Purpose Before Profit: Tim Nicholson Of VertaCat On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Determine your ‘why’. This isn’t just the purpose of why you started your business, but why you stick with it and work hard to achieve more each day.
In today’s competitive business landscape, the race for profits often takes center stage. However, there are some leaders who also prioritize a mission-driven purpose. They use their business to make a positive social impact and recognize that success isn’t only about making money. In this interview series, we are talking with some of these distinct leaders, and I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Nicholson.
Tim Nicholson is the CEO of St. Paul, MN-based Actus Manufacturing and Co-Founder of VertaCat. Working with his father and brothers in the family business for most his life, Tim then co-founded VertaCat, the stand-on-command all-terrain mobility rider, in 2023. Now, Tim works with the mission to provide people with the adaptive technology they need to get active and get back out on the golf course.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
As a family business, our story starts way back in 1953. Actus Manufacturing was originally founded as the ‘Nicholson Company,’ by my father, John Nicholson, becoming the first air-cooled Deutz diesel engine distributor in the United States. My brothers and I grew up in and around the business, learning the trade, and eventually becoming more involved in the company.
Then, almost exactly 70 years after the start of our family’s business, I co-founded VertaCat. Inspired by a neighbor of ours, Tom Michaud, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and started to lose his ability to stay active and enjoy the activities he once did, we decided to take our manufacturing background, involve our team of engineers, and create a product that could help people like him. From that situation came VertaCat, the new all-terrain mobility rider that lifts golfers and others into a standing position enabling people with limited mobility to play golf and become active again.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
While Actus has been in business for over 70 years, VertaCat is a brand-new product and mission-driven business. And while it may not be a specific story, what’s so fulfilling is that even in the short time we’ve been making this product for people with disabilities, we’ve seen time and time again how adaptive technology changes people’s lives.
VertaCat is also our first foray into consumer products, enabling us to connect with people directly and see VertaCat in use. We are very lucky for the experience of seeing how our product directly benefits amputees, people with paralysis and other health challenges.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
A mistake that comes to mind was our underestimating how much time and patience it would take to create a new consumer product in a market that was completely new to us. In developing VertaCat, I admittedly was a bit aggressive in wanting to create the product and get it to users as quickly as possible. However, we were quickly reminded of how to make a good product that delivers exactly what customers are looking for takes time. From designing the product to creating the electronics to developing our own joystick steering technology, every step had to be done and done right, reflecting what we had heard was missing in the market and working our hardest to fill those gaps.
We were also brand new to the golf market and adaptive sports industry, which presented its own challenges. As a long-standing family business, we have many valued connections and partners that we work with. As a new company in a new market, we knew no one and no one knew us, so we had to start building not only the product from scratch, but our industry partnerships and connections as well.
It’s a challenge, and mistakes will be made along the way, but I think we learned that it’s worth it when you’re patient.
As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?
Getting our start in a family business, many of the core values we hold at the foundation of VertaCat stem from the early days of me and my brothers learning to work together. We had to get along, work together, and learn to understand one another. From the very start, we set a standard to value employees and create and foster a work environment that people truly enjoy.
At the core of all our businesses is to build great products. However, at the end of the day, it’s all about relationships. That’s why we try to instill a ‘can-do’ attitude in each of our employees and treat every person we work with honor and respect.
What inspired you to start a purpose-driven business rather than a traditional for-profit enterprise? Can you share a personal story or experience that led you to prioritize social impact in your business?
We have a unique perspective at VertaCat since we have such a deep history in a traditional for-profit family business, but also started a new venture into a purpose-driven business. This shift and inspiration stemmed from my experience with Tom Michaud, seeing his battle with MS, and realizing how many other people there are, like Tom, that love the sport of golf but can’t play due to limited mobility. And nothing really compares to playing the sport you love with your friends and family. So when we saw an opportunity to manufacture a product that could help make that pleasure possible for millions of people, we took it.
Can you help articulate a few of the benefits of leading a purpose-driven business rather than a standard “plain vanilla” business?
Even in our short time leading a purpose-driven business, we’ve experienced so many benefits. And, although we wouldn’t consider the other products we created with Actus ‘vanilla,’ the feeling and purpose that backs a company like VertaCat is tangibly different and it’s motivating in a new way.
An example of this is that with every VertaCat sold, every product delivered, and every connection and lead made, there’s a moving story behind it. We get the pleasure of sharing this with our entire team. Whether it’s our office staff, welders, or engineers, we all share a sense of doing good and making a difference. And to further this motivation, we involve all our team members in these stories, sharing the success stories of our customers, and striving together to keep making positive change.
