Name: CUBE printing company
Location: Ooltewah, off Hunter Road
Products/services: Gary Pathare and Puru Deo provide custom design, photography and printing services for clients interested in business cards, postcards, newsletters, fliers and posters. From complicated custom jobs requiring specific designs to simple printing tasks, their combined 23 years of experience in the printing business helps them get the job done, they say.
Age: Founded in May
Startup investment: $70,000
Target market: Businesses and individuals who need bulk printing services.
Biggest hurdle: Purchasing a commercial copy machine with the features and resolution necessary to carry out the printing tasks envisioned by Pathare and Deo was difficult, as the machines are both rare and expensive, they say.
Biggest reward: After going through the pains of setting up the business, finally having customers calling to ask for help with printing tasks is the reward for all the hard work, Deo said.
Challenges in the future: They plan to open a new office on Shallowford Road next year, which will entail additional expense and will consume time but will help them get more foot traffic.
Lesson learned: It’s better to be located downtown because it attracts more foot traffic than in a neighborhood.
Five-year goal: CUBE stands for Convert, Unite, Broadcast, Educate, so Pathare and Deo expect to expand the scope of their printing business into a multimedia enterprise within several years. “We don’t want to limit ourselves to printing,” Deo said.
Contact: 228-2866
– Compiled by staff writer Ellis Smith, esmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6315. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ellisthered.