“There are resources available, but I don’t think it necessarily puts a realistic, everyday perspective on it,” Reents said. “So while it’s very important to research how to build a business plan and how to get financing, (you can’t be) afraid to talk to other business owners and get the true perspective of what it’s going to take financially, what it’s going to take from a time perspective, and what types of things might be a good fit for the community. “I thought, no one is going to tell me their trade secrets. But I quickly learned that it’s not a trade secret. We all want each other to succeed, so we’re there to help each other, not to compete with each other. We’re a very close-knit business community.” N1 CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES Dave Farrell admits that he didn’t know anything about Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems. “I knew nothing of the industry,” Farrell said. “I just know business. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, sales is sales.” Farrell co-founded N1 Critical Technologies (N1C) in 2015, opening in the Janesville Innovation Center, an entrepreneurial hub on Janesville’s south side. For him, forming the business was the easy part. “(I was) tired of making other people wealthy,” says Farrell, N1C’s current CFO. “I had set up LLCs and S corporations (for others) in my past. So that didn’t intimidate me.” N1 Critical launched as a reseller of UPS systems. But even with knowledge and confidence, the initial going was slow. “What we found quickly was that nobody wants to talk to anybody who just starts a business,” Farrell said. “But (Mike Mathews at the Janesville Innovation Center) was very instrumental in putting us in touch with key players in the city of Janesville, and making introductions (for) relationships that we still have today.” A key moment in N1C’s success came when the company changed its business model in 2018, becoming manufacturers of lithium-ion battery UPS systems and no longer acting as resellers. “Now instead of going after individual businesses,” Farrell says, “we go after the large distribution resellers that are out there. That’s who we market to, and that’s who we sell to, and they do all the selling. So that allowed us to grow without adding employees. We can do a lot more with a lot less.” Farrell credits N1C CEO Jeff Hansing for having the vision to change the business model and says the change “really propelled our company to where it is today.” By being ahead of their competitors with their lithium-ion product, N1C established a market position that still serves them well. When N1C’s competitors eventually brought similar products to market, Farrell says that rather than being a negative, “it was the best for us because it validated us.” Farrell says N1C remains unique because they are the only ones in the industry to offer a full 10-year warranty, as opposed to the more standard five years. “Inadvertently, we became a value leader,” Farrell said. “Not by adjusting our prices once our competitors came online, but by keeping our prices right where they are.” With the change to manufacturing, N1C retained space in the Innovation Center to use for warehousing and moved their offices to the former American Red Cross building on North Parker Drive. But the arrival of COVID-19 changed things for N1C and its 12 employees. Already cloud-based, N1C discovered that everyone could work well from home, making the office space unnecessary. “What we found was that we were amazingly productive out of the office,” Farrell said. Two days after COVID restrictions were lifted, employees were sent back home and the building was put up for sale. Now at 17 employees, Farrell says that N1C’s key to success under Hansing and COO Matt Hess has been “steady, sustainable growth. There are a lot of forces out there that want you to grow as big and as fast as possible.” “What sinks businesses is when they get overextended,” Farrell said. “Everybody tells them to grow, they borrow all this money, and then a market fluctuation or something happens, and suddenly you’re behind the eight-ball. Eliminating the building, we eliminated our debt. It was very liberating. We’re a cash business now, and we are very proud of that.” To anyone looking to start their own business, Farrell’s advice is simple: do it. Regardless of the product, Farrell says if you can do it yourself, you should do it. “You don’t need to bring the best thing ever to the market,” he says. “You just have to work for yourself.” PAULL CHIROPRACTIC FAMILY WELLNESS CENTER Andy Paull was studying to be a pediatrician when he began to get debilitating migraine headaches on a regular basis. After two visits with Dr. Brandon Crandall, an established Janesville chiropractor, the migraines had disappeared. The experience permanently altered Paull’s career path. “For me, it was like flipping the switch,” Paull said. “I had no idea what he did. Then he went through and explained everything to me. And after that, I signed up for Palmer College of Chiropractic.” After completing his degree and becoming a Doctor of Chiropractic, Paull worked in an office in Freeport, Illinois, for three 8 | FORWARD JANESVILLE N1 Critical Technologies was founded in 2015 N1C's Dave Farrell
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