Oct. 8, 2019

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Tyler Patch, a partner at Qwix Mix who works in sales, service and new product development.

Name: Tyler Patch

Age: 32

Hometown: Madison

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

I moved to Sioux Falls because it offers more business opportunities than Madison did.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

I love it here because of the upbeat business culture. We’re a large-enough community to be able to do most all projects local, so you can work directly with someone rather than just online, and it’s a small-enough community that if you’re looking for help or advice on a project, there’s someone local that can give recommendations you trust.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

I like having the ability to be creative and find environmentally friendly solutions. We’ve created new product lines that no one else has, and it’s fun to challenge an industry that has really never changed and start making a big impact as well as finding new industries that windshield washer fluid has never been associated with.

How did you get connected to your industry?

In 2009 after graduating from college, I moved back to Madison, S.D., and started a landscape company. Shortly after, I helped Harlan Anderson, my current business partner, with a few things on the computer and some emails. The more I helped and learned, the more I believed in the products and saw a future for the company.

While I owned my own landscape company at the time, I eventually became a part-time salesman for Qwix Mix in my free time. It’s been a long, hard road since then, but now I’m part-owner, and we’re changing the windshield washer fluid industry by having environmentally friendly products and, of course, saving our customers money.

Describe Qwix Mix in three words.

Washer fluid’s future.

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?

I just overall enjoy paying it forward. When I meet people and learn what they’re doing, I always try to help by giving them old tools I don’t need, advice or really anything that will help them with their goals. I love watching people around me succeed so they can have the opportunity to do the same thing for someone else. We’re all in this together.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

A movie theater that’s able to sell beer and coffee.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years, I plan on completely changing the windshield washer fluid industry with a new product that we’re working on. It will be manufactured in Sioux Falls and sold worldwide.