[mike@x-ph.com]

The amount of time people waste searching for a magic shortcut to success never stops surprising me. Truth be told, the only real path is staring them right in the face. It’s about mastering a skill and then getting to work! It’s about ideas, opportunities, partners, and hard earned work. It’s about real entrepreneurs who start real businesses who provide real products and services to REAL people. Now I know that’s a mouth full, but if you think about it, didn’t that sum it all up?

You know our brand to be a popular car performance parts vendor, what you don’t know is the trials and tribulations it took us to get that brand name. My name is Mike and I am the owner of Extreme Powerhouse, and I’d like to share with you just how bumpy this roller roaster ride was.

It all started on a car forum named E90post. Little did I know at the time that this would be where I would meet my future business partner. After all, we’re all strangers with just one common interest, cars! His name is Mark. After many interesting conversations and long weeks passing by, we realized we both had (what we thought) were amazing ideas for a new company! After all, we were both software engineers. Safe to say we’re geniuses right? … No? … Ok. Either way we both shared a passion for cars and we’re big enthusiasts! So here come together these two strangers who decide to launch Extreme Powerhouse as a hobby.

The first order of business was to draw up our business plan, then came the building of the website. Now Mark and I were both working full time jobs, and since this was supposed to be a hobby, we couldn’t dedicate as much time as we should have to building it. Most of the website work was done on the weekends, or realistically on an airplane. See, I used to travel across the country for work quite often. I took advantage of the 10 hour flights done on a weekly basis to get the website up and running already. Launching the company was supposed to take 3 weeks, but it took 3 exhausting months. Unfortunately, working on a 15’ Dell Inspiron during a red eye flight when you are traveling economy is not a great experience to say the least. Every time I had to type something, I found myself elbowing the person sleeping next to me.

On August 4th, 2013 the legal documentation for Extreme Powerhouse had been submitted!

We contacted numerous manufacturers to discuss with them our business plan but that didn’t go as well as we had hoped. Majority of them did not want anything to do with us, could be due to the lack of experience, or capital, realistically probably both. Like any newly starting business, budget was our biggest issue. So we decided to create our own website instead of paying a graphic designer to do it. Because we’re geniuses remember…

After weeks of hard work the website was complete but we featured very few vendors. We did save money by creating the website ourselves. It turned out GREAT! … Just kidding, we soon realized that we were in way over our heads since the website looked awful, but we were broke so we stuck with it for 2 years.

Comparison image below


Launching Extreme Power House turned out to be harder than either one of us anticipated. At that time though we were just so ecstatic to finally have something live and running for our customers and vendors to view! I know the website isn’t as great as it should have been, but it’s Mark’s fault anyway. Since he’s not with XPH anymore, I find it easier to blame him for everything that went wrong during that time.

9 days after launching our website we get a call from a large vendor threatening to file a lawsuit against XPH. The lawsuit was never filed, but due to that circumstance we lost one of the few manufacturers who had signed on with us from the start.

So now we have a website that isn’t very impressive to say the least. It was taking us much longer than planned to get the company up and running. The number of manufacturers that we were in contract with was embarrassing low. Then we get backlashed with a threatening lawsuit from a very important vendor. Basically the future of Extreme powerhouse looked as bright as the inside of a trash can. Did that stop us? No. We had this one shot to follow our passion; nothing was going to get in the way of that.

We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, but we saw mistakes as opportunities to learn and get better! Our customers were happy with our service and dedication and that was enough for us to keep going! However, our competitors weren’t too happy… Then again nobody cares about them.

6 months after the initial launch of XPH website this hobby was becoming a clear reality for more potential. It took me another 6 months after that to finally have the courage to make XPH my official career. So here I was quitting a steady engineering job for a company that was barely making enough to cover its expenses at the end of the month. Genius remember? Not at all. At that time it could have possibly been one of the worst decisions I could have made, but after 3 years of dedication, I couldn’t be happier!

We slowly started developing our name brand and building a book of business. We had dedicated employees and loyal customers. The website was upgraded into what we always visualized it should have been from the start and I’m beyond happy with the progress.

