Biz Health
May/June 2004
NO MORE COMB-OVER
Remember the Hair Club for Men, with the guy who famously said, I'm not just the president, I'm also a member
? Well fast-forward to 2004 and there is a new kind of hair club in Arizona and once again, the guy in charge is also a customer. Bill Gaunitz, founder of Hair Growth Centers of Arizona, started loosing his hair at age 17 and tried everything, including A natural product from France that contained cloned sperm cells
without much success, he says.
An experience with laser treatment brought Gaunitz encouraging results, but even more importantly, a new business idea. [The center I went to] put me between two IV patients, and I was staring at a three-month-old magazine, going
he recalls. I paid $3,500
for this?I wanted to find better lasers, develop a batter program and offer a guarantee.
After purchasing the exclusive U.S. Rights to Australian-based Innovative Hair Loss Solutions Crown Lasers, Gaunitz left a stable, six-figure job and set up shop in Phoenix in 2003.
Laser treatments at the Hair Growth Centers are customized according to each patient's needs and are usually done over a six-month period. The centers use one of the only two lasers on the market in the United States. The cost to customers is steep—about $3,600 to $5,100—but Gaunitz's money-back guarantee helps soften the blow. The centers tout the ability to regrow, on the average, about seven years' worth of lost hair. He cites a 100% success rate as the backing to the guarantee.
Today, with two centers and approximately 160 patients, Gaunitz is focusing not just on hair growth, but on business growth, as well. He plans to have four locations in Arizona by the middle of next year, and is currently licensing the technology to selected partners throughout the United States.
For more information: hairgrowthcenters.com - Amy Roach Patridge
