12: Building a Car From Scratch and Selling it - The Tom Car Story

David Brim never meant to get into the car manufacturing business. He initially planned to import and sell the Tomcar Australia — an Israeli military vehicle — in Australia, but as things snowballed he found himself running a full-fledged business selling highly customized ATVs to defense, agriculture, mining, emergency services and the odd individual.

“Once we’d started we loved it. Nine years later we’re selling cars across Australia and people are loving it.”

Speaking to Foundr along with Tomcar Australia CMO Steve Sammartino, he says they were just a couple of car fans who stumbled into a staid industry. The pair met at a startup event — a “profitability party” of all things — where Sammartino was suitably impressed by the fact that Brim’s startup made real tangible products, and one thing led to another.

“Sammartino here gives a fantastic talk … To start a car company in Australia you need two things. You need no idea what you’re doing, ‘cause if you did you wouldn't do it. You need no money, ‘cause if you did have money you wouldn’t spend it on starting a car company,” he laughs.

In this interview you will learn:

-How to develop a strong story for your startup and make it "newsworthy"

-The importantance of product development and how to create something people love

-How to sell a $30,000 ticket item online

-How to make people fall in love with your brand and develop a community

-What it takes to build a car from scratch

-Disrupting an industry

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