Culture First, Business Second
Mike Beckham built a culture before he started building Simple Modern.
Long before Mike Beckham co-founded his e-commerce venture, Simple Modern, in 2015, he took his first steps down the entrepreneur’s path as student body treasurer at Putnam City North High School. Beckham just didn’t recognize it at the time.
“One of the things I did to raise money as student body treasurer: I got the school to agree to let me take a portion of the parking lot – the best parking spots – and auction them off,” Beckham recalled. “I did a silent auction where everybody could bid, but they didn’t know what they were bidding against. I went out and stenciled names on the parking spots. Looking back, it was very entrepreneurial.”
From PC North, he went on to the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated with a degree in Finance from Price College of Business. He then worked for more than eight years as missional team leader for Campus Crusade for Christ, now known as Cru.
Then the entrepreneurial world beckoned. His younger brother, Matt, was starting QuiBids in 2009, and Mike agreed to sign on as chief operating officer.
There were key lessons about team building Mike learned from working both in the Campus Crusade ministry and for Matt’s startup that he embraced as he launched Simple Modern with co-founders Bryan Porter and Micah Ames.
Those lessons revolved around relationships and getting the right people on board first.
“I think the first team I was on at Campus Crusade had an impact on the way I think about the way a team could function and about leadership, where it’s about more than the organization and getting things done,” Beckham said. “It’s about the relationship among the team members.” Even before launching Simple Modern, Beckham, with the help of his wife, Heather, drew up a list of potential employees.
“My wife and I had a date night, and we dreamed a little bit that date night about what it could look like,” he said. “She certainly felt just as strongly as I did, and that who I would work with and the culture we build about would be more important than what we would sell.”
So, they drew up a list of people they had known and worked with over a long period of time. “If culture is the most important thing, then the only way you really make sure that you get it right is to hire people you have seen personally demonstrate that character and that commitment over a significant period of time,” he said. “I wanted to have a really high focus on setting the right tone for culture.”
Today, Beckham is Simple Modern’s CEO, leading a company that markets innovative and licensed specialty products such as insulated drink cups through multiple channels like Amazon, Target and its own website. Sales have grown to millions of units annually, with Simple Modern employing a team of 40 people.
Simple Modern’s website says it “seeks to develop exceptional products and lasting relationships. We are committed to doing business with excellence, placing the needs of others above our own, and delivering quality products that will simplify our lives.”
Finding the right product was a different story. The founders brainstormed some ideas of what they wanted to sell and had some modest successes. Then they hit on the concept of an innovative insulated cup, found a manufacturing partner in China, and brought in the first order in 2016. Simple Modern has since expanded its product line and today offers drinkware and food storage, including children’s lunch boxes, backpacks and officially licensed products for Disney, NFL, NBA and collegiate sports.
As a lifelong Oklahoman, Beckham said he’s never considered operating a business anywhere but the Sooner state. “This team of people I believe in and love are here, so I want to be here,” he said. “There’s something endemic about the values of Oklahoma that is conducive to the type of company I’m trying to build. On a more practical level, the Oklahoma cost of living is incredibly affordable.” Beckham finds it easy to pitch Oklahoma to people from outside the state who may know the state only through stereotypes. The Thunder basketball team has helped overcome that. Add Simple Modern to the growing list of Oklahoma’s positive developments.
“It is my hope that the company is providing an environment where the employees can thrive, that we have a positive impact on the things we are involved in, and that we are doing a good job of serving the customers,” Beckham said. “I hope people would look at our company and say that we are doing business a different way.”
photos by Kennon Bryce