Setting sail...

North by Northeast Enterprises was launched in 2011 when accomplished attorney, seasoned sailor and entrepreneur Steven Scott was on a search for a custom, luxury ‘one of a kind’ housewarming gift for close friends that had moved to a new home.  After an unsuccessful search and while driving to his family’s summerhouse on Fire Island, he thought back to his experiences learning to navigate during his years sailing.  He was saddened by how GPS had almost eliminated the need for celestial navigation skills using old, familiar tools like a sextant, nautical charts and the sun and stars—the disappearance of an old art.  It was then that the idea for the perfect gift struck him; utilize mapping software to locate the coordinates of his friend’s home and engrave a set of crystal glasses with the latitude and longitude of their new home. Solving the engraving task presented its own set of challenges, but succeed he did and gift in hand, he enclosed a short note--Never lose your way—with the glasses and presented them to his friends. The housewarming gift was a big hit and soon others were asking Steve where/how to purchase the glasses.  From there, North by Northeast Enterprises and a great slogan was born.

Not as easy as it seems…

Of course there were a few challenges along the way to developing custom product for a wider audience.  Would the coordinates be correct?  Could the highest quality glassware be used for laser etching?  Knowing the importance of exactness when sailing, Steve took great pride in researching the best mapping software to be sure that the same accuracy measures would be applied with his product idea.  It took months and the need to merge several software programs together before he achieved the precision he was looking for.

Next was how to locate the proper luxury glasses that could withstand the laser etching process to deliver the utmost sophistication.  It took the help of a local engraving business, a friend in the graphic design world and finding expertly produced glassware by Riedel and Stolzle to have a saleable product.  Originally conceived of as a sideline business to accompany Steve’s other business and legal interests, the business chugged along with word of mouth orders filtering in mostly during wedding season and at the holidays.

Re-inspired

Steve was always interested in growing the business, however he didn’t commit his full-time attention to North by Northeast until late in 2014 after spending time recovering from a health scare that caused him to re-evaluate his course in life. During that Fall, he received a large order for multiple wedding gifts and inspired by his company’s motto ‘never lose your way’, he began to ramp up the business, developing a website and marketing strategy. With a website and marketing strategy firmly in place, the orders started to pour in.  A large order for wedding favors first arrived proving that there was greater demand for the company’s products, next were real-estate agent closing gifts, corporate gifts orders, individual holiday gifts and more.

Today

North by Northeast Enterprises has grown 300% in sales since launching their website in April of 2015.   NXNE affirms the highest standards in custom luxury giftware and looks forward to the addition of new products in the years to come.

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