Lessons on tap

St. Petersburg's craft-brewing community recently picked up some national attention, when 3 Daughters Brewing was named one of 18 Dream Big Award finalists in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's National Small Business Summit. The company also won the chamber's Emerging Business Achievement Award, presented at the event held Sept. 10-13 in Washington, D.C.

Before the event, the husband-wife team behind 3 Daughters, Mike and Leigh Harting, spoke with chamber officials about their business, challenges and success. An August interview of Mike Harting was published in the chamber's Free Enterprise publication, and online. Edited excerpts:

What barriers have you faced while building your company, and how did you overcome them?
There are many challenges to any startup business, including setting the right tone for your culture, focusing on short- and long-term goals, creating demand for your product, filling orders and servicing your customers. Our biggest challenge is creating the right culture and infrastructure to build a sustainable model in a new industry.

In an emerging market, there is no defined roadmap to success. There is no established timeline for adding resources. When do you add sales people and in what territories? When is a quality assurance lab manager a necessity? When do you need a logistics manager?
We made a conscious decision to run our net income at close to zero and reinvest those dollars in expanding our team to gain momentum and drive sales. We surround ourselves with the smartest, most competent people we can find. We trust them to build the processes and business plan that will elevate 3 Daughters Brewing to the next level as a regional brewer.