. >> reporter: being nontraditional makes beau ties limited of vermont a fit in middlebury, perhaps best known for its liberal arts college and the poet robert frost. the guy who wrote about choosing the road less traveled. >> we were bow tie wearers. >> reporter: the daves met in business school in the 1980s. following a more traditional path from there. one a new york investment banker, the other a california management consultant. they stayed in touch over the years, keeping in mind the talks they'd had about maybe one day going into business together. >> we wanted to see whether or not we had what it took to run a small business. >> reporter: deb ventmen founded beau ties in the 1990s with her husband. by the early 2000s they were looking to sell the company. when the daves came calling, their broker thought they wouldn't be the right ones to tight knot with, either. >> it was a flat out no. we had to sell ourselves to the broker, then we had to sell ourselves to bill and deb. >> reporter: bill started selling bow ties out of his house in 1993. sales of roughly 3500 ties in year one