DefySupply

DefySupply

What it does: Online furniture sales
Founder: Brent Gensler, 25
Website: defysupply.com
Based: Minneapolis

When Brent Gensler was 19, he went to China alone to scout new fabric manufacturers for his parents’ upholstery business, which has been in the family since 1950. It was the first of many such trips he would make. In 2007, after graduating from University of Wisconsin, where he had studied real estate and finance, Gensler traveled through China to meet with companies that supply furniture to U.S. retailers. He moved back to Minneapolis at the end of the year, and in 2008 launched DefySupply to sell furniture from Chinese suppliers directly to customers in North America. "There are so many middlemen, and so many layers in the supply chain," Gensler says. "The margins become outrageous." He invested $50,000 of his savings and secured $200,000 from an angel investor in Minneapolis. The business, which began with sofas, bar stools, and patio furniture from five manufacturers, has since expanded to include 3,700 unique products from 45 suppliers. Customers have to be patient—it takes about six weeks for an order to arrive—but Gensler says prices are about half what retailers would charge. DefySupply has 10 employees in China and five in the U.S. Gensler expects $5 million in 2010 sales, twice as much as in 2009. —VW