Your Interviews - Dec 2009

Ten minutes with… Dave Harding, MBA 2007

Dave Harding is President of Ink Dish. A company which produces and distributes fashion-forward porcelain dinnerware and gift sets.

Why did you study at Cass?
In 2001 I started an MBA part time through my work. I loved the classes but not the job and eventually moved on. Five years later I was at a point in my life when returning to an MBA made sense. I had decided on London and after going to an information session on Bunhill Row the choice was easy.

What is your most treasured memory of your time at Cass?
The trips to China and Poland were fantastic, but if I had to pick one memory it would be the sinking ship exercise in Portsmouth. We were all still getting to know each other and were thrown into a situation that was so foreign to many of us: a naval training exercise where you're waist deep in water hammering shims into leaks in the hull of a massive iron boat.

How has your career developed since you left Cass?
After graduation my wife and I took a slow boat across the Atlantic to the U.S. and a month later we started Ink Dish. One of the best things about started a business right out of school is you can immediately put what you've learned into practice. From strategy, to marketing, to inventory control one of the strongest aspects of the MBA is that it gives you a framework. The other big advantage of the MBA is credibility. When you don't have anything but an idea on paper having an MBA goes a long way in convincing people that you have the tools to execute your idea.

What inspired you to set up a dinnerware company?
My wife and partner have been in the business for a number of years. I did my business research project on the industry and Ink Dish came directly from that project. The real a-ha moment came when I was looking at Mintel research and found that younger consumers bought more all white dinnerware than any other group. Here is this group that is so expressive with the clothes they wear but they are buying plain dinnerware. It didn't add up. We did a consumer survey and confirmed our hunch that the reason they were buying plain dinnerware is that they couldn't find designs that fit their personality. At Ink Dish our goal is to fill that gap.

How do you differentiate Ink Dish from other porcelain companies?
There are three pillars of our offering: design, story, and accessibility. The combination of these three facets sets us apart. Design is our core expertise, but design alone can be copied. We work with artists that appeal to our demographic and leverage their personal brand along with their artwork to create a product with a great story behind it. The final piece is pricing, if our target market loves our product but can't afford it we won't be on the shelves for long.

What would you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Metropolitan Home is one of the top interior magazines in the U.S. Their biggest issue is called the design 100 where they pick the best people places and objects in design for the year. Our first pattern, Irezumi, was listed as #2. They have a big gala in New York to celebrate the winners, it was really flattering to be recognized alongside the top names in the industry and more importantly as a young company it gave us instant credibility.

What does the future hold for you?
We just took on a private loan and gave up a small equity stake to secure some much needed working capital. Thus, I can say with certainty that I have a paycheck the next year. That alone is pretty exciting for a start-up. Our goal is to grow our retailers from 50 to 100 over that time period, increase sell through, and continue to widen our product line by releasing new products every six months.

What advice would you give someone just starting out on their career after finishing their degree?
Cash flow is crucial. Everything takes a little longer than you think it will and customers don't always pay on time. As a result it is all to easy to run out of cash even if you are hitting your sales numbers. Multiple entrepreneurs gave me the same advice while I was in school and said, "The one thing they don't teach you in business school is cash flow." I guess that is my advice to Cass as well - an elective in managing cash flow would be extremely helpful in preparing students in entrepreneurship.

What’s your favourite thing to do in London?
Two things south of the river. Eating my way through Borough Market and working it off with a jog around Battersea Park.

David Harding, MBA
dave@inkdish.com
Tel: 857.241.7104
Fax: 619.342.7733
www.inkdish.com