Kathy Gornik began her path to success as a recent college graduate and a mom. When three college friends, including Jim Thiel, told Kathy about a new speaker system they were developing, she dove in and started selling speakers for her friends in the mid-Atlantic states. She traveled around the eastern seaboard selling Thiel speakers out the back of her Ford Pinto Station Wagon, and in her first year sold about 1,000 units. With her success and encouragement from her friends, Kathy was convinced to move to Kentucky, where the group was producing Thiel speakers out of a dirty, 900 square foot, garage. To keep the business afloat, the group had to borrow almost all their money from family and friends.

Then, they decided to make the trip to CES in 1977: “Dollar for dollar there was no better way to spend our money than on CES,” Kathy said. Road-tripping to Chicago, the group packed sandwiches and cooked in their hotel room to save money. They believed in their idea so much that they devoted virtually everything to CES. And it was worth it.

They made connections at CES that put them on the consumer electronics map indefinitely. Kathy said: “It was like the entire world came to our exhibit room – dealers, distributors, press...” and they’ve been back to CES every year since. Thirty years since their first CES, Thiel Audio has been growing ever since. Every business has to start somewhere, and for Kathy Gornik and Thiel Audio, that somewhere was CES.

Kathy Says:

- All companies need a business plan, but ours has three parts: 1- Satisfy the customer, 2- Satisfy the customer, 3 – Satisfy the customer.

- Sometimes having a small budget is a blessing – the mistakes you make happen on a much smaller scale, and they are easier to recover from. Sometimes when there is a lot of money in play, mistakes are magnified.

- Always remind your employees that salaries come from revenues created by the customers. You have to work hard for that.