"Know that not making a decision is a decision."
Jeff Kutas’s American manufacturing company creates exceptional package delivery solutions. Their innovations not only provide a safe place for online orders but also create a safe space for this last mile home delivery activity, that he feels lacks awareness. He likes creating things that make everyday life more enjoyable that are also useful. Developing their delivery solutions so that they are best suited to how people live I.e. a gated property, suburban curbside, or urban was determined by countless visits with homeowners, architects, and builders which was integral to creating the variety of solutions that they offer today. They are not a good better best consumer product manufacture, they only build the best products to ensure their usefulness can be enjoyed for a lifetime.
He wouldn’t say that he’s a professional startup entrepreneur, he would classify himself more as a resilient start-over guy. Pleasing others is one of his obsessions and scaling this obsession will be the key to growing their aspirational mailbox and parcel safe company. Finally, he loves it when their clients share pictures of their completed installations knowing how much they will enjoy them, and further understanding the impact they make as an American manufacturing company is gratifying.
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Table of Contents
Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Jeff Kutas: Hi, my name is Jeff Kutas and like many entrepreneurs, I had to reinvent myself professionally a couple of times before I discovered my true potential. That being said I never intended to re-invent the mailbox, the idea just came at a time when I was desperate and facing the reality that I might have to get a job after losing our 30-year brick-and-mortar retail business. Today I am almost four years in on this new venture of creating a CPG manufacturing company, and for now, I’m just working away here at my Texas shop enjoying the last of the small-time!
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Jeff Kutas: In the early years, our family went through a divorce. Most people say their parents got divorced but it’s much bigger than that. All I knew is that we lost our middle-class lifestyle and I wanted it back. That experience alone fueled my work ethic and passion to be successful. At an early age, I was fortunate enough to land an opportunity with a public utility company where I was recognized and promoted to a planning group. I knew then that the opportunity to achieve a high-ranking management position was possible, maybe even CEO possible, but I had no clue why I even desired a position like that, other than the fact that it felt like winning to me.
Soon enough I experienced corporate politics and nine years in, I knew I had to find a way out, I yearned to do something more personal, and around that time when I was contemplating a small business opportunity, my folks approached me about joining their Health Food business. My mom started this business with no money about the same time John Mackey started Whole Foods. The small business showed great signs of prosperity so I took the leap of faith and was excited to take that opportunity to the next level.
Little did we know then that my folks did not have the same desire for growing the business as I imagined. Another nine years went by and I was allowed to buy the business. From this point forward for 17 years I worked to embrace online shopping but ultimately felt like Kathleen Kelly in the movie You’ve Got Mail when I lost my store. So from the retreat of my home office, I managed the last piece of the gig I had left where I was then the largest diverter of retail nutritional supplements in the nation.
I knew then that as soon I was no longer valued by my vendor that the business would move direct, the gig was almost up! During this period I realized not only how much retail had changed for small business people but how much our mail carriers’ duties had increased to embrace the demand for home delivery. I thought out loud one day when our weary mail carrier brought yet another package to our door “Someone Needs To Reinvent The Mailbox”.
The idea resonated with me so I started searching the web and once I realized that no one was making a top-quality solution I began advancing my idea with vengeance. I wanted to build a business that was scalable for something that would be aspirational that people would love like Yeti or Dyson and the timing for this idea seemed perfect. I chose the title Co-Inventor and Founder as it’s more relative to me at this moment, as far as the CEO hat goes I wear it regularly with the exception when I’m not sleeping at my shop two nights a week!
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Jeff Kutas: I would have to say that I appreciate the podcast “The Founder” for spotlighting the stories of world-class entrepreneurs and their journey to launch and scale.
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Jeff Kutas: No one is taught to be a good parent either you are one or you’re not. Being a business CEO is the same, whether it owns you or not it’s your babe!
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Jeff Kutas: MB Sentinel makes modern mailbox and parcel safe solutions that offer great application from curbside to countryside. My greatest responsibility as a startup CEO is to accurately forecast the effect that my decisions will have for both short-term and long-term opportunities.
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Jeff Kutas: For me, it’s the perfect imbalance of passion, persistence, and patience.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Jeff Kutas: I never really thought of myself as a CEO, to me that was always someone that ran a company for someone else. As far as the surprises go I would have to say everything seems to take longer than it should, even though I’m running the show.
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Jeff Kutas: CEO – Consider Every Option and the effects of those decisions.
In June of this year, our business was starting to build some momentum from our DTC Adword Campaigns. I thought to myself now that this is working we need to build a better website to improve the customer experience. I learned after losing 75% of our sales for 60 days that the adversary to good is better. The lesson I learned was that if you have a single channel of revenue working in your business be sure to exercise caution when trying to improve it. I should have shifted my focus to our B-B development before I decided to launch a new site. Our Fractional CTO helped me fracture our business! But then again I might not have gotten MB Sentinel listed as a new vendor of Acme Brick a Berkshire Hathaway Company if I wasn’t working so hard to put the shit back in the bull of a decision that I made.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Jeff Kutas: In 2018 we abandoned the IoT portion of our project at the point we were ready to beta the first 10 prototypes. Instead, I chose to integrate a Keypad Access Controller to secure the electronic locks on our devices. This decision allowed us to enter the revenue phase of the business more quickly and gave our clients that wanted IoT functionality the option to integrate our products with their smart home technology. In most cases, our tech-conscious clients do not want the locking portion of the device connected but do like having the option to add audio and video features on their own if desired.
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Jeff Kutas: Fame, Fortune, and Cash, sure I’m all about it and welcome the opportunity to crush life like a Keanu Reeves twin!
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Jeff Kutas: Innately-Passion & Persistence, Cultivated-Patience
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Jeff Kutas: During this period we had a county clerk in Ohio who called on us to see if we could convert our product to a ballot box for the upcoming election. We ended up building near 150 ballot boxes for other county clerks nationally so that voters could have a place to securely drop their ballots. It was during this period that we had an opportunity to stress our ability to scale.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting on their journey?
Jeff Kutas: Know what you don’t know best and be mindful to Consider Every Option and the effect your decisions will have. Most importantly know that not making a decision is a decision.
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Jeff Kutas: I wish that I would take the time to become fluent in Spanish.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Jeff Kutas: ‘How Do I Do It!’
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Jeff Kutas for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Jeff Kutas or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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