Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.
Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman
David Gould / Thermopro
President/CEO
David Gould has been a business owner and entrepreneur for 40 years. Originally from Long Island, NY, David joined his family’s business, Gould Products, in 1977, selling plastic storage containers to the material handling industry. The family moved the business to Boynton Beach, FL in 1978, where sales began to grow rapidly through expanded distribution of our products. In 1982, David’s brother Michael joined the business to spearhead sales and marketing. To gain a stronger foothold in the marketplace, we decided to move the business to a more strategic, centralized location in Metro Atlanta in 1992.
Shortly thereafter, we expanded a budding product line of clear, wall hanging magazine and pamphlet racks sold to the office products industry. The company soon focused on the office products line rather than the materials handling products, due to less completion and better profit margins. In 1998, we moved our facility from Lawrenceville to Duluth, GA, where we began to manufacture what we sold through a process called plastic vacuum forming. (We had previously contracted the manufacturing to other companies.) So by changing what we sold and by manufacturing our own products, we completely reinvented our business. This proved fortuitous as office product sales grew for several years.
In 2005, we introduced a new product, the Prize Wheel, which was sold through promotional products dealers. A year later, in 2005, we sold our office products to a company from Minneapolis who, to this day, still contracts us to manufacture the products for them. Additionally, we began to contract other custom vacuum forming business from a variety of companies to supplement our proprietary promotional products. In the same year, we renamed our parent company, “Thermopro”, promoted for contract manufacturing, with a DBA, “Games People Play” for our proprietary products. For the past several years, we’ve enjoyed steady sales at good gross margins and very positive cash flow.
David has a BA in Biology from the State University of NY at Buffalo and an MS in Microbiology at Long Island University.
