Iboats.com sailing on a sea of success

At the height of the dot-com boom, Bruno Vassel's son urged him to start an Internet business.

So the father-son team decided to do something fun, launching iboats.com, an Internet site selling boats and marine equipment.

Six years since its inception, the Draper-based business that began with less than $20,000 is thriving. On Thursday, iboats.com was named Utah's fastest revenue growth company by the MountainWest Venture Group.

The company's first-year revenues were $58,000. In the past five years revenues have grown by 14,601 percent, Vassel said, reaching the low eight-figures. And the company's online platform lists more than 100,000 boat-related parts and accessories, including 15,000 boats.

Vassel, who funded the company himself, still has not taken any venture capital money.

"It's one of those things where you put in everything you possibly can," Vassel said. "You hock your home, your cars."

For Vassel, who worked for Avon in New York City and was in charge of international marketing, running his own business presents more of a challenge.

"I traveled all over the world for Avon, but you're one of a very large group of people," Vassel said. "You never make a decision and have to live or die by it when you're in a large corporation."

Iboats.com also ranks No. 48 on Inc. magazine's 2004 list of the top 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in America.

Devin Thorpe, chairman of the MountainWest Venture Group's Utah 100 Awards, said he remembers when iboats.com was in its start-up phase.

"No one was sure whether the model would work," Thorpe said. "It is remarkable that they are one of the few, true, pure dot-com companies created during the bubble period that has survived, thrived and really grown. It's really a tremendous success story."

Rounding out the top five fastest-growing companies on this year's MountainWest list, announced Thursday, were Overstock.com, STSN Inc., HobbyTron.com and USA Lending Group.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who sits on the Senate's Small Business Committee, said this year's top 100 companies represent the future.

"Utah's biggest problem in the coming decades is growth," Bennett said. "These companies represent where our children will work, where our grandchildren will get jobs."