Brewers Passion for Business Still Evident at BlueInGreen

In the nearly 16 years since he was honored as a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s inaugural Forty Under 40 class, Clete Brewer has been involved in a diverse collection of businesses.

But don’t pigeonhole him as a businessman.

“I think I’m more of an entrepreneur than a businessman,” he said. “I seem to always have multiple things going on.”

As a Forty Under 40 honoree in 1997, Brewer was president, CEO and co-founder of StaffMark Inc., at the time one of the country’s fastest-growing companies, increasing in revenue from $12 million in 1994 to $1 billion in 1999.

Brewer was later part-owner and president of Texas-based Sport Clips Inc., from 2002 until 2009. The company grew from 42 franchised stores to more than 670 during his time there, and increased revenue from $15 million to $190 million.

And even as each business venture flourished, Brewer said his approach to success has never been defined by profits, but rather by a passion he can embrace.

“Before Dad [Jerry Brewer] and I started StaffMark together, if someone would’ve told me I would’ve been passionate about staffing, or haircuts, or water quality,” Brewer said, “I would’ve said ‘No way.’ But, I think part of that passion is just the building of the business. And then you fall in love with the business itself.”

Brewer, 47, has been president and CEO of BlueInGreen LLC since March 2010. The Fayetteville-based technology startup develops products to improve and maintain water quality for industrial, municipal and ecological customers.

The water-treatment company — a portfolio company of the Arkansas-based Virtual Incubation Co. — was formed in 2004, and is poised to make a major move in 2013 as a recognized innovator in water quality. Brewer said the company is targeting to be profitable for the first time this year, with a goal of $5 million in sales.

“We’ve spent the last three years assembling the right team, getting the research and development done for the products to have commercial viability, and hired a team to take us from incubator status to commercialization,” he said. “2013 is a critical year. It’s our coming-out party. We’re launching, taking orders, and it’s a lot more fun. It’s a different business from $15 haircuts to $1 million water systems.”

Brewer admits he didn’t know much about water quality before joining BlueInGreen, but said it was easier to be passionate about the work once he gained an understanding of what went on behind the scenes. And because he now has a greater appreciation for the processes and solutions that make water safer and cleaner, Brewer recognizes how undervalued water is as a commodity.

“We get mad at our cable bill [increases], but we’ll still pay it because we don’t want to lose ESPN,” he said. “But if somebody wants to raise the water bill 20 percent, the whole town goes berserk. But that’s really where you want your money going, to make sure your water is clean and protected.”

Because of his passion for startups, Brewer is also involved with Gravity Ventures, an angel capital fund based in Indiana and Arkansas that invests in early stage technology and tech-enabled businesses. The goal, Brewer says, is to raise the level of investing in Arkansas, in both venture capital and private equity, to accelerate economic growth in the state.

As for Northwest Arkansas’ growing reputation as a hub for ideas, entrepreneurs and tech companies, Brewer said there is talent in numbers.

As the Wal-Mart and vendor community have grown in the last decade, so too has the area’s talent level. The same can be said for the growth at the University of Arkansas, in both enrollment and aptitude.

“I couldn’t even get into the Walton College today,” joked Brewer, a 1987 UA finance grad and presently a member of the executive advisory board at the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business, which, incidentally, named him Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998. “The talent level is growing, and the ideas are there. It’s just a matter of putting these together.”

Brewer, who lives in Rogers with his wife, Tammy, said he believes BlueInGreen’s next opportunity will be to transition into a solutions company, and not just an equipment maker.

The interaction with customers and having a hand in accelerating their development is what he enjoys most about his job.

“I love watching a customer who has a problem have a solution provided to them,” he said. “And then you have a raving fan out there. And you can never have enough of those.”