EMERGING ENTREPRENEURS: Rusch brothers were destined to become entrepreneurs

Rich Palzewic

Staff

September 5, 2023

GREEN BAY – As they say, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

These words, Dayne Rusch said, can be used to best describe him and his brother Dylan, co-founders of Vyper Industrial – located at 2545 Larsen Road – in Green Bay.

Dayne said Vyper, a high-quality industrial shop products producer, is best known for its chairs for welders, mechanics, detailers and other blue-collar workers.

“Both of my parents were entrepreneurs,” Dayne, who serves as the company’s CEO, said. “My mom owned a restaurant, and my dad started a company called Rusch Machine and Design. He ran that for 20-25 years before selling it about five years ago.”

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Dayne said he had a burning desire to build a business around products that solved major problems.

“I just didn’t know what that product would be,” he said.

Dayne said some of his father’s experiences with his business served as inspiration for his own.

“My dad has always been a shop guy, working out of his garage and developing new products – he’s one of those freak engineers,” Dayne said. “One of his biggest complaints was the chair he was using. He’d tip over, his back and knees were hurting – he was getting older.”

From there, Dayne said his dad built a heavy-duty chair to help address his aches and pains.

“He pieced together this chair – it’s in the lobby at our current location,” he said. “He used it for a while and loved it. When my brother and I saw the chair in his garage, it got us thinking about the huge market potential. We redesigned the chair to make it look cooler, took some photos/video and my buddy helped us build a website.”

Before they knew it, Dayne said Vyper slowly began to gain traction – officially selling its first chair in July 2020.

“We sent all of my dad’s contacts a free chair and told them to let us know what they thought – they loved it, too,” he said. “Though my dad had sold Rusch Machine, Dylan was still working there, and I was putting these chairs together full-time out of my apartment. I was maybe getting one or two orders a week when I first started.”

Dayne Rusch

Dayne said he still remembers Vyper’s first customer.

“It was an online (order to a) guy named David,” he said. “I called my dad, and I was almost crying. I was excited because someone saw the value in what we were doing and was willing to spend his hard-earned money on one of our chairs. Our second customer was a guy named Phil – he bought eight chairs for his ranch in Texas after he saw us at a trade show.”

Still working out of his apartment, Dayne said he did anything to make a sale.

“I’d be driving home and would get a phone call from someone who wanted a chair right now – I needed the sale,” he said. “I’d pull over, pull out my computer, find a Wi-Fi hotspot on my phone and take the order. I couldn’t wait 30 minutes to get home because maybe during that time, the customer might have changed their mind.”

As things progressed, that’s when Dayne, now 28, said he had a conversation with his brother about the future of Vyper.

“I said to him, ‘Do you want to hop on board? It could be a big risk, and I know it will be a massive pay cut,’” he said. “He had recently gotten married but had no kids, so his overhead was low, too. Dylan said, ‘if I don’t jump in and this thing grows, I’ll kick myself… let’s do it.’ He left a great-paying job to make nothing.”

Dayne said a big reason their head-first leap into entrepreneurship was because of the trust their dad had in them and the product.

“He believed in what we were doing and the product,” he said.

Continued growth
With Dylan serving as president, Dayne said they moved operations from his apartment to the old Woodworker’s Depot off Oneida Street in Green Bay.

“It was a 3,000-square-foot facility we rented,” he said. “It had no walls, two offices and was super small. We were brand new, and our landlord didn’t even want to rent to us because he didn’t think we’d make it. That didn’t tear us down – it gave us the motivation to prove him wrong.”

At this point, Dayne said Vyper produced about two or three chairs per week – and that maybe bumped up to 20 per week during Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

Dayne said as business picked up, the old facility got so congested that they had to move the foam used in the chair-making process outside in the morning so they could work and back into the space at the end of the day.

“It got to the point where we couldn’t operate anymore,” he said. “We stayed at that location for about 18 months.”

Dayne said the need for more space also coincided with Vyper getting a “huge order” from a lawnmower manufacturer.

“They wanted 1,000 chairs as a gift to their employees,” he said. “That helped us build the confidence to look for a new building – there’s no way we could produce that many chairs in the old facility.”

Vyper chairs offer comfort and stability by incorporating a lower backrest, four-inch caster wheels, a solid rail and a cushioned seat. Submitted Photo

As luck would have it, Dayne said shortly thereafter he received a call from a Vyper vendor one day on his way home – a call that eventually led to Vyper’s relocation to its current location on Larsen.

“He gave me the address, and I drove by,” he said. “We went from 3,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet. I was like, ‘No way,’ but it was a risk we had to take. We looked at building after building and nothing worked for us or was already occupied. My brother and dad both said, ‘it’s way too big.’”

