Chase Van Buuren started his business, Limitless Manufacturing, seven years ago in his home garage. He has since seen great success in making unique truck accessories and has expanded his team and manufacturing facility.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Limitless MFG
January 15, 2022 - 12:03 PM
A Kelowna manufacturing business that started in a garage is exploding in popularity, partially thanks to an appearance on the popular Canadian reality show Dragons' Den even though the owner turned down the offered deals.
Limitless Manufacturing builds high-end snowmobile decks and tonneau covers to haul power sport vehicles, like quads and snowmobiles. The tonneau cover keeps rain and snow out of the box of a pickup truck and can have up to 2,000 lbs on top, while still having storage underneath.
Chase Van Buuren started Limitless seven years ago, in his home's garage.
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“I first started as a power sports technician, I was into power sports, and I was always creative, playing in the shop and tinkering,” Van Buuren said.
Van Buuren had always wanted to build his own truck, one thing led to another, and he eventually got his own design software and started slowly building his brand.
“Five years in, I was still working out of my house garage, and working out the details of the product,” Van Buuren said.
Eventually, he started selling the parts he was making to dealerships, and the business quickly snowballed.
In November, Van Buuren pitched Limitless Manufacturing on Dragons' Den where he asked for $1 million for 15% of the company.
All five dragons were impressed with the products, and the projected sales and profit margins. Arlene Dickinson and Wes Hall offered Van Buuren the $1 million and asked for 10% of royalties until they got three times their capital back.
However, when Van Buuren pitched his business to the dragons, his manufacturing facility was already in the works, and he had a significant dealership chain already established.
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“I had applied to Dragons' Den the year before, but because it was postponed because of COVID, we had natural growth,” Van Buuren said.
After filming, the inventory was bought out with large orders coming in, and Van Buuren ended up not needing the dragon’s help and declined their offer.
“I didn’t need the money, I had nowhere to put it because I couldn’t buy materials even if I wanted them,” Van Buuren said. “Suppliers were saying it was going to be at least six months before new materials would come in, I had everything I could get, and I couldn’t even buy more.”
Although Van Buuren didn’t accept the deal, he did see an increase in tonneau cover sales after the episode aired.
Since then, he's been doing everything he can to get more materials and ensure customers receive their products quickly.
“We’re definitely fighting the supply chain the most,” he said.
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Van Buuren attributes to the quick success of his company to in-house manufacturing.
“We have no downtime waiting for outsourced work, we brought everything in-house, kept the quality of work up, hired the right people, and they made it happen,” Van Buuren said.
Despite having so much success, getting to this point has not been easy, as Van Buuren has had to overcome many challenges, from material shortages, bottlenecks with shipping, and expanding his company at the beginning of the pandemic.
“It has been a constant struggle, but our big growth years were during COVID,” Van Buuren said. “COVID has accelerated our growth because everyone uses our products to get out and explore and transport their toys.”
Although there have been challenges, seeing the excitement customers have about the product, makes the sleepless nights worth it for Van Buuren.
“It’s had its ups and down’s, it comes with a lot of stress, but it’s everything I had hoped for at the same time,” he said.
Going forward, Van Buuren is working on products for the upcoming season and plans to expand his team.
“We’re working a minimum of 14 hours a day, six to seven days a week. My team stuck by me the whole way, and I owe them a lot of credit,” Van Buuren said. “We’re trudging along, and we’re doing everything we can to meet demand, we’re a small company.”
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