Riding high: entrepreneur's motorcycle helmets fuel company's success

Black Enterprise, Nov, 2008 by Tamara E. Holmes

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WHILE STATIONED IN JAPAN AS A U.S. NAVY PILOT IN 2002, Kerry Harris took to riding a motorcycle to better navigate the heavy traffic. But there was one problem: "It gets hot," says Harris, a native of Canton, Ohio. "And when you start to perspire inside the helmet, the visor fogs up." A tinkerer by nature, Harris attacked the problem, outfitting his helmet with computer fans and batteries.

The result: rather than flip up the visor to get air flowing, a mere push of a button would do the trick. Harris eventually went from recreation to inspiration, and launched IHT Technology Inc. in San Antonio. The company generated revenues of $1 million last year.

At first, Harris, 38, had no plans to start a business. But by 2004, after friends kept bringing their helmets to him to outfit, Harris recalls, "it dawned on me that I might be onto something." So he focused on creating a wireless power system integrated into the helmet.

Startup capital consisted of personal savings and investments by family and friends. While he estimates that he spent $250,000 in the first couple of years, it was pay-as-you-go. "It was not a high-tech operation," recalls Harris, who began the company with more confidence than cash.

Initially, Harris intended to sell the patent for the technology to other helmet manufacturers, but one by one they turned him down. So he focused on selling his own helmets instead--and the brand Akuma Helmets was born. Harris found a factory in China that could mass produce his helmets, but quickly realized that working with contractors from afar presented its own problems. "They had used cheap parts and hadn't followed my instructions," he says.

Rather than look for a new factory, Harris traveled to China beginning a tradition that he says is at the heart of his success.

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"Every factory that produces a product for me I go there. I roll up my sleeves, and I sit on the lines and build it for them and with them," asserts Harris. He says the workers are impressed. "They've never seen that before."

This year, the power sports industry trade show, Dealer Expo, voted the Akuma Stealth Helmet one of the season's top 10 products. In addition to selling helmets to consumers, IHT is considering licensing its technology to other helmet manufacturers. Such a deal could be worth from $500,000 to $10 million.

And for year-end 2008, Harris says the seven-employee company is on track to make $3.5 million in revenues.

In addition, IHT's helmets are sold worldwide, in places such as Canada, Brazil, and Spain, among others.

IHT Technology Inc.; 6502 Bandera Rd., Suite 212, San Antonio, TX 78238; 888-IHT-AKUMA; www.iht-technology.com