Meet Rich Renken | General Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rich Renken and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rich, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I did not start my own business but I am now the General Manager for a boutique guitar shop. I am doing the job and it was kind of a surprise to me that I am good at it. But then I was reading an article about why Product Managers make great General Managers. It became clear. When you work as a Product Manager, you have to work many departments such as Marketing, Sales, the Executive Team, Engineering, Supply Chain, Service, Legal etc. and get them to do what is needed for your product and yet none of them are under your authority. You have to lead by influence. As it turns out, this is a great way to get a team of folks that are under you to work together for a goal.

What should our readers know about your business?
The most important thing, and the thing I share with young people all the time, is that EVERYTHING LEADS TO SOMETHING. The most important thing you can do is to do whatever is in front of you and do it well. I am a General Manager for James Tyler Guitars. I came in 4 years ago and took production up 133%. How did this happen? Well, it all started by stripping wall paper at Jim’s’ home when there wasn’t enough guitar work when I worked from him in the 80s. I could have complained because I wanted to work for him to build guitars. But I didn’t. I did what was in front of me to do. He would also have me help him with the year end books back in the days of paper legers. Again, I didn’t sign up to do that and pay the bills etc. Well, how did I go from that to running a guitar shop? My next job in the 90s was setting up guitars for Fernandes Guitars. Shortly after starting with them our account payable person left. I stepped up and said, hey, I did this type of thing for James Tyler, I am sure I can do it for us. They gave me the AP job and over the course of 10 years I became the controller. I was AP as well as Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Human Recourses etc etc. I left this job and then met a guy who worked for Line 6 and they were hiring a Product Manager. He knew I would be great for the product but his boss told him to ask me if I had any financial experience. Well guess what? I did have financial experience. This lead to 7 years of making killer products for Line 6 and then 5 years making killer products for KRK under Gibson. Gibson moved KRK to Nashville and then covid hit and I came back to Tyler to help out and turned it into an even more thriving business using the experience I gained as a Product Manager. Do whatever is in front of you with all your might.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First and foremost, I take everyone I can to Musso and Frank Grille in Hollywood. I love to bring people to Griffith Observatory and to the Getty Center. Hollywood and Highland is a great place if they have never been to LA. Another super fun thing I like to do is bring people to the amazing jazz music club, The Baked Potato. Now if I want to be more touristy, I love to bring them to Universal City Walk and Universal Studios or Disneyland. Santa Monica Pier and the beach is also a blast.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Wow, that is one loaded question. I would like to shoutout James Tyler, Marcus Ryle, Darrel Smith, Bryan Carlstrom as mentors. The number one book that changed my life would be Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

Website: https://www.rev4audio.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/richrenken

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richrenken/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stprich