In a 2006 article, the Vancouver Business Journal first introduced you to Ryan Moor, a 24-year-old entrepreneur from Battle Ground with a screen printing supply company called Ryonet. We told you how in the company’s first full year (2005), it produced more than $4 million in revenue.
Fast forward to 2011. With 75 employees and three locations, Ryonet Corporation now operates at approximately $25 million per year in gross revenue. Not too shabby for a company that was born out of Moor’s desire to print t-shirts for his band.
“The first year was kind of weird because we started out in a house,” recalled Moor. “We really had no idea what we were doing.”
Today, through the company’s website (silkscreeningsupplies.com), Ryonet provides screen printing supplies, equipment (some of which is manufactured in-house) and training to an ever-expanding customer base that’s comprised of everyone from hobbyists wanting to print their own t-shirts for fun, to professional apparel companies like Nike.
“Our company’s goal is to supply our customers with not only the tools, supplies and the equipment they need, but also training and the support to make them successful,” said Moor. “If we can help our customers succeed, they’re going to be more loyal, they’re going to come back to us more and they’re going to buy more stuff because they’re more successful using it. That’s what has really helped our company grow.”
And grow the company has. Fresh off of Ryonet’s biggest month ever in terms of sales (March), Moor said his team is currently tracking 30 percent growth year over year – a number that’s actually down from the 38 percent mark the screen printing supplier reached in 2010.
Moor attributes much of his company’s rapid growth to superior customer service and the ability to manufacture and offer better quality products at a lower price than the competition. Additionally, he said Ryonet has been able to lean on its creative marketing team, which has used a number of venues to get the word out, including Youtube.
“Two years ago we had one person in marketing. Now we have six people in marketing,” he said. “Focusing on marketing has been huge.”
In November, Moor and his team will relocate to a much larger, 40,000-square-foot facility, a few blocks away from the company’s current spot in Orchards. Moor said the move is long overdue, given the company’s growth.
“It [the new location] is going to change our company in a big way and our team is very excited about it,” said Moor. “Our leadership team is a little scared because it’s a big difference in overhead, but it’s kind of taking one of those moves where you see an opportunity and you just go for it.”
That kind of “constantly looking for opportunities” mentality is critical to the future success of Ryonet, according to Moor.
“This is still the ground floor,” he said. “We don’t plan to stay where we’re at. We’re planning to be a huge company one day. So we’re using this as a continually rebuilding stage and a reformulation stage – learning how to do business at the next level so we can take our business from a $20-25 million a year company to a $100, $500 million, maybe even a $1 billion a year company one day.”
