Risk pays off for custom cable company

Cheryl Christensen and Lance Smith moved to Reno in the late 1990s from Utah and Oregon with no jobs, intent on starting a business any business.

The market showed a need for electronics connector cables, custom made, says Smith, an insight based on his decades of experience in the electronics field.

Christensen brought a background in business administration.

The brother-sister team formed a business partnership called Christensen Smith Tran CST cables for short.

Retirement savings funded the venture, situated in a small industrial strip center in east Sparks.

"It was scary, but we gave it a shot," says Smith.

To kick-start the company, they made cold calls.

By 2000 they employed five.

Four years later, that had doubled to 10 and work space doubled to 2,000 square feet.

Goals for the next two years? To double again, says Smith.

Now Jory Smith, a recent graduate with a degree in electronics, has moved from Oregon to handle purchasing, sales and production control.

Despite global competition in electronics, CST thrives on the strengths of timeliness, quality and service relationships, says Smith.

"Some people want it cheap, cheap, cheap," says Smith.

Those are the customers who go for overseas production.

Those who need quality cables custom made quickly can't wait six to eight weeks for delivery from Asia.

CST fills orders of one cable or 1,000, although the average order is from five to 35 cables.A single cable could cost from $10 to $800, says Jory Smith, although the average price is about $50.

Connector cables are used in vending machines and computers as well as for telecommunications and data communications.

"We're doing a lot more prototype engineering, designing exactly what customers want," says Smith.

For example, a customer designing a fuel pump for diesel trucks brought in a prototype for cabling; he is now working with CST, which is testing prototypes, toward a final product.

Marketing has been a challenge, says Smith, because cable assembly is a niche market.He's found that going to local shows to make personal contacts works best.And that nothing beats wordof- mouth referrals.

Electronics stores refer customers who walk in wanting a broken cable fixed.

Smith expects changing technologies to drive future growth.

Trade magazines and customer requests keep him current with the latest in reverse polarity antennas, fiber optics, and microwave stainless steel receivers.

"We're proud that we did this all ourselves," says Smith."Because we were new to the area and didn't have jobs, the banks refused to make a business loan on the strength of our business plan.

But now that we're making money, the banks are coming to us."