Scott Gates is the CEO of Awake Window & Door Co., a fast-growing U.S. manufacturer that is not only creating high-performance windows and doors but also rebuilding lives in the process.

Based in Gilbert, Arizona, Awake has grown into a thirty-million-dollar company working with leading builders and architects across the country. The company is known for its sleek designs, massive glass panels, and uncompromising performance. What truly makes Awake stand out, though, is its hiring model. More than half of its employees are formerly incarcerated, and each person is given the chance to build a career and a future.

For Gates, this people-first approach is not just a mission statement. It is the reason Awake exists. By giving second chances, the company has tapped into an overlooked pool of talent and created a culture of loyalty, innovation, and pride. 

In this conversation, Gates shares how Awake scaled from a startup to a national player, why purpose-driven leadership matters in manufacturing, and what other businesses can learn about the power of second chances.

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Awake Window & Door Co. has grown into a $30 million company in just a few years. What do you think has been the key to turning a bold idea into such rapid growth?

When we started Awake, it was clear there was a growing desire from architects and homeowners for luxury windows and doors that could be built to massive sizes but also have ultra-minimal frames. The goal was to see as much glass as possible to better capture views and almost defy physics.

Luckily, we were able to assemble an incredible design and engineering team for the ideation phase of our startup. We also assembled some early focus groups with key stakeholders and worked to make sure all of the various options they needed would be incorporated into our product offerings.

As a result, we launched with an incredibly diverse and option-rich product offering, despite our status as a startup. That willingness to innovate and add options became so ingrained in our cultural DNA that we never really stopped evolving our products all throughout our first 5 years of production. As a result, the marketplace has come to trust us as their go-to source for innovative solutions, and we have rewarded their curiosity and forward thinking by delivering solutions to their challenging requests.

They know we say “yes,” and when we do, we can deliver it with exceptional quality. Our industry tends to punish customization and push customers towards standards. We’ve won in the market by being the company that goes the other direction, which is exactly what luxury customers are looking for. 

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Awake Window & Door Co. hiring model is unique and inspiring—more than half of your workforce is justice-involved. How has this shaped the culture of your company?

It is truly the secret sauce that has made our company successful. It is important to understand that Awake is not just a company that is willing to consider second-chance employment for those who have been justice-involved; instead, it is the entire reason we exist. It is the driving force and uniting mission that our entire staff rallies behind.

Currently, 56% of our just over 100 employees have had some involvement with the justice system, but 100% of our staff is committed to working at a company that is finding ways to help those re-entering society to find success. This mission has helped us find this treasure trove of untapped talent, amazing individuals overlooked by others because of the mistakes of their past instead of the potential of their future.

Our customers have also rallied behind the mission, and it’s not uncommon at all to hear from architects, builders, or homeowners who said they chose to work with Awake because they wanted to be part of the solution to this societal problem.

As a CEO, it has been so incredible to see our entire team motivated to grow our sales not because it means higher commissions, raises, or profits, but instead, because it means we get to hire more people like those we have fallen in love with on our team and the unique privilege we’ve all felt in getting to see them transform and turn their lives around. It is the honor of a lifetime.

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Awake Window & Door Co. products are known for sleek design, structural strength, and performance. How does your people-first culture translate into better innovation on the factory floor?

Our vision is “awaken a community of gadflies that excite stakeholders by creating innovative solutions to complex problems.” Obviously, this vision connects to our heavy R&D culture and the innovative window and door products we bring to market.

But it also clearly relates to our social mission and hiring strategy, which says instead of seeing recidivism as an impossible problem to solve, we can reshape hiring standards and provide meaningful employment to justice-involved men and women. This plays out every month in our all-hands meetings, where we provide lunch for our staff and bring in a solutions-oriented community partner that assists our staff with finding access to housing, car loans, drug rehabilitation, and more.

But even more exciting, we have what we call our “Innovative Solutions Gadflies,” where every month we celebrate team members who have come up with innovative solutions to problems across our business. Sometimes those solutions are a process improvement that enhances safety or quality, sometimes they are a new idea for a new product, and other times they are a new tool for our customers.

Winners of the award get a special shirt, a certificate, and special recognition across the entire company, which celebrates new ideas and fresh thinking. 

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Manufacturing in the U.S. is evolving quickly. How do you see Awake Window & Door Co. contributing to the future of American manufacturing?

I’d say first and foremost is our hiring model and social mission focused on providing meaningful employment for the previously incarcerated. We hope that our success can inspire other manufacturers to see this employee group for the upside of their potential instead of the risks of their past.

The reward for this forward thinking typically includes incredibly loyal staff beaming with a culture of love and gratitude for their company and their fellow coworkers. We actually have a waiting list of individuals hoping to join our team, simply because of the different and loving way we approach this people group.

Oftentimes, our staff want to thank us for giving them the opportunity, and we always have to recalibrate them that it is we who have the privilege of thanking them for their hard work, dedication, and innovative ideas that make us better.

There is a common narrative in American manufacturing about the lack of available labor, and our company is proving that if you have the right culture and mission, there is no shortage at all. We don’t see our staff as a labor cost to cut, but instead we see them as the reason our company exists, and our entire team rallies behind that mission. 

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Awake Window & Door Co. has already accomplished so much—what excites you most about the next chapter?

When we decided to create a start-up in the window and door space, we knew the hard reality that most start-ups fail. To be at this phase now, where our sales exceed $30 million annually and we have 100 employees, is truly incredible.

But I think what I get most excited about is all the unique innovative solutions that our staff are going to develop as we grow throughout North America. For example, our R&D team recently completed a massive product line expansion, which makes our product triple-pane glass capable, allowing us to sell our windows and doors into luxury markets with extremely cold winters.

Our team found a way to do it while still offering massive sizes with minimal sightlines. I’m also excited to see our staff continue to develop and evolve. So many of our justice impact staff have been promoted into management roles or new areas of the business, like IT or marketing. I’m so excited to see them all reach their potential and take our company to new heights while also setting us a sustainable future for their families.

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What do you hope Awake Window & Door Co. inspires in other business leaders across industries?

I hope other businesses look at their mission and purpose not just as a year-end donation they make for tax purposes, but instead as a rallying cry for why they exist in the first place.

I don’t know that the world truly needed another window and door company before we started, but I do know for sure that the world needed one that was employing justice-impacted individuals and giving them an opportunity to be successful. Growing a business is so hard.

Give yourself and your team a competitive advantage by aligning why you exist to a cause much bigger than yourself. It will make all of your staff, from the CEO to the entry-level role, that much more motivated and excited to give their best because the mission depends on it.