Like so many other great entrepreneurial legends, the story of CoatMasters by IMRAE begins in a garage. 

It was the mid-2000s, and company founder Imil Desphy ’12 MBA had converted his family’s two-car garage into a laboratory. He wanted to test concepts he had developed over years working in the paint and coatings industry as a chemist and technical manager. 

After a lot of hard work — and closely listening to what customers told him they needed — Desphy launched CoatMasters in 2007. 

Today the Murrieta-based company produces world-class coatings, sealers, stains, and treatments for a wide range of surfaces. You can see the company’s work in architectural and public works projects across the country, which adds color and depth to many types of surface finishes, some of it, such as anti-graffiti coatings, you can’t see. But all of it reflects the passion and commitment to research and development that began in that garage lab. 

“I’m proud to say that we have grown and been given the opportunity to really showcase what we can do,” Desphy said. “I would say when I look back and sip my coffee in the morning and think about what I'm going to do today or the next day, it's one of those things that I'm appreciative and grateful about.” The opportunity to be able to offer innovative solutions that combine chemistry, engineering, and human skill to effectively execute it. 

Back to school 

That’s not to say there weren’t any doubts along the way. But in Desphy’s case, his reflection led to another important decision. In 2010, he joined just the second cohort of the executive MBA program at the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management. 

“I was beginning to think twice, whether I would continue my venture or go back to corporate America,” he said. “So I decided to take up my MBA to see if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.” 

Desphy, who had earned degrees in chemical engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology, Manila in his native Philippines and pursued engineering management at USC, found validation in the MBA program at UCR. That was important, he said, because as an entrepreneur you don’t have a lot of opportunities to solicit colleagues for advice. 

“The MBA program gave me confidence that I was on the right track,” Desphy said. “The professors, the experts in the field, helped me address questions and interpret challenges and decisions I have to make.” 

Just as important as the faculty, Desphy said, were the relationships he built with classmates. 

“I met really good people, and I learned a lot from them,” he said. “If I were to give any advice to anybody planning to pursue an MBA program, it would be to not just look at the coursework but also look at your future classmates. You're going to be learning from each other. Listen to them.” 

‘Learn from your mistakes’ 

Listening has been important to Desphy throughout his career, especially as an entrepreneur. 

“When I say you have to listen, I mean you have to listen to the environment, the economics, and to the perceptions of the customer in particular,” he said. “You need to listen to the market, because not everybody will give you the same feedback. You will be tested, believe me, by the market.” 

Another piece of advice Desphy would share with anyone who wants to pursue their dream to build something new: Don’t quit. 

“Pursue it with passion, do not give up and always learn from your mistakes,” he said. “Everybody wants to do things right the first time. But I, for one, have made a lot of mistakes.” 

‘I like the challenge’ 

Desphy views mistakes as another form of education, something that has always been important to him, going back to growing up in the Philippines, where his parents owned a non-profit private school serving the less privileged. He and his wife value education and started a scholarship fund in 2017 for high school seniors pursuing fields in STEM — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — and it’s important to him to maintain ties to UC Riverside. 

Another quality that has been part of his life since childhood was his interest in experiments, testing, and research and development. Long before Desphy built his garage lab, his father — also a chemist — had his own lab behind the kitchen of the family home, where he would spend nights and weekends exploring ideas for the paper chemical industry. 

Although Desphy’s garage lab has been replaced by the latest technology, that spirit of experimentation continues to inspire him today. 

“I always love to brainstorm with my team when we're working together,” he said. “I like the challenge when somebody calls and asks, ‘Can you guys do this, do that?’ Those are the things that get us fired up.”