Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Webb Lake Software of Little Canada is rolling out its first product, called eWebSplash, a $200 piece of software that allows users to create their own Web site.
“We’ve been building application-driven Web sites for seven years,” says Tami Coalwell, co-founder. Many customers “can’t spend $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 on their Web sites.”
Adds her business partner, Fred Hathaway: “Having built a lot of content management systems, we’ve been able to distill down” the functions that small businesses need, such as the ability to change content, a form to contact staff or register or fill in applications, a display of products, and a way to fill shopping carts.
“This is the first thing that we kind of shrink-wrapped,” Hathaway says about eWebSplash.
Coalwell says product development began in earnest the second quarter of 2004. To make sure they’d get it done, “we made it an internal customer and put it on the project list,” Coalwell says. “It’s hard to get it on the schedule if it’s not a paying customer.”
Hathaway says in the fall of 2004 they did a soft rollout, and Coalwell sold 60 in three days. In January, Coalwell targeted to sell 100, in February 125, and so on, bolstered by a postcard and e-mail campaign. Eventually they expect the product to contribute 50 percent of revenue. Webb Lake Software posted $500,000 in sales for 2004.
The company employs seven people now, and Coalwell plans to hire two or three more sales and support people, but not until sales targets are met. “We don’t operate this business on loans,” Coalwell says. “We pay cash.”
Tami Coalwell and Fred Hathaway, Webb Lake Software: 651.762.3700; sa***@******ke.net; www.webblake.net