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
In all honesty, we’re still quite new in the adaptive golf technology market and have much to learn about success and how it interacts with our purpose-driven mission. However, one way that we’ve experienced this so far is that our product, unlike many others, has to be touched and seen to be considered by a prospective customer. Whether it’s used for playing golf, archery, photography, gardening, or standing for the first time in years, we must deliver on this expectation for our customers. Even if this means coordinating a product trial or in-person demonstration, people want to see the VertaCat, feel the added stability, experience the extended battery life, and understand the additional safety measures Although this can be costly or time intensive, the experience of using VertaCat can’t be captured in a catalog.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was actually making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?
A moment that comes to mind is the first time I was on a delivery and saw first-hand how our product could impact people. Delivering the first VertaCat and seeing the golfer stand, the look on his face, his reaction to hitting a golf ball — it was a priceless moment, for him and for us. That made a significant impact on me.
Another instance was going to the U.S. Adaptive Open golf tournament. Prior to the event, we connected with Max Togisala, an on-the-rise 20-year-old golfer from Utah whose life took a dramatic turn in 2022, when a skiing accident in Idaho severed his spinal cord at the T-12 level and left him paralyzed from the waist down. We fitted him with a VertaCat, flew him out to Minnesota to test it, delivered it to the tournament in less than a week, and had Max set to use VertaCat to compete in the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open, where he ended up placing 17th overall. This was another moment that reminded us of the difference we could make in people’s lives.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
It’s still very early and there’s so much we have yet to experience in the golf market. Of course, as a business we’re driven by turning a profit, but our purpose gives us the patience to stick to our mission and do what it takes to make it happen. We’re still working every day to reach the people who need VertaCat most. And, to date, most of our customers are individual users. However, there are also 15,000 golf courses that could use a product like VertaCat. Our challenge now is understanding how to best connect with the people who need a product like VertaCat and uncovering the best way to reach them, whether through personal use or at their local golf course.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who wish to start a purpose-driven business?
It may sound like a cliché, but the most important piece to starting a purpose-driven business is knowing and defining your purpose. Not just your end goal but the purpose and passion that drives everything you do. And you must stay committed to it, even if it’s easy to get defeated — having a clear plan and never giving up is the key.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Purpose-Driven Business.” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
- Determine your ‘why’
This isn’t just the purpose of why you started your business, but why you stick with it and work hard to achieve more each day.
2. Set your values
At VertaCat, we keep integrity, honesty, and respect at the heart of everything we do. It’s also crucial that every member of the team is aligned on these values, and it should all stem from and be inspired by leadership.
3. Have passion
Passion is what gives the motivation for a purpose-driven business, so every employee must be in alignment and share the same goals.
4. Measure your goals, set your success benchmarks
Setting realistic goals and reflecting on them often will not only motivate you to keep pushing but will also help define success now and in the future.
5. Be genuine, authentic, and honest in everything you do
In business, relationships are crucial. The best way to form relationships is through authenticity, compassion, and courage which builds trust and strong connections.
I’m interested in how you instill a strong sense of connection with your team. How do you nurture a culture where everyone feels connected to your mission? Could you share an example or story that showcases how your purpose has positively influenced or motivated people on your team to contribute?
Communication is key. With VertaCat, involving our entire team in our story and that of our customers is essential to building a sense of connection with each other and our mission. Recently, we coordinated a team outing to Bunker Hills Golf Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We brought our engineers, assemblers, office staff, and other team members out to see exactly what our product can do and, more importantly, how the work we do can impact golfers.
I’ve been in entrepreneurship and business my whole life, but having a purpose like this is different. And it’s so motivating!
Imagine we’re sitting down together two years from now, looking back at your company’s last 24 months. What specific accomplishments would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
Our company is relatively young, so it’s tough to predict where the next 24 months will take us. Of course, a company must be profitable, but more importantly our goal is to build our connections with people in the adaptive sports and golf communities. So, in two years, I would hope to look back and see the relationships we’ve built with non-profits and businesses that share our mission, the customers who welcome us into their lives and stories, and other industry partners we’ve made along the way.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Accessibility. Whether it’s in adaptive sports, more accessible consumer technology, and so on, a movement towards accessibility for as many people as possible could do so much good. From our viewpoint, there’s so much work still to be done in the world of adaptive sports, beyond just equipment and technology — if I could inspire any movement, it would be that. No one should be limited in playing, creating and doing what they love.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
To learn more about VertaCat and adaptive golf technology, you can visit our website: vertacat.com. And to keep up with the latest VertaCat news, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Purpose Before Profit: Tim Nicholson Of VertaCat On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.