds and 29ers. At least until the company invents a unique rear suspension design - instead of relying upon a generic 3rd party option.
Did anyone else catch the show?
