Q&A with Pavel Bosovik

Tawnie Wilson | SBJ

Pavel Bosovik

Pavel Bosovik began 27North Inc., a luxury expedition van company, in his mom’s garage in 2020. With 2025 revenue of approximately $15 million, Bosovik says he’s been able to achieve 100% growth year over year since he began. He says his company’s vans cost $199,000 to $399,000; trucks start at $399,000 and go to $1.5 million, depending on specs. The company opened a $6.5 million, 50,100-square-foot headquarters in 2024, according to Springfield Business Journal reporting, and on the day of its opening gala, Bosovik unveiled plans for a 330,000-square-foot expansion to the new location. He said he anticipates adding the new manufacturing space next year. And Bosovik has accomplished all of that before turning 30.

You seem to embrace opportunities as you encounter them. Do you identify as bold?
I would probably use the word my mom always calls me, which is brave, because the risk I take no longer impacts just me, but hundreds of families across the country. Customers, employees, contractors, banks, suppliers – they all rely on the decisions I make.

How did you get started in manufacturing luxury expedition vehicles?
I graduated from Mizzou in 2018. I was working for a homebuilder who inspired me and empowered me to realize, hey, if he can do it, I can do it, too. I sold my wife’s car without her knowing for $10,000; I sold our house and moved in with our parents, and out of my mom’s garage started 27North. I started with RV parts and service and quickly expanded to remodels, and I realized we were constantly fixing other people’s problems; why not fix the problem itself? We bought a few vans, converted them and posted them on Facebook. It went viral, and we’ve been growing about 100% year over year ever since.

It’s an unusual industry; I’m wondering how you discovered it even existed.
I didn’t. I just knew I wanted something very specific. We were remodeling RVs into almost like a hybrid between a boat and an airplane – bringing in superior products, so when you stepped inside, it literally felt like a yacht. When we couldn’t find anything on the market, even though there were a few companies that existed, we thought, well, why don’t we be the pioneers of this space? Once we got into it, we quickly realized we were one of a handful of companies in the U.S. that build RVs like yachts – very high quality.

What differentiates 27North from a typical RV manufacturer?
I am bold to say that a majority of RV manufacturers take advantage of people. People don’t know that they’re putting their life savings into something that’s not what it’s designed to be. An average motorhome will spend about three months to a year in service. If you’re traveling for three years of your retirement before you have to give up full-time travel for health reasons, that means you’re spending one of those three years in service. Imagine working your whole life only to spend a third of your retirement in service centers and dealing with shops and sitting on hold with 1-800 numbers. Our average customer right now spends three days a year in service, and we center those times around when they need regular maintenance, like an oil change.

Do you consider your youth an advantage to you in manufacturing?
I don’t have as many biases – I haven’t been corrupted by assumptions about “This is the way it’s always been done.” I’m not from this industry, so I come in, and I’ve had times where I’ve said, “Quite frankly, I don’t care that this is how it’s done in the RV industry; here’s how we are going to do it.” It’s an advantage to anyone who is going to start their entrepreneurial journey – don’t do it how it’s been done. You have to come in and really reinvent it or redefine it if you want to have ultra success.

How did you come up with that philosophy?
I think about the Wright brothers all the time – they’re a big inspiration to me. They took bicycle components and made the first airplanes, and for our expedition trucks, we took an upside-down boat mold that we’ve modified and configured to build our trucks out of. Our philosophy is it’s got to be multigenerational, meaning it’s not a three- to seven-year product. 

That doesn’t sound like an ideal model for repeat sales. What am I missing?
I’m saddened by where household appliances are – they’re built to last five to seven years because they want you to buy a new one. What I’ve learned in our industry is if you show quality and loyalty, they’ll come in and trade up for the next best thing. Just this week we had a customer trade in a two-year-old van for a new-model truck and ended up sending an additional $300,000. 

Is it strange to achieve so much before the age of 30?
I feel like I definitely don’t deserve it, and that keeps me rooted. But anytime doubt comes into my mind, I always ask myself what I would do if I knew I wouldn’t fail. I remember when I was in my mom’s garage, and I told some of my friends and family that I was going to build this factory here, and I showed them the picture. And I said the governor is going to come and speak at this event. Everyone thought I was crazy, but that’s exactly what happened.