Oklahoma City based Simple Modern becomes employee-owned

OKLAHOMA CITY – If you were to ask Simple Modern CEO Mike Beckham where inspiration came from to start his company, he might say it started with his parents, who chose to become mental health professionals because helping others was highly important to them.

That value was considered a chief objective for Beckham during a 2015 conversation with friends and fellow University of Oklahoma alumnus Bryan Porter and Micah Ames.

Their brainstorming that day centered on the creation of a company that focused on culture and generosity for shareholders, employees, customers, partners and the community. The dream of a for-profit company that improves and enriches the lives of everyone who interacted with it was born.

Unlike many entrepreneurial ideas, this one didn’t start with a product. Beckham describes the conceptualization process as an effort to find the ‘why’ before the ‘what.’ When they did determine the product, competitively priced and environmentally-friendly insulated drinkware, Beckham said he poured his life savings of approximately $200,000 into the company, a scary decision considering competitors in the drinkware space such as Yeti were well established.

“On top of all of that, we handicapped ourselves by making the decision to give away 10% of our profits each year,” Beckham said. “In an inventory business, you need every ounce of profit that you possibly can to buy more inventory for the future.”

As it turns out, that idea worked well. Their giving budget today provides millions of dollars to Oklahoma-based nonprofits. After eight years that included a number of questions at holiday gatherings regarding how his “Yeti knockoff thing is going,” Oklahoma City-based Simple Modern generates nearly $200 million in annual revenue and has partnerships with Amazon, Walmart, Disney and professional sports leagues. Beckham said it shows people are happy to vote with their wallets for a company that gives back.

On Tuesday, Beckham announced his latest effort to make an impact, and this time, it’s for his employees. Simple Modern is now an ESOP, which means every team member is now an owner. In the first year of this plan, the company will allocate $5 million in stock across the team, spanning from senior leaders to team members who work in the manufacturing facility, which opened last year in Oklahoma City.

“This morning after I announced the ESOP to our employees, one of them came up to me and he said, ‘I just have to thank you. I can’t put into words what working for this company has done but it has transformed the trajectory of my family’s life,’” Beckham said Tuesday.

Beckham’s dream was to be able to use Simple Modern to help change the world and do something transformative to the state. He said business owners have the responsibility to create a better future for the generations to come.

“We have an opportunity to impact the world for good and I’m excited to be doing it (here),” Beckham said.

As seen in The Journal Record and written by Jeff Elkins.