MARYSVILLE — In the mid-1990s, when digital technology was quickly reshaping the world, Guy Cochran saw firsthand what it could do for pictures.
He developed film in a darkroom in high school. By college, he was using an early version of Photoshop.
A few years later, when he became a videographer, he worked with digital cameras that cost a tenth as much as film and analog alternatives.
“When digital video hit the scene, that’s when it all blew up for the entire industry,” said Cochran, 39.
The soft-spoken gear junkie now owns the online video equipment retailer DVeStore.com, which stands for “digital video e-store.” Headquartered on a quiet street near I-5 in Marysville, the warehouse stocks broadcast-grade microphones, lighting kits, green screens and sleek video cameras that shoot in 4K (twice the resolution of a high-def TV).
“When I started this, it was like my toy store,” he said. “That was really cool because I got to sort of fulfill this gear fetish of mine. It was always like Christmas day.”
DVeStore has shipped equipment to ESPN and Sony, to crew members of TV shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Jeopardy” and to universities around the country.
The store is on track to do $8 million in sales in 2014. Most orders are from customers outside of Washington, but a noteworthy slice of business comes from local companies that work face-to-face with Cochran.
“All the biggies you can think of: Microsoft, Amazon, Nintendo,” Cochran said.
DVeStore has furnished Amazon’s corporate offices with cameras, tripods and LED light panels, as well as outfitted all of their conference rooms with the latest video technology.
“They know that when their stuff breaks, we’ll have one in stock and I’ll run it down there to save their production, which I’ve had to do,” Cochran said.
That convenience is why Daniel Cardenas, creative director of Sierra Media in Everett, buys from DVeStore. A few years ago he needed something quickly but didn’t want to pay overnight shipping from an East Coast retailer. He drove up to Marysville, met Cochran and left with the equipment.
“It was delightful,” Cardenas said. “It’s great to be able to go there.”
With customers including Microsoft, Intel and Providence Medical, Cardenas needs to stock top-of-the-line video production equipment.
“It’s very specialized,” he said of DVeStore’s catalog. “It’s not a Best Buy. It’s pro gear.”
Such pro gear includes a $1,300 shotgun mic, $3,500 studio lighting kit and $7,500 audio mixer. There’s a rig with seven cameras controlled by joysticks and live stream video technology that broadcasts over cellular signals.
For much of this high-end stuff, Cochran says DVeStore is the only supplier in the Northwest.
Still, the bulk of their orders come from humbler clients: wedding videographers, amateur filmmakers, people starting YouTube channels — anyone looking to give their project a professional feel. These customers might try a $79 lavalier mic that hooks into an iPhone, or a $129 LED light that attaches to the top of a camera.
“Everybody has a different budget,” Cochran said.
Cochran’s first job in the industry was at a firm that made giant photo prints in Seattle. He eventually left to start his own videography company, Everett-based Pixel Motion.
In 2001, he was lured out to Los Angeles by a company called DVcreators, which makes video production tutorials, and shifted his focus to teaching others.
“I was doing a lot of traveling,” Cochran said. “I was teaching all over the country, I was just flying every other week somewhere.”
He led workshops full of teachers, each paying $700 to attend. He taught Apple employees, and remembers seeing Steve Jobs walk around.
In 2004, DVcreators asked Cochran to manage the equipment arm of the company, which only sold a handful of items but was bringing in about $100,000 annually. Cochran moved back to Washington and formed a new corporation, DVeStore. He settled into a building on the Mukilteo waterfront and more than doubled the store’s sales in the first year of business.
DVeStore set out to assemble a catalog of video production essentials, starting with a three-light kit.
“To make people look really good you’ve gotta understand lighting,” Cochran said. “It comes down to the quality of the light, the intensity, and learning how to adjust your camera settings to get that optimum exposure.”
Then they began selling microphones.
“Audio is 50 percent of your story,” he said. “If you get great audio, then you’re gonna have a great product. That’s what we’re trying to drill into people’s heads.”
Cochran started shooting — and starring in — videos where he compared the sound quality of different microphones. DVeStore’s YouTube channel became a destination for people looking to hear audio demos. That, along with going to trade-shows and being active in online videography forums, helped Cochran further bolster his reputation in the field.
Also adding to his industry cachet is that he remained an active videographer. Sasquatch! Music Festival, for example, hired him to shoot at its main stage in 2008. In a fit of rock star fury, the lead singer of the band The Mars Volta bent down in front of Cochran and tried to grab his $22,000 camera, but Cochran resisted, holding up a fist and threatening to punch the singer. (You can see the incident at 4:45 in this video:)
By 2008, DVeStore had hit $1 million in gross sales and needed more space. It also didn’t help that the bottom floor of the Mukilteo building was rented out by glassblower James Mongrain, a disciple of Dale Chihuly, so the continuous hum of the furnace affected the sound of videos shot in the studio. Cochran relocated the company to its current warehouse in Marysville.
While Cochran’s industry know-how and personal brand helped DVeStore’s sales, he was struggling with the business side of things. So in 2011, he enrolled in the Small Business Accelerator Program at Everett Community College, a yearlong course that teaches business strategy to companies with $500,000 to $15 million in sales.
The program inspired Cochran to buy QuickBooks, to get his finances in order and to leave as much capital as possible in the company at all times.
“All of a sudden it was like a light bulb went off,” he said. “We got more employees, we got in shape for the bank to loan us money.”
Travis Snider, the head instructor of the Small Business Accelerator Program, called Cochran “a leading edge entrepreneur” who “moves at lighting speed.”
“He’s calm, sensible — he makes these things seem simple,” Snider said. “I don’t see very many businesspeople that would even have the ability to think like he does.”
Cochran has since joined the program’s CEO Roundtable, a group of former students who gather with Snider to discuss the successes and woes of their companies.
“If it wasn’t for that class, this company would still have three employees, and I’d still be answering phones,” Cochran said.
DVeStore now has 11 full-time employees. They’re ditching QuickBooks and spending $100,000 for NetSuite’s Enterprise Resource Planning software. Their warehouse stocks over 1,000 different items and they sell a few dozen products through Amazon.com.
Cochran, who turns 40 in April, is married with four kids, two grandkids and a foster child. He unwinds by driving his 2006 Maserati Grand Sport with fellow members of the Ferrari Club of America, which organizes meetups of luxury car owners.
“We’ll go out on drives, and head to Mount Baker, Mount St. Helens or Mount Rainier and just go play on the backroads,” Cochran said.
In early September, DVeStore signed a letter of intent to lease the bottom floor of the former Herald building at 1213 California St. in downtown Everett. Cochran hopes being just a little farther south will help reach local customers who don’t realize the store is so close.
“Marysville seems far,” he said. “We’re hoping that our new move to Everett will entice people to come from Seattle.”
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