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Backcountry marketing

Invent@NMU takes on ski operations

Invent@NMU is marketing the Marquette Backcountry Ski. This ski/snowshoe hybrid allows users to navigate heavy snow and ski downhill. (Photo courtesy of Invent@NMU)

MARQUETTE — It’s the type of product a winter sports enthusiast might expect to come from the Upper Peninsula, or at the least the parts with terrain.

And speaking of all the ups and downs that go with that terrain, it should be noted many local outdoor types like to ski while others prefer to snowshoe.

The Marquette Backcountry Ski, being part ski and part snowshoe, provides a way to do both.

David Ollila, founding director of Invent@NMU, is the inventor of the hybrid product. He now is vice president of innovation for Skypoint Ventures, a venture capital firm that he said is part of the revitalization of Flint.

That beleaguered city, with its serious water problems, might be getting Ollila’s services now, but he continues to work with Invent@NMU. Northern Michigan University students run the Marquette-based company, which specializes in helping people bring their concepts to market.

Invent@NMU is marketing the Marquette Backcountry Ski. This ski/snowshoe hybrid allows users to navigate heavy snow and ski downhill. (Photo courtesy of Invent@NMU)

The Marquette Backcountry Ski, he said, was born out of an experiment in 2009 — with constraints.

“I wanted to prove that it was possible to bring a product to market for less than $100,000 and in less than a year and source that product in Michigan,” Ollila said.

Revenue for the first year, when a lot of buzz was generated, was $90,000, and sales have been fairly steady since, he said.

Putting a product on the market to help skiers and/or snowshoers enjoy the winter months is one thing. Creating a successful business model with relatively little start-up capital is another.

“I did an experiment of the Invent model and also to prove you didn’t need $100 million for a company,” Ollila said.

He also doesn’t believe huge profits for the individual inventor are necessary.

“If you have a clever product and bring it to market, no one would turn down an extra $50,000 of revenue,” Ollila said.

While most clients at Invent@NMU are in the first four stages of development — validation, ideation, commercialization and production — the Marquette Backcountry Ski is in the final stage — operations — giving students a chance to exercise and refine their sales, marketing, public relations, customer service and logistics skills.

Ollila’s company, Snapperhead Inventions — Snapperhead is a nickname he picked up in college — is using Invent@NMU to market the ski.

Since Ollila now is based in Flint, he said he doesn’t have the time to be downstate and oversee the ski operations. So, he hired Invent@NMU to take on on those operations, which include marketing, PR and sales.

That’s fine by him, even though they might not be professionals in one sense of the word.

“I’m perfectly comfortable with the students,” Ollila said. “They have the skills to do that.”

The students, who develop the website, have developed a series of online advertisements and are involved in search engine optimization, shipping and receiving, he said.

The idea is that the students can pursue academics as well as the ability to execute skills on “real world” problems, said Ollila, who stays in touch through emails and texts.

“The business stays running,” he said.

Ollila said the skis are made in downstate Coldwater. However, they had to be originally made from a prototype, so he created a wood model made from about $8 worth of materials, followed by assistance from a computer-aided design person and then a $5,000 carbon fiber prototype.

One hundred pairs of skis now can be made using a single operator, he said. There’s also zero manufacturing waste since the skis are made from recyclable materials: polypropylene, glass, silicone and brass, according to the website, marquette-backcountry.com.

The design is crucial for the Marquette Backcountry Ski in that it’s a short, wide ski with a macro fish-scale base, which allows the user to shuffle across, climb up and ski down deep snow-covered terrain.

The scale design grabs the snow and holds the skis from sliding backward while the skier climbs. Threaded inserts allow for no-drill mounting of common bindings and work with standard three-pin bindings.

Rachel Barra, program liaison at Invent@NMU, said the skis saw a lot of business on Amazon during the holidays. Recently, Invent started a Facebook campaign that encourages participation from users of the Marquette Backcountry Ski. By putting up photos and videos as well as details on how they use the skis, they qualify for a coupon for a discount.

The ski is available in Marquette at Invent@NMU, located at 1400 Presque Isle Avenue, and Down Wind Sports, 514 N. Third St. It has a regular price tag of $189 but sells for $179 with a coupon.

Being a hybrid product, it can be used in more than one way.

“It really can work for a variety of people,” Barra said. “We’ve had people comment they will use it to walk their dogs on a long walk through the woods.”

In fact, she’s even seen a photograph of people on Sugar Loaf Mountain wearing the skis.

For people who just like to explore the snowy woods, either in the rugged sections of the U.P. or elsewhere, with the Marquette Backcountry Ski they can experience the determination of getting through the heavy snow as well as the thrill of downhill skiing.

“It allows you to tromp around in the woods, and if you’re on top of one of those hills, you get the enjoyment of getting to ski down,” Ollila said.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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