Mike McKay
January 14, 2025

In another inspiring Success Chronicles episode, Roy Dietsch, the founder of PartsBadger, shares how his passion for racing inspired his entrepreneurial journey. Growing up in Wisconsin, Roy’s racing dreams led him to start his first business at 19, buying and selling parts to fund his racing activities. Over time, his entrepreneurial endeavors expanded, including a company that sold in-car cameras before pivoting to aviation cameras. In 2016, he founded PartsBadger, focusing on providing streamlined access to manufacturing for a variety of industries. Roy emphasizes his company’s ability to handle everything from prototyping to production, aiming to simplify the sourcing process for clients.
Throughout the conversation, Roy delves into the importance of company culture and management. Drawing from various leadership philosophies, he highlights the significance of genuinely caring for employees, which he believes fosters intrinsic motivation and a positive work environment. He also discusses his company’s bold vision for the future, particularly its innovative approach to automating the production of small batches of custom parts. Roy encourages budding entrepreneurs to be audacious, test their ideas rapidly, and stay flexible as they navigate the early stages of business development, offering a refreshing perspective on growth and leadership.
Podcast Transcript:
Mike McKay: Alright, hello, everybody. Coach Mike McKay here. I’m excited to have Roy from PartsBadger with me today. Roy mentioned that he races, but he hasn’t shared much about it yet. I’m going to ask him a question about that because, frankly, I think it’s cool—and I’m the one doing the interviewing! So, welcome aboard, Roy. Thanks for joining us.
Roy Dietsch: Yeah, great to be here. I appreciate it.
Mike: Tell us a little about your background and story. Where were you born? What led you to start PartsBadger? And we’re going to talk about racing.
Roy: Absolutely. I was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Waukesha. Later, I moved to Central Wisconsin and lived on a farm during my formative years—middle school through high school. After that, I went back to the Milwaukee area for college. I did my undergrad at UWM, and I started my business after graduating.
Mike: Did you start PartsBadger right after college?
Roy: Yeah, funny enough, my whole career kind of stems from racing. As soon as I got my driver’s license, I wanted to race cars. Back then, I did parking lot cone racing and loved it. But real racing is expensive, and as a college kid from a farming background, money was tight. Starting a business was the only way I could afford it, so that’s how my entrepreneurial journey began.
Mike: Let me stop you there. I love that. We deal with businesses every day, and my background is in big corporations. Here’s the truth: if you’re working a regular job and dreaming about becoming an entrepreneur, listen up. The only way to make big money is to start your own business. It’s more fun and way more lucrative. I had to say that. Alright, sorry to interrupt—go on, Roy.
Roy: No problem. So, at 19, I needed money for racing. I started by salvaging Mazda Miatas—buying them, parting them out, and selling the parts for a profit. That covered a couple of racing seasons and gave me my first taste of business. While racing, I got into in-car cameras and met my first business partner. Back then, we used camcorders and small external cameras to record races. After college, we launched a company selling these cameras.
Eventually, we pivoted to selling cameras for aviation—general aviation and helicopters. Like most businesses, it was an odd journey. At one point, we needed machined parts for our recorders, and I found the process of sourcing them incredibly difficult. I thought it should be easier. That’s what led to starting PartsBadger in 2016.
Mike: Are you doing actual machining now?
Roy: That’s part of what we do. Initially, when we started the company, we didn’t have any manufacturing capacity. We relied on a network of manufacturers. Now, we’re connected with manufacturers in China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam, as well as many in the United States.
In this facility behind me, we have 15,000 square feet of space. We have several millions of dollars of equipment, and we do in-house manufacturing as well. But we started by building a network and then grew from there.
What we focus on is connecting the right manufacturing capacity to the innovators—whether they’re engineers or supply chain buyers. We aim to streamline that process. Sometimes it makes sense for us to make the part, and other times, it’s better for one of our partners to handle it.
Mike: Do you handle prototyping?
Roy: Yes, we do. We do a little bit of everything. One of the challenges in buying parts is that the market is fragmented. Some shops focus solely on prototyping, others on production, and many specialize in specific industries like aerospace or oil and gas. That fragmentation makes sourcing parts a hassle, especially if you need a variety. We aim to solve that. Through our network and in-house capabilities, we handle everything—prototypes, production, and parts for any industry. Whatever the need, we can likely make it happen.
Mike: That’s awesome. We coach NAPA, the company behind NAPA Auto Parts, and they take pride in their long tail, keeping parts available for a long time. But they also outsource a lot to custom shops since some parts just aren’t made anymore. It’s great that you all can step in and do custom work. You’ve answered a lot of my questions already, but tell me more about the racing you mentioned. You said people from your company participate in endurance racing?
Roy: Yeah. There are a lot of great series out there now for road racing at tracks like Road America, Watkins Glen, and Sebring in Florida. We’re part of a group, and we have a team called Team PartsBadger. We’ve got a car, and employees help out, either as crew or drivers. We compete in races that last anywhere from seven to 24 hours. At the last race I was in, we raced against 85 other cars over seven hours. It takes a lot of teamwork, and as a driver, you get plenty of seat time, which is a blast. We do driver changes, pit stops, and lots of strategy and mechanical work. The series also allows car development, which uses a range of skills. It’s a lot of fun.
Mike: Is that part of your unique hiring approach, where you all get to socialize together, or is it just a natural outcome of what you do?
Roy: It’s more informal, but we have a saying: “PartsBadger—the place for cat people, car people, and all-around audacious mofos.” I don’t know if I can say that here, but we even have a shirt with that slogan. It reflects our informal culture. We’re full of car enthusiasts, but beyond that, we look for team players—people who accept that mistakes happen, take responsibility for them, and work well in a team. Those folks thrive here, and it definitely carries over to racing.
