He didn't study the industry. He was the industry.

The cover feature

Cover story on Coastal Empire Exteriors by Jim Cory — the trade press documenting the run while it was happening, not remembering it afterward.

No. 212 on America's fastest-growing companies

576.5% three-year growth. The only local company on the list that year. This is the actual supplier congratulations piece that hung in the showroom — Inc.'s own listing snapshot on it.

Five straight years, published

The QR Top 500 lists documented the whole arc as it happened: #289 → #246 → #168 → #146 → #159, revenue $3.1M → $6.98M, jobs 250 → 561 a year. Archived copies are permanent on the Internet Archive:

2006 list (PDF)  ·  2007 list, #146  ·  2008 list, #159

"Cross Sell Sunrooms and Windows" — Jim Cory

"Kip Lee and his wife, Sandy, are the ideal sunroom franchisees… Beginning as a dealer for Four Seasons — the sunroom industry's largest manufacturer — Lee generated $700,000 worth of sales in his first year."

Read at jlconline.com

"Point of Pride" — the sunroom tours

The tour program the trade press wrote up: 10–12 tours generating roughly $3 million in sales, 40% of attendees setting sales appointments.

Read at jlconline.com

"Should I Star In My Own Ads?"

"I wanted to find out how he'd become one of the top sunroom companies in the country despite being in one of the smallest markets… Prospects just KNEW that this guy wasn't going to lie to them; they could take Kip Lee to the bank."

The marketing architect behind the 2003–2007 run, writing about the campaign years later. Kip's TV commercials still run as samples on Level 10's services pages.

Read at level10contractor.com