MBiz

BIZ 'peg MAY 2014 10 | H e may not have slain any dragons. But an early encounter with some of TV's harshest critics sure lit a fi re in his belly. The antagonists in question are the titular investors of CBC pitch- fest Dragons' Den; their would-be slayer, local entrepreneur Jason Abbott, who got off to a somewhat inauspicious start while seeking capital for startup Oi Furniture in 2011. His product — modular furniture that can be reconfi gured, Tetris-style, into an endless series of permutations — was a hit, drawing the famously testy Dragons from their perches to try the scalable seating for themselves. But the pitch went up in smoke once Abbott revealed his retail price, a lofty sum that gave all four Dragons a serious case of sticker shock. "They loved the product, but they hated the price point," Abbott says of the episode, which nonetheless earned Oi over 15,000 website hits in just three days. "We generated sizable marketing awareness across the country … but what became very evident when the public voted with their wallets is they also agreed that our price point, for what we were marketing, was too expensive." Abbott took the Dragons' advice to heart, overhauling his product's design and manufacturing process until he was able to cut his price point in half. The company — which got its start when Cocoon Branding (now Clark-Huot) needed a product to showcase at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair — has of late switched its focus from retail to trade, making inroads with the event and hospitality industry, and drawing inquiries from a few of the world's most high-profi le companies. At a trade show in Chicago in 2011, Oi began discussions with retail giant Target — which was involved in philanthropic efforts to renovate libraries and hospitals across the U.S. — and McDonald's, whose reps considered Oi's cushy cubist setups (now known as the Cellular line) as an option for their re-branded restaurants. Abbott also came close with a company running roadshow events for Google, though ultimately, all three deals fell through. But he did make a pretty splashy debut at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where he provided seating for the Manitoba government's visitors pavilion, and in recent years has fi lled orders for Boeing in Maryland, Kid City in Winnipeg, the Gaynor Family Library in Selkirk, and residential customers across Canada and North America. The Cellular line's eco-friendly materials, ultra-modern design and easy-to-customize structure make it a perfect fi t for everything from conference centres to classrooms, play-spaces to party- rental outfi ts. And the product's reboot has resulted in a fl urry of interest from online retailers and installers, so much so that potential distributors are now telling Abbott he should consider raising his prices. That advice, of course, runs counter to the feedback he received on Dragons' Den — whose producers call Abbott at least once a year, wondering if he's ready for a "second chance" episode. While he's defi nitely interested in making a return trip one day, he'd rather wait until he can do so armed with $1 million or so in sales, and the ability to present a truly PIECES FALL INTO PLACE FOR OI FURNITURE by David Schmeichel SITTING PRETTY oi furniture Seats can be confi gured into any grouping. Photos courtesy of Oi Furniture MBiz_spring2014.indd Sec2:j MBiz_spring2014.indd Sec2:j 5/14/14 8:26:50 AM 5/14/14 8:26:50 AM

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