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Old May 5, 2021, 11:27 AM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,370
Default My uncle's business had only one customer...

Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post
Heading this off at the pass, so save your email.

Yes, there are businesses with just ONE customer, I have one right down the street from me. He's been in business a couple of decades, has a couple of dozen employees and only ONE CUSTOMER.

His customer? Uncle Sam (US Gov't) DOD contractor (Department of Defense) and he makes and assembles electronic devices for them.

Another guy in town, who sold his ONE customer business and bought a golf course made window wipers for cars, his customer GM, so YES they are out there.

Gordon
Hi Gordon,

I had a late uncle who was also a physicist (who lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan)...

He started a business with a partner, with just one customer too...

They built and were the experts on a very sensitive accelerometer (a device which measures acceleration with extreme accuracy). They only built two of these devices, which were on two of the space shuttles.

I think one of their accelerometers was destroyed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. I think the other one flew on Space Shuttle Columbia...

Their devices were part of the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE)... You can Google it...

Their one customer was NASA...

So - you're right, it does exist! But... I think it's relatively rare, and especially rare outside of government and military contractors...

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. Here's a report which was written by my uncle...

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970009948
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