The self-proclaimed risk-taker in the family, Dayne said he knew “this was what we needed.”

Dayne said the move to Larsen Road forced Vyper to get more sales.

“We’re at 45,000 square feet, but if we look at a building that’s 200,000 square feet, we’ll be saying the same thing,” he said. “Is it too big? Probably. But that would force us to work harder. Too many businesses get complacent and get to a point of comfort, they’re making money and don’t want to go further.”

Dayne said Vyper, which currently employs about 35, produces about 60-70 chairs per day.

“Some days we’re close to 100,” he said. “On Black Friday or Cyber Monday, we’re doing like 300 per day. The new goal is 1,000 chairs per day.”

Today, Dayne said they still take risks – which is par for the course as a business owner.

“But our risks today are more calculated – our risks back then were more for survival,” he said.

The chairs
Dayne said Vyper has two areas it works in to sell chairs.

“We sell direct to the consumer – online orders, etc. – and business to business, which solely goes to larger contractors,” he said. “Jay Leno has our chairs, as does professional wrestler Bill Goldberg – he has 10 of our chairs in his garage in Texas. We’ve also done work with Donut Media, SpaceX, Rolls-Royce, Hendrick Motorsports (Chase Elliott, NASCAR) and Chip Fuse.”

Television host, writer and comedian Jay Leno displays one of his Vyper chairs. Submitted Photo

Dayne said the process to develop the chair might be considered backward to what other companies do.

“We initially didn’t look at how much we’d charge for a chair,” he said. “Instead of making the cheapest option, we created a bullet point list of the problems people face when using an inadequate chair. We made a chair to fix those problems and then priced it after.”

Those problems include back and knee pain, instability and tipping, Dayne said.

“Our (automotive, detailing and welding) chairs offer stability, comfort and relieve back and knee pain,” he said. “The lower backrest forces you to sit up straight and helps improve your posture. There are five, four-inch caster wheels, a thick comfortable seat and a heavy-duty rail. Having five casters helps prevent tipping and lets you travel over rougher stuff.”

Besides the spiffy look and feel, Dayne said the chairs are 100% American-made.

“Everything is sourced in the United States,” he said. “Maybe 40% of the chairs are sourced outside of our shop locally. We don’t manufacture the legs – they are shipped to us. We make the rail and seat and assemble everything here. We like to say we could throw a rock to all of our vendors – they are that close.”

For more information on Vyper Industrial, visit vyperindustrial.com.

Vyper Energy
As they previously mentioned, the Rusch brothers are always looking for a solution to a problem.

Dylan’s Type 1 diabetes sparked the duo’s interest in a new potential market – energy drinks.

Two months ago, the brothers launched Vyper Energy about two months ago.

Vyper Energy – an energy drink – contains no artificial ingredients and contains all nine essential amino acids, Dylan said.

Dylan Rusch

“This has been a two-year process,” he said. “While we were building Vyper Industrial, putting in 14-15 hours per day, we needed caffeine. We’d drink these (other) energy drinks that claimed to be zero-sugar, zero-carb, etc. We were seeing negative effects on our body – mood swings, loss of sleep. We researched the ingredients and found they were garbage.”

After drinking one of the big-brand energy drinks, Dylan said his blood sugar would spike.

“Even though they claimed to be sugar-free – they use all these artificial ingredients and sweeteners acting as sugar,” he said. “I’d then come crashing down. Vyper Energy is made by people who care. When you drink Vyper Energy, you get a slow burst of energy, but then your body slowly burns it off – you don’t get these massive spikes.”

Dylan said all the ingredients are designed in-house.

“We hired a U.S. vet named Chris to help,” he said. “He went to school for nutrition and we told him, ‘We want you to help us formulate the cleanest energy drink on the market.’ That’s exactly what he did. We source all the ingredients and ship them to the co-packer, who blends them into a can and puts a lid on. You can order from VyperEnergy.com, and we are slowly working on distribution in the Green Bay/Appleton area.”

If Vyper Energy takes off like Dayne thinks it will, he said they’ll have to look for additional space.

“We’ll probably have to find a new building just for Vyper Energy,” he said.

Vyper Fest ‘23
Dayne said on Sept. 30, Vyper is hosting “Vyper Fest ‘23.”

“We hope it becomes an annual event,” he said. “There will be a massive car show here at the facility in the parking lot. There will be some awesome prizes for first, second and third place and awards. We’re also having private welding and detailing classes, a burn-out pit, food trucks, beverages and two local bands starting at 4:30 p.m. We’re also bringing in the Nashville artist ‘Our Last Night.’ We’re hoping to have a couple thousand attendees.”

The event will go from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit VyperFest.com.