Writer / Mallory Wright
Our area is full of companies. Companies on the rise, companies rebuilding from a hard hit and companies struggling to stay afloat. Among these companies, the east end houses many mom and pop shops, enterprise level health care facilities, mid-size industrial equipment farms, boutiques. You name it and we have it. But what we also have that many people aren’t aware of is a company established and created to help other companies —SkuVault.
SkuVault, a warehouse management system, rebuilt from the ground up on Microsoft Azure (what is Azure?) and catered towards eCommerce companies, SkuVault’s product was created and branded in late 2011 and launched to market in 2012. The goal of SkuVault was to create awe system that sellers would love and was simple to use. They empire business to business and business to customer companies to optimize their operations at a fraction of their cost. Some of the features of Recast Software include reducing out of stock errors with quality control, simplifying the picking process for warehouse workers, streamlining purchases and lessening time spent on physical re-allocation of products. The main pain points that many large warehouse companies experience, SkuVault strives to alleviate. And the brains behind this business started right in our backyard.
Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, Andy Eastes was one of the “Highlands/Skateboard kids” as he called himself. When he was in middle school, Eastes and his best friend Matt Kubancik, were always on the prowl for avenues to make money. They would raid their parents’ attic and their friends’ parents’ attic always looking for the next hidden gem they could sell. Once they exhausted their options of attics to rummage through, they would hit up the neighborhood yard sales. The saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” hit home for them from a business perspective and the two young men were climbing the entrepreneurship ladder quickly.
Over time, Eastes and Kubancik took their browsing abilities to the next level by going to outlet stores. It was there that the idea of their business started to take off and they found a mentor who helped them with their very own start-up business, Street Moda. They evolved from bargain shoppers to account holders with companies and dealing with vendors.
Near the end of high school, Eastes was still working the side business but knew college would require his undivided attention. Kubancik continued to manage the business and had attempted to build a custom system for better efficiency but needed some assistance. Eastes was now attending the University of Louisville Speed School for Industrial Engineering where he started learning how to develop custom software solutions for manufacturing companies. Companies consistently were facing the common challenge with their warehouse items and organizational structure — a lack thereof an operating system or software that could speed up efficiency. It was then that Eastes, Kubancik and now Slava Ivanyuk combined forces to build a product — a warehouse management system. Something that they realized they needed and many others would desire.
Since then, SkuVault has grown from a startup of four in a 50-square foot closet of a partner company to a thriving and growing business of more than 70 full-time employees in an 8,500 square foot building in the east end. In 2017, they had a 44.12 percent increase in revenue and received an average satisfaction rating for support of 91.8 percent. Eastes now serves as COO, Ivanyuk as the CTO and Kubancik is actually a client of SkuVault. Their business reaches across five continents, 41 countries and 326 cities. Last year alone, SkuVault closed 67 deals with 66 of those deals being closed with a handshake.
Six years since they have opened their doors, the company has continued to evolve. They have launched their first local marketing campaign in efforts to gain relationships and customers here in the local area. When attending conferences and events across the globe, most people are perplexed to hear about SkuVault being located in Kentucky. ‘Wait, you’re a software development company in Kentucky? Shouldn’t you be in Silicon Valley or something?’ Is the common question faced to Eastes, with his response quickly being “No, we’re a logistics company creating custom solutions located in Louisville, Kentucky,” unto which many people understand that statement much better.
Eastes enjoys that most of his time spent is now with the customers and clients as opposed to behind closed doors like most COO’s. He’s proud to say that their company, “Provides the right tools for success for other companies.”
SkuVault is reaching beyond the realm of satisfaction with their clients. As stated on their company website, “SkuVault harbors a loyalty to their customers that exceeds expectations, taking an active role in helping to develop their customers’ business with them.”
This type of service isn’t achieved by one individual but by a company that stands together on their core values and their efforts to make an impact locally. One of the ways they’re doing this is their commitment to working with TechHire — the Obama administration’s initiative to connect middle-class Americans to technology jobs. They’re doing this by hiring locally, partnering with YMCA Safe Place and Dayspring Community Living and participating in Louisville GLI, Code Louisville, YEC and Endeavor Louisville.
Even through all the involvement and growth of SkuVault, when you ask Eastes what makes him most proud, it isn’t the client list or even the achievements. But the company and culture he has helped create. He doesn’t reference his employees as employees but as teammates. He believes the way he treats his teammates is a “direct reflection of how they will treat clients and how they will welcome strangers inside their building.” His goal for 2018 is to build and foster more relationships here locally in Kentucky and in Louisville.
