Sketch and Etch leaned on its peers in tough times to unlock a 700% revenue spike

Co-founded in 2015 by Ash Bent and Tash Craven, neon sign-making business Sketch and Etch has since expanded far and wide, delivering Australian-manufactured, custom-ordered signage for some of the biggest brands on the planet.

But in April 2020 when revenue dropped by 80%, Bent was fearful of the fate of the company’s 12 employees.

From that low point, it has since bounced back by 700%, as a successful expansion in the US supercharged its revenue growth and scale, with 70 people now employed by the Geelong-founded business, according to Bent.

But none of that would have been possible without contemporaries to lean on, be inspired by, and share solutions with, says Bent, who is a member of the Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO), a network of businesses with a minimum turnover of $1 million.

“It’s easy to get overwhelmed and stressed when that happens,” Bent said.

“Having a network like EO was amazing, I could lean on some other owners that I admired, take inspiration, motivation from them, rather than feeling crushed.”

In EO, entrepreneurs are grouped with 8-10 other businesses to find the support that can be lacking as solo founders and get specific examples of how their peers solved the same problems they face.

It was having a network of peers that turned a “random thought” of expanding into the US into action, Bent says.

“Being able to have open conversations with other business leaders, get connections, and build out the network has allowed me to do this.”

Building the business locally first was crucial for their overseas success, according to Bent, who says Australians have high standards of authenticity and strong ‘BS’ filters.

“We have customers that you have to tick a lot of boxes for,” explained Bent.

“Once you tick that box, you come over to the US and your market grows from 25 million to 350 million. If you’re already delivering at a high standard, it can put you at the front of the game.”

Bent says it comes down to focus, and zeroing in on what the company is doing that is different, constantly asking: how is it offering value, solving a problem for the customer, and setting up systems and processes set up to support that?

“How do we ensure that when we drop the ball, we own it, and make sure we’re doing everything we can to fix it?” asked Bent.

Sketch and Etch can boast to be the only official supplier of LED neons for Marvel, one of the biggest IP properties on the planet.

Bent says the company’s success is partly from standing on the shoulders of giants, letting him get the business to where it is in such a short period of time.

“There are a lot of amazing people in EO, who have achieved a lot of great things, and everyone is so willing to share, and always wants to look at helping each other out.”

That network of peers helped him overcome the biggest sticking points of the US expansion — how litigious the country can be and how complicated the tax system is to work out.

“A lot of businesses believe it’s too hard to go there,” said Bent.

“They are just opportunities and challenges that we need to overcome, just like we have in many other parts of our business, regardless of where we’re operating beforehand.”

Speaking to peers about how they address their issues made all the difference, even when they’re in entirely different sectors.

“If we listed down all the problems in our business that we have, all our challenges, you’re going to find the list is similar,” said Bent.

“When you’re not all in the same industry, you get views on the same issues that are completely different, which gets you out of the weeds.”

Everything old is new again

If you’re familiar with the classic neon signs of the 80s, you would remember the weird buzzing noises they make, how easily the glass could break, the need to replace the gas, and the high amount of electricity they drew, turning into heat.

Now, the technology is LED-based, something Sketch and Etch has capitalised on.

“Modern technology has given us a different take on it where they use 90% less power, they don’t generate any heat,” said Bent.

The glass has been replaced by a silicone jacket, making the signs significantly easier to ship across the world without units getting damaged in transit, something Sketch and Etch has taken advantage of.

As for the most challenging question that he’s ever been asked by his peers, he says it’s: “What is your limit?”

“Having gone from running a reasonably successful business to having that industry seemingly shut down overnight and everything we faced over the last years, Sketch & Etch has been able to develop into more than I ever imagined possible,” said Bent.

“Having a true experience of ‘the sky’s the limit’ is pretty damn insane but it’s an adventure and a challenge I’m keen to be taking on.”