EnTrends

Growing up, Standard says that it was
his father who inspired him to take on
the challenge of his current company.
A Harvard lawyer, Standard's father
attempted a couple of businesses
before settling back into the security
of corporate work with a
pharmaceuticals company. He
eventually ended up as a partner with
a law firm. Standard has
entrepreneurial siblings that inspire
him too. His sister has an advertising
agency in Charleston and his brother
has an entrepreneurial sales business.

Standard received an undergraduate
degree in Political Science and History
from Colorado College in Colorado
Springs, CO. He specialized in the
study of socialist and communist
systems. After graduating, he toured
the world, financing his travels from
personal investments and by utilizing
his innate entrepreneurial instincts to
sell things such as Chinese vodka in
Russia.

Standard says that he knew from a
young age that he had an international
interest. As a child, he enjoyed
reading Rudyard Kippling and Jack
London stories. He was also a fan of
the movie "The Man Who would be
King." Standard has studied French
since the time he was 13 and speaks
German and Spanish as well.

After returning to the U.S., Standard
began his own import/export business
for a year and a half. He says, "It was
so much fun! I literally made
thousands of dollars every weekend. I
just couldn't manage the money,
however, and I ran the business into
the ground. So, I decided to go to
business school."

Working in the third world, we had
chauffeurs, maids, and all sorts of
things like that. Now, I have to
struggle with everything. Not having
any income is extremely challenging.
Financially, it's night and day. My wife
and children are very supportive,
however."Therefore, Standard
attended Boston University in
Brussels, Belgium where he received a
graduate degree in business. The first
job that Standard took after receiving
his graduate degree was with Colgate-
Palmolive. Starting out as an associate
product manager, he soon shot up the
ranks to become the Director of
Marketing for the company's
Vietnamese subsidiary.

In his free time overseas, Standard
enjoyed water skiing and purchased a
boat from the man who would later
become his current partner at
QuasArk. Analyzing the market for
watercraft, Standard and his partner
decided that their combined skills
made for a very interesting business
concept.

When asked what he likes most about
being an entrepreneur, Standard says,
"When going into meet with people at
the Pentagon, or at the Navy SEALs
base, it is really very interesting. They
have never, or rarely, encountered a
team like ours that comes in with a
product that they want, and presents
it properly. Just to see the looks on
their faces as they are digesting the
information is great! Working with a
lot of these military people has been
an interesting experience. Having
spent a great deal of time working with
them recently, I find that they are
courteous, professional, and they
follow-up very well."

In terms of negative experiences he
has gone through, Standard says that
the entire process of setting up his
company has been extremely difficult
on his personal life. "I came from this
corporate environment where I was a
big shot in a small pond overseas.

Standard says that requesting funding
form outside sources is never easy.
"It's not something one likes to do,
especially when it's your own
company and you are so intimately
involved with it, but it is necessary for
the growth of your company. If it was
for someone else's company, it would
be easy "

Standard jokes that, while he may not
be bringing in enough income to live a
luxurious lifestyle, he does have a jet
engine and a 40-foot boat in a secret
location in Newport Beach. Not many
people can say that.

In the future, Standard hopes to grow
QuasArk by bringing in more
designers and licensing the designs
that they are currently working on. He
would like to see the company go
public or be spun off, saying, "We
have some additional plans for aircraft
and other things. Besides, I prefer the
early growth phase, rather than
managing the developed enterprise
down the road."

When giving advice to other
entrepreneurs starting out, Standard
says, "I'll tell you the same thing that
you hear from everyone else, but
never believe when it's yourself. It
takes two times the money and three
times as long! You will have a lot of
bad days when you have bills coming
in that you don't know how you are
going to pay, but just keep going.
Every once in awhile, when it gets
really grim, something good will
happen. In the end, it's all worth
while."