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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

40 Under 40, Kugler

Ryan Kugler, 38 President/Co-owner, DVA Inc. Ryan Kugler fell in love with film early. At the ripe age of 13, he stumbled onto the set of “Cheers” and somehow came away with a promise from Ted Danson that if he could write a short movie, cast members from the TV show would play starring roles in the production. Several months later, “The Question,” was filmed and Kugler’s adoration of the medium was cemented. As the president and co-owner of DVA Inc., the nation’s largest closeout buyer of home entertainment, the 38-year-old Kugler has cultivated an account base of more than 350 companies, including Best Buy and Target. He founded the Burbank company’s closeout division and developed relationships with the movie studios to buy their excess inventory. Today, that division has 30 employees and sells 20 million units per year, generating $20 million in sales. Kugler says his success is based on a few key principles: “Be nice to everyone, always return calls, and stay in communication with everyone. Try your hardest to make anything happen.” After heading into the family business at 17, Kugler found that even stable businesses must be willing and ready to adapt to change. “Business can be about problem-solving, especially in the Internet age,” he said. “People communicate differently than they did 20, 10 or even five years ago. There is no simple pattern, and one always needs to adapt to this and do what the customer wants.”

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