I’m proud to say XPH now offers products from over 150 manufacturers! Not to mention the thousands of loyal and supporting customers we have that’s allowed XPH to even stay in business! Now I know we still have a lot of room for progress and growth, but I’m happy with what we’ve made of XPH so far.

If you’re still reading this,

Wait…

Are you still reading this? Seriously?

On a serious note though thank your for taking the time to get to know me and XPH. Please share with me your experiences with Extreme Power House during the last 3 years. I’m hoping that by the 5th year anniversary, I can go back and review your comments and the progression we would have made in the last 2 years.

I found over 85 reviews on different forums and social media outlets from customers sharing their experience with Extreme Power House. I would like to thank every single one for spreading the good word!

I will end this awfully long post by sharing with you the first review Extreme Power House ever got 3 years ago and last review since I started writing this.

- Mike

First review:

“So, I've been looking for an exhaust for my 335 for what seems like forever, and was not keen on the sound of the HPF exhaust I bought previously. So, I thought, let's put the feelers out there on the AE quad exhaust. I've always wanted this exhaust, but was never ready to pull the trigger. Well, After one quick pm to Mike, I knew it was finally going to happen. This man made one of my dreams come true and I couldn't be any more thankful!!! After my first message, Mike responded in maybe 30 minutes at the most, and was incredibly helpful and patient with me through the ordering process. The price was perfect, and he guided me through the ordering process the entire way. Everything he quoted me, as far as price shipping, timeframe, etc was all spot on and though I couldn't see his face through the pm's, I like to imagine he did it all with a smile. I will certainly be keeping Mike on my approved/goto vendor list when I need any performance or cosmetic parts in the future. Just so you guys can all get a look at the quality of the items Mike sells out of his shop, I've posted a few pictures below just to illustrate that he only sells the highest quality parts, and at some of the best prices with some of the best customer service. Kudos Mike and keep up all of the great work!!! Finally, if you are looking for an exhaust...PM Mike@x-ph . com at www.extremepowerhouse.com already!!!”

Last review:

“Mike is awesome! Prices are unbeatable. I'd recommend calling him for any questions. I recently purchased BMS stage 1 for 335 and was on the fence about bms intake. Mike didn't try n sell any alleged hp gains, told me "it would make it sound great, but that's it." I appreciate that kind of honesty. He was super quick with getting products shipped out, (same day) and immediately responded to a few more questions I had.”

[thaar]

Thanks for your support in this community. I have bought a few things from XPH and couldn't be happier. I've experienced ordering on the website, as well as talking to you directly, and both were solid. The advice you provided (over PM/email and phone) was honest and very helpful, and the prices were awesome. Bottom line - great prices and great service. Keep it up! Cheers!

[Gohan335i7]

I got this sent straight to my email! Great story ! This company rules!!🖖😝🖖

[asquared]

Mike is absolutely a good dude. To have dealt with him face to face, he maintains professionalism with the utmost respect. Thanks for all you do man and for your contribution to this community, both here and locally.

-Amer

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by thaar

Thanks for your support in this community. I have bought a few things from XPH and couldn't be happier. I've experienced ordering on the website, as well as talking to you directly, and both were solid. The advice you provided (over PM/email and phone) was honest and very helpful, and the prices were awesome. Bottom line - great prices and great service. Keep it up! Cheers!

Thank you for the kind words

Originally Posted by Gohan335i7

I got this sent straight to my email! Great story ! This company rules!!������

Originally Posted by asquared

Mike is absolutely a good dude. To have dealt with him face to face, he maintains professionalism with the utmost respect. Thanks for all you do man and for your contribution to this community, both here and locally.

-Amer

Thanks Amer!!

By the way guys, Amer does the best walnut blasting job for a very reasonable price
If you are in Vegas and need it done on your car, hit him up

[TrollToll]

Did I go into the vender forum on accident?

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Yournamehere90

Did I go into the vender forum on accident?

In case you have not noticed, this is not a sale thread.


I feel bad for you if you cannot appreciate a story of 2 enthusiasts that started from nothing and worked hard day in and day out to build a highly reputable company like Extreme Power House and the fact that it all started on this forum.


I know you are always on troll mode and you always seem to have something against me, but sometimes its better to just skip a thread instead of posting a useless comment