Ooze Founders: Vincent Ayar, Danny Hannawa and Steve Hannawa

Vincent Ayar has overseen how Ooze products look and work, and how the brand presents itself, since the company opened. His co-founder role is the reason this site covers Ooze in such detail. Before Ooze, he came up through Metro Detroit retail, including ownership at Shoe Rack Outlet.

Danny Hannawa is identified as the founder and president of Ooze. The president's office in a company of this kind typically leads overall direction and operations.

Vincent has credited Steve Hannawa with bringing e-cigarette technology to Michigan. As context, early personal vaporizer batteries grew directly out of e-cigarette hardware, so that know-how fits naturally with a company that launched with exactly that product.

When Ooze opened on April 1, 2015, there were no employees beyond the partners themselves, working from a 2,000 square foot warehouse in Oak Park. Everything from product decisions to packing orders fell to them.

Within about four and a half years that had changed completely: by September 2019 the company had more than 50 employees and roughly 42,000 square feet of space.

Two choices define the founders' approach. They sourced every component of their products themselves, and they kept early profits in the business to pay for growth, R&D and marketing. Both are slower than the alternatives, and both gave the owners control.

Every owner is a Michigan native, and the company has kept its jobs and headquarters in Metro Detroit while selling nationally. The distribution business, Ooze Wholesale, now Cannatron, lists Vincent as a Partner.

Small founding teams succeed when responsibilities are clear. At Ooze, the record gives each partner a recognizable lane: overall leadership as president, the e-cigarette technology foundation that early vaporizer batteries depended on, and design, development and brand under Vincent Ayar. As the staff grew past 50, those lanes became the structure that new hires slotted into.

The partners also share ownership of the wider group. The distribution business and the foundation grew from the same core team rather than being bolted on by outside investors.

For researchers, the useful takeaway is that Ooze was never a one-person company. Vincent Ayar is one of several partners, and the brand reflects the combined experience of the group.