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Making the Inc. 5000 list is something to celebrate. But earning a spot on the magazine’s list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. seven times in nine years? That’s a major accomplishment.
Fort Myers–based MY Shower Door has done just that, securing spot number No. 4,760 on the 2023 list with a three-year revenue growth rate through 2022 of 83%; that includes an increase of 35% in 2022, from $25.7 million to $34.7 million. And with each year a company succeeds, that revenue starting point from which growth is measured increases in size — making a hefty growth percentage that much more commendable.
“You’re starting at a higher number to stay on the list,” says Bill Daubmann, president and founder of MY Shower Door. “It’s easier for the startups [to get on the list]…But when you get on that list three or four times, meaning you had constant growth, that’s the difficulty, staying consistent without going bankrupt. I’ve seen companies make that list for two years, and the third year comes out and I say, ‘Where is that company?’ And they went bankrupt; they couldn’t keep up with it when times turned bad.”
MY Shower Door, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023 and has 178 employees, has avoided that kind of fate by taking a measured approach to growth. “Some of it is being very conservative in our spending and not getting in over our head so debt doesn’t crush us,” says Daubmann, 68.
Because of that, the family-owned company has been able to do things like help out employees dealing with damage from Hurricane Ian and fully pay its staff during the point it was shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. “We created an extremely loyal workforce, because they knew that we stood behind them,” says Daubmann.
A happy, strong team makes the type of revenue growth needed to get and stay on the Inc. 5000 list possible, says Daubmann. “In order to do that kind of revenue, you have to have a great team, people who are all pushing in the same direction,” he says. “We’ve got a really good team, and we have a trust factor and a reputation out there.”
MY Shower Door is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and maintains a 5.0-rating through Google. In 2022, according to Glass Magazine, the company logged its 2,500th Google review while holding that 5-star rating. “I attribute that to our team,” says Daubmann.
Constant training keeps that team in top shape. “Everybody comes to work with a good attitude, and it’s up to us to give them the tools they need to succeed, which includes training,” says Daubmann. “We train and we cross train to make them even more valuable.”
That also gives the company flexibility if someone is on vacation or out sick. “We can move employees around throughout the factory because they’re cross trained,” he says.
Of course, selling a great product also contributes to the company’s success, and MY Shower Door’s custom frameless glass shower doors are loved by homeowners, builders and industry groups. “We develop our own product, and it’s second to none,” says Daubmann.
When the company first started, it purchased glass from manufacturers in Alabama. Looking to bring that in-house as the company grew, it launched its own glass manufacturing plant in Lee County in 2012, naming it D3 Glass after Daubmann and his two sons, Keith and Doug. D3 Glass sells about 50% of what it produces to MY Shower Door and the rest to other glass dealers around the state. It has 62 employees.
Daubmann says the materials D3 Glass provides allows MY Shower Door to gain advantages in the competing business interests of price, quality, and time. “Usually you have to pick two,” he says. “But when you do your own manufacturing, you actually do control all three points.”
D3 Glass also made the Inc. 5000 list in 2023 — debuting on the rankings at No. 3,428, with a 146% three-year growth rate. “It’s taken us 10 years to make the list but now we’re on a roll,” says Daubmann. “We’re bringing out new products, we’ve purchased new machinery…I think D3 Glass is going to be on that list for a number of years.”
Growth plans for both companies include opening more MY Shower Door locations (there are currently nine showrooms in Florida) and taking the brand national. It has six affiliate stores spread through Oklahoma, Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania that serve as beta test sites and a game plan for expanding nationwide.
“We know that this product isn’t just a Florida-based product; it will work across the country,” says Daubmann. “The product is easy—we have that already. We make the glass, and we have our own proprietary hardware. It’s people and training people. We’ve got a good HR department to go out and recruit people. So that’s what it’s going to take — people.”
MY Shower Door also has an offshoot called MY Architectural Glass, run by Keith Daubmann. That branch creates wine closets, humidors, trophy cases, office partitions and glass railing systems, leading to even more growth potential for the family-owned businesses. And continued strong growth will be key to achieving another of Daubmann’s goals.
“We want to be on the Inc. 5000 list for a long time,” he says. “We want to set records.”
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