30-YEAR REWIND < < Dialing for Dollars, Melting Crayons, and How a Piece of Gum Almost Ended it All

July 24, 2025

JUNE–AUGUST, 1995

Research in 1995 didn’t happen in a browser—it happened in a Volkswagen Golf with no A/C.

Back then, the internet wasn’t mainstream. So when we needed to evaluate desks, chairs, fax machines, or potential office spaces, it meant driving from place to place and physically checking things out. Greg and I only had one car between us, and we had to share it. William had a car too, so we created little roving research pods—whoever wasn’t on procurement was on the phones.

Greg took the lead on setting up supplier relationships and crushed it, securing terms and product access that gave us our first real foundation. It’s something he still does brilliantly today—making sure we only offer the best products to our customers.

THE SETUP

By June, we were ready to move in and build this thing.

We carved out 1–2 weeks to:

Set up our space (250 sq ft packed with three people, three Power Macs, phones, a fridge, and a cabinet to hold our fancy fax machine)
Learn how to run the equipment
Decide what to sell
Divide the SelectPhone SIC CD-ROM database
And figure out what, exactly, we’d say when someone answered the phone

Our original goal was to sell supplies for Kodak 7720 thermal transfer printers. But it quickly became clear that was too niche. So we opened accounts with Ingram and Synnex—massive distributors—and suddenly, we had access to almost every toner cartridge and inkjet printhead being used in offices and homes nationwide.

THE GRIND

We each made 100–200 cold calls a day.

We worked in close quarters, so we developed a rhythm: if someone was actually having a real conversation on the phone, the rest of us held off dialing to keep the space quiet and professional. Those moments were rare. Most calls resulted in a brush-off or a “call me later”—but we tracked everything meticulously and kept at it.

And then there was the heat.

Our 250-square-foot basement office didn’t have air conditioning, and by August, we were wilting. Long hours, constant rejection, and the oppressive heat turned us into slowly melting salespeople.

One day, I (Tara) was in the middle of a rare, promising call. Out of nowhere, I heard a strange choking noise. I turned to see Greg—mid-day nap—choking on a piece of gum he’d swallowed in his sleep.

For a split second, I froze: Do I rescue Greg, or save the sale?

I grabbed the nearest object and chucked it at him. It worked—he woke up and survived, I held in my laughter, and the call ended up being one of the best I’d had that week.

That, friends, is what teamwork looks like.

THE COOLEST PRINTER EVER

Around this time, Greg reconnected with two of his former photography professors from CU Boulder—Alex Sweetman and Garrison Roots—who were doing amazing work in large-scale 3D modeling and art using Silicon Graphics computers.

They were using something we’d never seen before: the Tektronix Phaser 340, a color desktop printer that used blocks of colored wax as “ink.” The wax melted onto a drum, then transferred to the page in vivid, opaque color—great for slick marketing materials or overhead transparencies (remember those?). It was so cool.

Greg reached out to the distributor, Access Graphics, and we jumped on the opportunity to start selling the Phaser 340.

We LOVED this product. It was different. Visual. Tactile. We believed in it. And we sold the hell out of it.

And the other cool thing about that lead? Access Graphics didn’t just carry printers—they had a massive product catalog. Right out of the gate, we had a complete line card of offerings.

Suddenly, we weren’t just a niche supplier—we were selling products from Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, StorageTek, Hitachi, Epson, 3M, and more.

We even expanded into early hardware beyond printers—scanners, monitors, storage devices, software, and digital cameras. We really felt like we had global offerings right from the beginning.

That excitement we felt? We’ve carried it with us ever since. We’ve sold so much new technology over the past 30 years—and we’re still those people who can’t wait to talk about the next great thing. That enthusiasm shows up in every customer conversation, every recommendation, every relationship we build.

HISTORICAL NOTE

In 1995, the Tektronix Phaser 340 was among the most advanced color printers on the market. Most people were still using black-and-white inkjets, but this machine printed gorgeous full-color images—wax blocks and all. Also in 1995? The DVD format was first announced, and Amazon sold its first book.

THE HUSTLE

By the time those early sales started trickling in, our days had gotten long. We’d arrive by 8:00 AM to start calling. We’d stay until 10:00 PM (sometimes midnight) to handle paperwork, billing, communication, and planning.

We were completely exhausted—and totally fired up.

We were having the time of our lives.

WHY IT MATTERED

These weren’t just long days. They were the start of something bigger. We weren’t just building a company—we were building muscle. Learning the industry. Finding our voice. And falling in love with the technology we got to share with our customers.

That part? As true today as it was in 1995.