Nearly four decades after he and his father started Industrial Door Company, Jerry Fields was ready to step back—but he couldn’t let just anyone take over. Below, Jerry shares what it was like to start a business as a teenager, how a few emails changed the course of the company and why he decided Cobalt was the right home for the IDC team.

We started Cobalt because the Access Solutions industry is at a turning point, and business owners haven’t had access to a sustainable answer. Cobalt exists to provide them with one.