We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mat Rosa. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mat below.

Mat, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

One of the biggest trends we’re seeing in the RV and camper van industry is a lot more focus on sophisticated electrical systems. Advancements in lithium batteries have made them more affordable over the years. We’ve seen a huge shift away from generators towards these silent and exhaust-free options that are allowing folks to stay out off the-the-grid with plenty of power to keep all their appliances running for days.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I built out my first van on a shoestring budget for a surf trip up and down the U.S. East coast, with no real schedule or itinerary in mind. It was a cheap old van off Craigslist. I built everything by hand, from the cabinets and shower to the deck on the roof. I grew up working with my family’s carpentry business and spent a few years working on boats, so I had the general idea of how most of the systems were supposed to work. Pretty much everything that could have broken did, so it was a lot of troubleshooting and fixing things on the fly. I cringe when looking back at pictures of how rough around the edges that first van was, but it was a blast and I learned a lot.

I was trying to launch two startups, a travel website and a wind energy business, both were failing fast and I needed income, so in the meantime, I thought I’d flip another van. Back to Craigslist with my last handful of cash, another van, slightly newer and nicer than the last one. I had to get more organized, tracking expenses, buying better tools, paying for marketing. Eventually, I was making a little bit of profit. Not much, but enough to drop my other startup ideas and try to make this an actual business. I had been working outside under shade tents for the past two years, so it was time to invest in an actual shop. I happened to be in Miami at the time and found the only shop I could afford in a not-so-great neighborhood. The landlord thought I was crazy, a guy from New England down here, wanting to rent a place to turn work vans into campers? In a few days, I had my first job building a van for a client, and hired a carpenter to help me. Outside the shop was a mango tree. It was in season and ripe, delicious fruit was falling at my feet. I took it as a good sign, and Mango Vans was born. I got a few cans of orange and green spray paint and painted a big mango with wheels on the wall in the shop. It was scary but exciting.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The best asset to help build our reputation in this industry has been our clients. Every project we do is custom, designed specifically for the owner. It’s a long process from concept to completion, you need to build trust that our design will meet their needs, and the quality of our work will stand up to the earthquake of driving down bumpy roads across the country. We’re very transparent about schedule and budget, my goal has always been to underpromise and over deliver. Our clients are travelers and often go where other folks have camper vans, and most of them really like talking about their rigs. Word of mouth is our best friend, when people look inside one of our vans and talk to the owners about the process of working with us, that’s the best marketing you can ask for. Instagram and YouTube are of course very important ways to build a reputation in an industry like ours. All the shops put out the nicely staged photos of their finished vans out in beautiful landscapes. But, more important than the finished product is showing the happy clients picking up their van, or having them give a testimonial in a video, this is the verification that proves a company does good work and what builds a solid reputation.

Any advice for managing a team?

My advice to manage a team with high morale is to hire people you like to be around, then let them make decisions. I’ve found building vans to be more art than science, since there’s no strict recipe, and a lot of room for creative problem solving. We are in a niche market doing pretty unique work, so it’s rare to find a prospective new hire who has already proven they already know how to do what we do. We look for the basic set of skills, but really having the right personality to mesh with the team and be eager to learn are just as important. Each new project needs unique solutions to meet the client’s wants. Everybody in our shop has a voice when it comes to figuring out the challenges each day brings. A client comes in to check on the status of their build, the newest worker gives a tour and shows the novel solution they came up with for whatever specific need that customer wanted. That gives huge pride to the members of our crew who feel appreciated. This is also important for the client to get to see behind the scenes of all the physical and mental work that goes into building one of these vans. This keeps our team motivated and excited to come in and work on fresh challenges everyday.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mangovans.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mangovans/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vansmango
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosamat/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mangovans