Today we’d like to introduce you to David Nakayama.
David, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
AudioDave was started in 2009 and it is a spinoff of another company that I worked at call Spearit Sound. My previous employers, Ralph Spear and Gene Ritvo gave the business to me when they retired, I had been working for them for 9 years and audioDave has been in operation for 8 years
When I took over the business I sent a letter to most of my client to let them know of the transition. Most if not all the client responded to congratulate me, however, there were three clients that did more than just congratulate me.
The first client who is an international business man living in Switzerland and had homes in Boston and New York. He came to congratulate me and handed me a check for 100K. He told me to use it for my business and I could pay him back in 3 years. I mention this because this was my safety net, I never used it and paid him back in full. It was done on simple handshake, and he has provide me with numerous projects in the US and Europe, which included a yacht, a 41 story high rise building and much more.
The second client also wanted me to succeed, so he made his 4 grown daughters purchase audio and video systems which he paid for.
The third client had us redo their systems at all their homes. 2 of the homes I had just completed prior to Spearit Sounds closing its door.
All three men and their families are very close to me. Several others are my advisors, they have help me in building my business to helping me setup my simple IRAs for my employees.
I have been in this industry for about 27 year with a 2 year stint running a software company. I have owned or operated other stores in North Carolina and Georgia, which are still in operation.
My clients and our relationships have helped me build audioDave to where it is today. We not only work in Boston and the surrounding areas but we have numerous projects domestically and internationally. Since 2009 we never advertised we only promoted our company by word of mouth. We felt that our work and service should speak for itself.
This year we want to start promoting ourselves, we feel we have the talent, capabilities and logistics to take on any project. We just updated our website, which will be fully active by October of this year. We want to be a thought leader and this we hope will be the start of our forum. There are other things that will happen but in October we will finally have our grand opening.
We also have a partner in Warsaw Poland, and we are slowly building our business in this country. The reason for having business in this country is because of the 41 story high rise building that we designed the system layouts for all 256 units and our manufacture partner Savant has given rights to sell their advance control system for integration and automation.
Our goal for Boston is to work with a group of architects, general contractors and interior designers who need an Integrator, like audioDave, to provide solutions for them and their clients integration and automation needs. We feel we have the facility to show what an integrated home is and how true automation works. Remember automation is to automate so you don’t have too.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing is ever smooth. You always have a bad apple whether it is an employee or a client. My biggest problem is finding the right talent. You always want the people around you to be better than yourself. My Installation Manager and My Head Programmer are two of best and the first 5 years it was the three of us and our support staff. Over the last 2 years we have grown the business so I no longer work in the field.
Today our main challenge is to get our name out to the architects, general contractors and interior designer so that we can establish a long term relationship with these organizations. We want to work them. Like I said before we have the facilities to show our work, we just need them to come and see it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the audioDave story. Tell us more about the business.
As technology integrators, we go beyond the well-known concepts of “Home Automation” and “Smart Homes”, because we offer integration services for the workplace as well as your home and even specialty applications like; yachts, high-rises, and more. We take your personal content, lifestyle preferences and your favorite fixtures/hardware and we connect it to your technology devices through a network and interactive controls; so that you can efficiently and intuitively control your surroundings. Optionally, we can automate these controls to react to pre-programmed settings automatically based on your specific preferences and needs. By integrating and automating your various systems; lighting, audio, video, security & surveillance, HVAC, etc., we make interacting with your environment’s technology straightforward allowing you to do what you want, when you want.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
A lot. I have been very fortunate to have the client base that we have. Is this luck maybe, but I also think it is a representation and reflection of our company.
Contact Info:
- Address: 77 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458 - Website: audioDave.net
- Phone: 617-484-8900
- Email: david@audioDave.net
- Instagram: realaudioDave
- Facebook: audioDave
- Twitter: realaudioDave
- Yelp: audiodave.net
Image Credit:
David Nakayama
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