Voyager Industries' founders part ways

For the founders of Voyager Industries LLC, the subject of Year 2 of Springfield Business Journal's Evolution of an Enterprise series, 2009 already has been bittersweet.

The slow economy came down hard on co-founders Binh Uebinger and Josh Somers' airplane detailing business, and Somers decided in January to leave the company.

But as Uebinger was still getting over the split, he secured a deal at the Branson Airport that provides a vision for the company he's working to reorganize.

"Our niche was hit so hard financially," Uebinger said of recent months. "We were the first people to get cut out of these executive aircraft budgets."

Uebinger's first step in salvaging the startup efforts was mailing a notice to the Missouri secretary of state that Voyager Industries LLC would dissolve. He is undecided on a new name for what is now his ship to sail.

"We finally got realistic at the end of last year about what it was going to take to make it run," said Somers, who after getting married in September is going back to school full time at Ozarks Technical Community College.

"I was happy to take an inventory of my life and say, 'What do I need out of it?' I just wasn't willing to roll the dice on it anymore."

Investor Rick Williams, who has invested about $60,000 in the startup in exchange for part ownership, said that while Somers was integral to getting the company going, the co-founder's departure doesn't change Williams' role.

"They were always doing the heavy lifting; I was just doing the advising and offering experience to the process," he said.

Despite the setbacks, the company formerly known as Voyager is pressing ahead, and Branson is emerging as a key cog.

The company agreed in February to clean the interior of every general aviation aircraft that flies in and out of Branson Airport for an undisclosed monthly fee when that $155 million privately funded facility opens in May.

Sharon Morris, the airport's aviation director, said officials also are talking with Uebinger about cleaning the commercial planes moving through the facility.

AirTran Airways already has announced direct daily flights between Branson and both Atlanta and Milwaukee.

"When I came on board in October, there were a couple of other options on the table," she said. "I met with Binh, and it was a very good meeting. They had good pricing, they had the right image for what we're trying to do here, and it just seemed like a very good fit for us."

Uebinger said the Branson deal, which could mean as many as four planes a day, offers something the company had hoped to experience in its first year: steady work.

"It's going to allow all of the things we wanted to do last year - we really wanted to explore the Kansas City and Tulsa markets, and we couldn't," he said. "This is going to be daily income for us, seven days a week, 365 days a year."

He said the work also means hiring additional staff, though it's unclear how many more people will be needed.

Investor Williams said that the Branson Airport deal, combined with additional work in St. Louis, is like "spring after a hard winter."

"It was a hard time looking at bare ground, but now that the sprouts are coming up, I see nothing but excellent growth," he said.[[In-content Ad]]