He went to the state school of science in North Dakota. Twin Cities Business, in a profile of Walker, described him as a serial entrepreneur a phrase Walker didn't like because, he said, it sounded too much like "serial killer". Walker's search for a more comfortable mattress for his own use, according to the paper, led him to come up with the Sleep Number bed, whose air-supported mattress could be made harder or softer by dialing a controller. Today it's a publicly traded company.
According to Select Comfort's website, the beds are now sold through company-owned stores and online through www. Wold says that Select Comfort eventually got "too big for Bob," and that Walker moved on to found alternative energy company Bixby Energy Systems in According to Twin Cities, Walker had become frustrated by how much it was costing him to heat his home.
He got interested in efficient, high-tech stoves that produced heat by burning corn pellets. They were state of the art. They were selling them all over the country.
What went wrong at Bixby? Says Wold obliquely: "A lot of greedy factors got involved along the way. Bob was not one of them. The government's complaint says that Walker, after having been enjoined from trying to raise any more money for Bixby, continued to do so. It says, too, that he continued to try to run the company's affairs in secret, through surrogates. Finally, it accuses him of having engaged in witness tampering a federal offense by trying to influence the testimony of a person in an official proceeding.
Asked if Walker has any ongoing relationship with Select Comfort, Wold says no; "He sleeps on it, that's all. We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Seeking a better night's sleep, Minneapolis businessman Robert A. Walker designed a new mattress. On the outside, it looked like a conventional mattress, but the inside was filled with a series of adjustable air chambers instead of steel springs.
Walker spent more than a decade, working out of his garage, perfecting the air bed and recruiting friends to test it for comfort. Having worked for a mattress maker in the s, Walker approached bed manufacturers with the product, but they were not interested.
Stymied, Walker now had to put some other experience into play. During the s he had helped other inventors bring product to market. Walker sold his mattresses directly to department stores and other retail outlets, but they proved to be slow movers. First of all, retailers carried the mattresses of a number of name brand manufacturers, many with multimillion-dollar advertising budgets. Customers asked for those products by name. In addition, salespeople generally were accustomed to pitching low prices, not high customer benefits--Walker's new style of mattress appealed to higher-income people with back problems.
On the upside, the mattress received national attention through articles in Bedroom and Playboy magazines and as a prize offering on the 'Wheel of Fortune' game show.
On the other end of the spectrum, purchases by the U. Walker, in a February Star Tribune article, touted his mattress as an 'evolutionary step in bedding,' claiming it provided a better cushioning than either springs or water. Even though the founder remained confident in the quality of his product, the company itself was running out of air. Cash-starved Walker needed to sell more mattresses. When Walker realized that Minnesota-based NordicTrack had hit the jackpot through direct marketing, he started looking for backers to make the switch.
The cross-country ski exercise machines had cracked a venue traditionally confined to low-price items. Walker felt that his bed, which could be shipped entirely by UPS, would find market success this way as well. After several attempts, Walker finally sold the controlling interest in his company to a group of three venture capital firms. Lead investor Minnesota-based St.
Paul Venture Capital Inc. The new owners hired consumer products manager Mark L. Paul Venture Capital's Patrick A. Hopf recalled in a Twin Cities Business Monthly article. Ours is a product that features a totally new way of sleeping, and our whole marketing thrust is one featuring benefits. Ads hit national newspapers and magazines in November and produced an immediate growth spurt. The new management group realized that, despite the positive gains, about half its potential market just would not buy a bed sight unseen, regardless of informational videos and a day return policy.
Select needed some retail outlets. At first, upscale mall owners were reluctant to bring in a store selling a single brand of mattress: it just was not done. Beds were sold in furniture stores or department stores. The company opened a kiosk in a suburban St. Paul shopping center in The test run was a success--the kiosk drew hundreds of shoppers.
Additional venture capital money allowed Select to open more kiosks and small retail showrooms, including one in the gigantic Mall of America. Sales well exceeded that elusive million-dollar mark in At year end , the number of company-owned retail outlets reached 18, including kiosks.
Paul CityBusiness article. To support the growing retail side of the business, Select began looking for its first ad agency. Telemarketing and retail sales efforts were supported by strong word-of-mouth referrals.
Referrals accounted for ten percent of annual revenue. Paul Venture Capital--had been pumped into the company. Yet Select held less than one percent of the mattress market. Sealy, Simmons, Serta, and Spring Air brands controlled nearly 60 percent. Other air bed marketers were selling beds originally designed to hold water but then converted to air when the market peaked.
Eager to broaden awareness of its product, Select experimented with a number of marketing techniques. The company displayed beds at the Twin Cities international airport. Bed and breakfasts and small hotels used Select Comfort mattresses and offered customers the chance to view a video about the bed. There were infomercials and radio personality endorsements. Select Comfort 'road shows'--displays and presentations in hotels--tested the potential for retail outlets in other cities.
During and , Select made the move from a small entrepreneurial company to a large business. The board membership was indicative of the direction the company was heading. In addition to opening stores at a rapid pace, Select developed new products and line extensions, such as a wireless remote firmness control system and a lightweight mattress foundation.
Mid-year , Select opened its th store. The company held the number six spot on Inc. For the first time, retail matched direct sales, each at 45 percent; road shows brought in the remaining ten percent.
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