To be an entrepreneur is to be inspired. Inspired to solve a problem, or help something reach its full potential.
Where that inspiration comes from can say a lot about an entrepreneur.
For Parag Shah, HBA ’04, that inspiration started with his dad, Ashok Shah.
Having left a small Indian village and completing his MBA in the state of Mississippi, the senior Shah moved to Canada to start a family. There, he spent years building a foundation for his children to flourish and chase after the dreams he couldn’t.
He never really had the opportunity to spread his wings, even though he had it in him.
Shah’s dad had an entrepreneurial mindset in everything he did, and it rubbed off on Shah. The daily dose of inspirational quotes played their part as well.
Through it all, Shah was given a license to chase his dreams.
And for the past 17 years, Shah has been making the most of that license as the President and Co-Founder of NewAge Products, a home improvement company that manufactures and supplies a variety of innovative organizational solutions.
The company’s rise to fame came through its mastery of the garage renovation space in Canada. Through the years, the brand has expanded its product line to include outdoor kitchens, flooring and more.
Co-founded with Frank Spano, HBA ’04, NewAge Products generates approximately $200 million in annual revenue and has 300 employees across three countries. In 2016, the company was named one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies, and in 2019, Shah was selected as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.
Finding your niche
Back in 2004, after spending his fourth year on exchange in Prague, Shah returned to Canada and went through the typical jobs interview process of an HBA grad.
At the end of one interview with a major consumer packaged goods company, the interviewer commended Shah’s passion and told him “don’t work here.” He encouraged Shah to pursue his own thing, something he can channel his passion into.
Shah took that advice but wasn’t quite sure what form it would take.
The opening came through one of Shah’s contacts in the U.S., who alerted him of the growing trend in garage cabinetry. Sensing an opportunity to become a first-mover in the Canadian market, Shah, Spano and Aaron Cash, HBA ’04 took a shot and founded Garage Living.
Their first office was in Shah’s basement; a gift and an indication of support from his dad. However, there was a catch.
Dad wasn’t paying for heating.
Soon, their base of operations earned the moniker “The Ice Palace.”
While the potential of the product seemed clear-cut, no one in Canada knew how to sell garage cabinets. The whole idea of spending so much money on your garage was still an evolving concept. Shah and his co-founders were eager to learn as much as they could, and they partnered with Toronto-based home solutions company, Organized Interiors; creating a store within a store. Shah even fondly remembers their first home show, where their 10x10 booth was decorated with one simple billboard.
“It was just a (picture of) garage that was organized and it just had this word on it; imagine,” chuckled Shah.
Yet the opportunity to speak to so many potential customers confirmed their initial suspicions.
Soon the industry took off and Garage Living was one of the few shows in town as clients were investing tens of thousands of dollars to create the ultimate garage space.
The next-generation garage cabinet
And that could have been the end of the story but five years into the business, their original U.S. supplier closed down.
Around the same time, Shah and the team were tinkering with new product designs. So in search of new suppliers and potential manufacturers, he flew down to China.
With no knowledge of doing business in the country, he met with a slew of companies doing everything from injection molding to designing office furniture.
We’re not engineers, we’re not designers. We went to Ivey and figured out how to do some cases.
Eventually, their crash course in manufacturing helped them put together a team that could create a new line of high-end organizational solutions for garages and beyond; NewAge Products was born.
But while Shah and Spano were excited by the new direction, Cash was eager to continue growing the business they had already developed. They split ways but still remain friends. In fact, Cash’s Garage Living is still a client for NewAge Products.
Since that fork in the road, both companies Shah co-founded have continued to thrive.
NewAge Products has grown well beyond Shah’s wildest dreams.
“What does this business look like with a billion or two billion in sales. That was unthinkable when we started,” said Shah.
At the same time, the business Shah built has become a large part of his identity. Even his kids are proud owners and very protective of what their dad has accomplished.
My 10-year-old will go on my website, almost like every week and tell me problems,” said Shah. “Dad, why do you have this message here? This price doesn’t make sense… who’s going to spend on this?
His daughters love making guest appearances at the office and have even offered some product design concepts that might make their way to a garage or outdoor kitchen near you.
An entrepreneurial state of mind
Having dabbled with a few small business ideas at high school, Shah continued experimenting while at Western University. One of his most popular attempts was a website called University Singles. With its self-explanatory title, Shah and his co-founders sponsored meetups at bars across London but the business never really generated any money.
Shah carried this entrepreneurial state of mind into the Ivey HBA Program, which was still in the early days of offering entrepreneurship education. However, what he did encounter was an opportunity to understand every facet of running a business.
You can have a marketing issue, but that marketing issue could be because of a supply constraint or it could be because of pricing… As an entrepreneur, understanding that really gives you a good view of what is necessary from a 360-degree point of view, to run a business.
Everything was connected. You couldn’t compartmentalize one aspect of the business from another; and as an entrepreneur, you don’t even have the choice to try.
Shah’s time at Ivey gave him the foundational components. It’s fair to say that they have combined spectacularly with his passion for business. And that is something Shah wants to pass on.
He recently joined the Morrissette Entrepreneurship Advisory Board and is hoping to help more students and alumni fulfil their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Speaking from his own experience, he encourages students to start young.
“Start when you have nothing to lose because it becomes a lot harder later on when you start having real costs like kids, and houses,” said Shah.
Cognisant of culture’s view of entrepreneurship, he also advises young entrepreneurs to be patient.
Most great businesses aren’t built overnight… set expectations that are realistic, be confident and be ‘okay’ to fail. The journey and the reward are far more compelling.
That journey can include discouragement as well. During the early days of his start-up, Shah was often questioned and even disparaged by his peers for pursuing a start-up from his parent’s basement.
Seventeen years later, Shah’s resume doesn’t include any stints at large corporations or brands, just a testament to building some.