Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

But as Venus grew, founder Daryle Scott realized he had one problem. "We had this business that was doing really well, but it's basically a February-through-June operation and is dead in the winter."

Venus Swimwear has always handled its own order-taking and fulfillment, and the seasonality was putting a dent in the company's back-end productivity. Scott's solution: Acquire another mail-order business with a seasonality cycle that would complement its own.