Chuck Surack never planned to build one of America’s largest online retailers. He just wanted to be a musician. So right after high school, he took his sax and drove off in his old VW van to play gigs around the country.
It didn’t work out. But with the audio and mixing skills Chuck learned gigging, he decided to convert his van into a mobile recording studio – and started making money fast by making recordings of local bands, businesses, and schools.
The game-changer came as a one-two-three punch: first, he created a new product – digitized sound libraries – to sell nationally; second, he started selling high end pro audio gear; third, he instituted a sales culture hyper-focused on customers and relationship-building that resulted in Sweetwater’s enormous and super loyal online customer base.
