Grandma’s garage to fully-fledged shop: Q&A with Dave Thornhill of Alphawerks

Dave Thornhill founded DW Vinylwerks in 2017, when he was forced to leave his job as a PE teacher to care for his ailing mother. He had already been vinyl wrapping bits and pieces on his own cars for around 3 years, but needed a way to support himself during a difficult family time.

8 years later, Dave owns and operates Alphawerks, the successor to DW Vinylwerks, in Santa Clara, CA. With 5 employees and dozens of cars moving through the shop each month, Dave represents the results that come from persistence, creative problem solving, and an unrelenting entrepreneurial attitude that other shop owners can bring to growth efforts in their new operations.

The journey from bottom-dollar color change wraps for his friends to becoming one of the most highly-rated consumer-facing vinyl, PPF, tint, and ceramic coating shops in the Bay Area was not without its many challenges. Arun sat down with Dave to discuss some of the lessons learned in the early days of starting your own restyling shop from the ground up. What started as a financial advisory relationship led to Arun buying a minority stake in Alphawerks, which has dramatically boosted the growth of the business in the past 9 months.

Q: What inspired you to get into wrapping cars in the first place?

DT: I’ve always loved modifying my cars, but in those early days I never had the money to pay someone else to do it for me. On my first Mustang, I wrapped a part of the trunk to match my aftermarket tail lights, and it opened up the world of using vinyl for cosmetic modifications on my cars.

Q: Was there something that triggered you to actually start a business?

DT: I wanted to legitimize Alphawerks as a real brand. I saw the potential in myself as I stacked up happy customers and decided to go for it.

Q: What were your start-up costs?

DT: I paid my Grandma $100 per month to use the electricity in her garage, about $150 total in the more basic vinyl wrap tools I could find, and my Dad’s tool set that he gave me to help disassemble cars.

Q: At what point did you really feel secure? I can imagine it was touch-and-go financially starting a new business, but was there a point where you felt like the business became more solid?

DT: It wasn’t long before I was able to replicate my income from prior jobs. I knew that as long as I could book one roof wrap or chrome delete job a day, I was solid.

Q: What was one of the hardest lessons you had to learn?

DT: Going above and beyond to make up for warranty work. I dealt with many unhappy customers as I worked to improve my wrapping skills, and definitely had to go the extra mile to take care of customers in situations where my work wasn’t good enough initially. I learned the benefit of practicing gratitude – every time that a customer gave me the opportunity to make it right by making the trip back to the garage for warranty work, I made it worth their time.

Q: What can a new business owner do to protect themselves from similar challenges?

DT: Set expectations up front. Sometimes vinyl wrap, window tint, and paint protection film installations aren’t perfect. We get rushed, even when we do our best not to, and even when following the process to the letter, some installations fail. Make sure customers are aware of that possibility, but still make it worth their while if they do have to come back.

Q: When did you decide it was time to move into your first shop?

DT: The day I realized I had five Teslas in front of my Grandma’s house, it was time to upsize my location.

Q: And how have things progressed since then?

DT: Many highs and many lows. Failed partnership, credit card debt, and COVID, but also the rollercoaster of a full shop one week, followed by an empty shop the next week. As overhead continued to grow, the pressure came on to keep marketing to keep the shop full. Fortunately, we have amazing customers who have really supported us with referrals, reviews, and returning for more work.

Q: How is the business doing today? What is your day-to-day role?

DT: Business is booming! Our social media presence has blown up as of late, recently hitting over 120k followers on Tik Tok. That’s helped push us up to 5 full-time employees and a steady stream of brand new Teslas flowing through the shop. I especially love the moment when a customer who really cares about their car gets to pick it up from us. Their excitement and gratitude for our work really puts the cherry on top of this work.