Mike: That’s great. We always tell people: run your company well, and you’ll make more money, but culture is key. If you’re struggling to hire, creating an attractive workplace is critical, and that comes down to culture.
Roy: Yeah, for sure. And if I could dive into that point, what we’ve discovered in developing our culture and what I’ve seen compared to other places where people may have worked before is that it’s very different here. The key thing we emphasize in our management training is that the first priority for any manager is to truly care about their people. You need to genuinely care about who they are, what they’re going through, and what they’re trying to achieve. Without this, you can’t effectively manage.
Once you have that foundation of care, which we support through bi-weekly one-on-ones to really get to know each other, you can begin to build from there. It’s important to ensure that people are taken care of outside of work. If someone has a sick child or is dealing with an unstable housing situation, it’s going to affect their performance. As a manager, your role is to help facilitate so that they can perform their best at work. From there, we build the culture. But it all starts with caring, and if you want to retain people, that’s the key.
Mike: The fact that you do management training is impressive. How did you develop that philosophy? It aligns perfectly with how we view the world: only small businesses care about their communities. Did someone guide you, or did you figure it out on your own?
Roy: I’ve always seen business as a science. Back when we started, one of our first employees and I worked together to really dive into understanding the essence of motivation. We began with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, then moved on to McClelland and Alderfer, and eventually Ryan and Deci. From there, we developed a philosophy around intrinsic motivation.
This idea can be seen in management philosophies, like Andy Grove’s at Intel, which later influenced management approaches at companies like Google and Facebook, particularly with the use of OKRs. A key part of this was the one-on-one interaction with employees, where leadership truly cares and takes the time to meet with them. Successful businesses consistently show that they know and care about their people, ensuring that their teams are intrinsically motivated.
We built our system around this concept, asking ourselves: how do we create intrinsically motivated individuals? First, it’s about taking care of their basic needs—hygiene, safety, security, home situation, and financial well-being. Then, we focus on making them feel part of the team, giving them autonomy in areas where they’re competent, and ensuring we reinforce these efforts with praise. A culture of fairness is also essential. When all these factors are in place, you cultivate intrinsically motivated individuals. This approach was something I saw reflected in successful businesses, and we built everything on that foundation.
Mike: Is there someone who’s been a key influence on you, beyond all the leadership books you’ve read? I mean, you’ve gone through a lot—it’s like a murderer’s row of leadership studies. Most people won’t put that level of effort into it.
Roy: Yeah, you know, my passion is racing, but I also really enjoy business as a science. I get a kick out of reading, learning new things, and experimenting. As for people who’ve influenced me, there have been so many that it’s hard to name them all. But I think it really started with the Scale Up Milwaukee program. Elmer Moore Jr. ran that program at the time, and he opened my eyes. I didn’t think I could be a good manager, but he encouraged me to see that I could learn and figure it out. That shift in mindset led me to invest the same energy into becoming a good manager as I did in starting the business. From there, I worked on building a strong culture and team.
I’ve also benefited from being part of MMAC, The Roundtables, and the Venture Mentoring Services program, which Chris Abele’s group brought in. We’ve been involved with that for about a year and a half now. On top of that, the team we’ve built has been a significant influence.
Mike: I like the science-based approach. For us, it’s about having a hypothesis for every business decision. Do you have the right testing plan in place to see if it works? And are you committed enough to stick with it for 90 days to evaluate results?
Roy: Absolutely.
Mike: That’s awesome. So, what’s next for you and your organization?
Roy: I’d say the word is audacity. We started the company with bold ambitions and have continued to grow it in an equally ambitious way. Now, we’re well-positioned with a great team, solid financial backing, and all the resources needed to fundamentally transform manufacturing. We’re 21 months into a software development project focused on automating the production of quantity one items.
While robots have been used since the ’80s to automate large-scale production, the future of manufacturing is moving toward smaller batches and greater responsiveness. Our goal is to automate the production of individual items. We’ve invested significant resources into this initiative, which we believe will not only reduce the cost of parts—thanks to much lower labor requirements—but also enable us to offer turnaround times of just 3 to 7 days, which is unheard of in this industry. We’ve already tested the program and are getting ready to go live soon, and I’m really excited about what’s to come.
Mike: That’s exciting! Here’s a surprise question I like to ask: is there something you wish I’d asked you about?
Roy: You mentioned some questions earlier about topics like this, and I think it’s important to address them, especially for budding entrepreneurs who are considering starting a business. How do you get started, and what should you focus on? I want to highlight that there’s a big difference between the stages of going from zero to one, then from one to ten, and then scaling beyond ten—whether that refers to the number of employees or millions in revenue.
When you’re in that zero to one phase, my advice is to be audacious. As you mentioned with testing, run a lot of experiments—do dozens a day if you can. Be as lean as possible. A great resource for this is The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. The key is rapid testing, because even when we started PartsBadger, I had a completely different vision for the business than what it turned out to be.
We ran a lot of tests and figured out where the market was and how to grow. I actually put together a business plan, but the company ended up looking nothing like what I wrote in that plan.
Business plans are great for banks, but not for running a business—especially in the zero to one phase. So if you’re thinking about making the leap, just be ready to test a lot, stay excited, and have fun. Don’t worry about making everything perfect—just keep trying and be audacious.
Mike: Yeah, awesome. I really appreciate your time, Roy. Roy Dietsch from PartsBadger. You’re the kind of person I wish everyone could think like—focused on people and understanding the science of business. Once you have more than just a couple of people, a business becomes its own entity, doing the work for you. It’s so inspiring to hear someone else working in that model: develop, develop, develop, and take care of the people. Thanks again for being part of the program.
Roy: Thank you for the opportunity.