Armed with a BA in Philosophy and hands-on automotive mechanic skills honed during a year-long odyssey traveling North America in a 1972 VW camper van, Todd Sager embarked on his entrepreneurial journey in 1991. He set up shop in a modest 100-square-foot, single-bay converted horse stable with no running water. Inspired by his passion for air-cooled and water-cooled engine Volkswagens and Porsches, he named his venture Air and Water Enterprises.
With Sager’s grassroots marketing efforts, he embraced online channels, partnered with a software development company and the reputation grew wildly. By 2000, revenues were doubling year over year and an expansion to a larger facility and an expanded parts offering made AWE into the powerhouse it is today in the manufacturing industry.
AWE has one vision: to unlock performance. From award-winning handcrafted performance exhausts to track-tested carbon fiber intakes and performance intercoolers, AWE innovates, designs, manufactures, retails and distributes at a state-of-the-art headquarters outside of Philadelphia.
“Through carefully crafted disruptive initiatives, Todd led AWE’s charge into huge markets that had been owned for decades by other well-entrenched famous brands,” said his staff. “The last 31 years have been a wild ride, with the majority of the business’ growth happening in the last six years due to Todd’s confidence and vision that AWE’s world-class production technicians and IP were now ready to be unleashed on the entirety of the automotive enthusiast world.”
Sager’s success has led to prominent awards and accolades including being named a finalist for the SEMA’s manufacturer of the year award, recognition by Apple as a business case spotlight, and a utility patent by USPTO for AWE’s 180 Technology sound cancellation design.
“Notably, Sager spearheaded a highly successful disruptive sales and marketing strategy just as the pandemic emerged, resulting in a remarkable doubling of company revenue within a mere two years,” said his staff. “He takes particular pride in AWE’s transformation from a humble startup in a back alley to a dominant force in deeply entrenched, high-profile, multi-billion-dollar markets.”
As a leader, Sager said that he is committed to employee engagement, empowering everyone in the company to make positive change, and providing vision and direction. His superpower? “I have the ability to stand back and quietly observe the entirety of what is in front of me in order to see the big picture,” said Sager. “Revenue is a false profit; always manage your business with a clear, consistent profit and loss statement and balance sheet, along with proper working capital reserves, and never abdicate this responsibility to someone else.”
