Entrepreneurial Development Center

The original DeerFortress™ inventor, Clay Chalupsky walked into the Entrepreneurial Development Center (EDC) in 2004 with his home-made deer repellent device. It was made of the plastic cups for icing that come with Pillsbury cinnamon roll dough, tea bag liners and dried blood, and Curt Nelson, EDC president and CEO, knew immediately that there was something special about his idea. The national deer population had grown consistently over the past 20 years, aggravating gardeners in nearly every part of the country. And existing repellents were not 100% effective, most were unpleasant, messy and hard to use.

But Chalupsky was retired from the lawn and garden industry and not interested in running his own business, and so the EDC helped him license his invention, match him up with a set of investors, a business plan and a management team to help him get his product to market.

"Last Spring was our first real debut into the national market after our successful local Test Market in 2005," says RepelIT President, Dave Bey. Bey was previously a VP of Sales for Altorfer, and was approached by the EDC to help lead the RepelIT team. "The first year was a learning year, but I'm proud of our team for getting as far into the channel as we did," he added.

With a unique, proven product, national ads in trade publications like Horticulture, Women's Day and Fine Gardening, and a seasoned hardware industry sales executive applied to the business, RepelIt was able to get the attention of 28 regional distribution centers (the likes of True Value and Do-it-Best stores), 15 wholesalers (including Foster's out of Waterloo and Emery Waterhouse out of Portland, ME), and 266 regional chains such as Mills and Orscheln.

"The coast-to-coast distribution we were able to secure in our first year is amazing. The regional distribution centers alone account for over 12,000 stores. We wouldn't have been able to do this without the guidance and support of the EDC. They've been involved in every facet of building the business from inception, it just wouldn't have happened without their help," says Bey.

"A big part of the reason that DeerFortress was able to get entrenched in the market so quickly was that we helped them get the appropriate research, plan, talent, leadership and funding to make it go," says EDC's Nelson.

"Our next focus is on new products. In the coming months, we'll be researching and testing new products to add to our offering," says Bey. "There's no doubt that the EDC will be instrumental in helping us navigate through that process," Bey adds.