Meet Dan Becker | CEO & Lead Design Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dan Becker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dan, what do you attribute your success to?
Being in tune with our market via social media and always providing value to the customer is what made our brand so successful. On top of those fundamentals and just as important for brand success are good business ethics with business-to-business interaction, top notch customer service (this is more important now more than ever in the social media age), innovation in product development and quickly responding to changes to the market demand. Also, being that we are a 3D-printing company, this allowed us to pivot through the market quickly when we needed new products fast or when we needed to make changes to existing products as the market deemed necessary. We manufacture everything in-house with our own 3D printing technology, and do not heavily rely on third party suppliers for our production, this allowed us to grow quickly with little reliance on a long logistics chain that could stunt growth.

What should our readers know about your business?
I started my career as a Mechanical Engineer, I graduated from FIU with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in early 2008 and started working in the turbine engineering industry in West Palm Beach as a fluids and heat transfer specialist. This was a great job, it had great prospects, but the structure of living in a 9-5 world was not for me. It took me another 7 years to finally take the plunge into true entrepreneurship. The plunge was gradual, it didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t wake up one day and have an epiphany and decided I was going to quit and start a business. I always wanted my own business, I always felt the fire of entrepreneurship in my blood, by the time I said goodbye to my career as a full time engineer working in industry, I was already in the state of mind that there was no going back. From 2008 to about early 2015 I learned a lot about engineering, production, design, client relationships, management, logistics and operations. I took mental notes all the time, every day, at every company I worked for. “This is how you do this” or “this is definitely not the way to do that”, what ever experience I had, I mentally logged it and paid close attention when working for other people. I knew that one day I would need to make these decisions and I kept all these experiences close to my psyche and ready to implement. Late 2014 and early 2015 I had left my part time job as an engineering consultant for a small company in Jupiter and took the final plunge into entrepreneurship. That is to say, my only income was from my business and nothing else. This was more of a psychological burden as any entrepreneur will tell you. Being ‘on your own’ for the first time is one of the scariest feelings in the world if you are not used it. However, I knew it was for me. Although at the time my income was drastically lower from what I could earn as a full time engineer, I knew this is what I really wanted. “The money will come later”, I said. What I enjoyed the most was having customers tell me that they loved my product and that they want to tell everyone about it. That is what entrepreneurship meant to me, providing value to the world and to society, more than I ever could if I was working full time for a large company. Don’t get me wrong, working for a large company, with benefits, structure and safety has its clear benefits. I just wasn’t the type to be excited enough about that type of lifestyle to want to stay. I needed to feel the purpose that I was looking for, and it came down to the customer relationship and brand building that really defined my vision.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d say Wynwood is a pretty interesting place for people who are not from the area. It is very urban, has a lot of good night life and plenty of restaurants and sights to see. The urban artwork is really amazing and so is the food. I would also probably say a visit to Key West is definitely a must-do for someone coming here and visiting, there is just no other place like it. The architecture, the colors, the ocean, the island-life, it is about a 4 hour drive from where I am but not a boring drive at all!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank a few people among many, who have helped us along the way. This is by no means the entire list, but a condensed version and I hope we can all recognize these people for their amazing effort, advice, talent and support through my journey as an entrepreneur. David Packouz has always been a great supporter and inspiring role model for our mission. He is a local South Floridian who grew a business from the ground up and has inspired me to do the same. His input has always been ‘real’ and ‘to the point’ which is what aspiring entrepreneurs need most. When I needed direction, he gave it to me. Lynn Garcia had a crucial role in the early development of my business as our graphic designer, web developer and marketing consultant. Her talent as a true artist as well tech savvy web developer had slingshot us forward in our early days. Stan Sharenson and Peter Dunn are two people who always cared and nurtured our brand when times were tough, their mentorship was paramount to our growth. We couldn’t have made it here without their insight. A lot of people have been supporters of ours along the way, and it would be an injustice if I don’t at least mention that this was a team effort and many many dozens of other people have contributed to the brand success.

Website: www.velossatechdesign.com
Instagram: velossa_tech
Facebook: velossatechdesign

Image Credits
Paul Shahata Chris Cleveland Emily Rodriguez