Jason Hoerter needed more space. His waste-disposal company, though just over a year old, had outgrown its cramped rental office in Austin, Minnesota.
Hoerter approached the city with plans to buy a site for a new building, assuming officials would catch his enthusiasm. After all, Triple J Disposal Inc. was highly regarded within the community, having recently won the Austin Chamber of Commerce New Business of the Year award.
Don Wilkins remembers it like it was yesterday.
It was 1976 when he started Alexandria Pro-Fab Co. Inc. He was the sole employee and his lone assets were his $2,000 welding machine and willingness to work long hours. He worked 363 days that year, never really thinking much about the future, but plenty about how he could gain more work.
Jason Murray and Jill Johnson are only a two-person team, but what a team they make.
Murray is the executive director of the Alexandra Area Economic Development Commission (AAEDC). Johnson is the marketing manager and business development director.
The AAEDC is a non-profit corporation. Its role is to ?serve as the lead economic development entity that responds to start-up and relocation inquiries, and to assist existing businesses with long-term goals of expansion,? says Murray.
After a four-year lull, the market for initial public offerings has shown signs it''s back, say many industry professionals. Unfortunately, most small businesses aren''t invited to the homecoming dance.
Nationally, there are just as many IPOs now ? about 70 ? than there were all of last year, but few are from small businesses. “Things have changed enough in the capital markets that it''s more and more difficult for the smaller companies to go public,” says Tom Letscher, partner with Minneapolis-based Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly, who has helped several small local startup companies over the years go public.
Maia Haag has written a children''s book that she personalizes and sells as a keepsake to thousands of customers each year.
If Haag wanted to, she also could write a book about how to finance a small business. Her self-owned retail and e-commerce company, I See Me Inc., has run the gamut of credit line options available through Haag''s bank, Wells Fargo. As her business is cyclical, with 60 percent of volume occurring the two months before Christmas, Haag has used various credit lines to stock up on inventory for the seasonal uptick.
Leslie Frecon left a top finance job at General Mills to start LFE Capital in 2001, a private equity firm in Minneapolis that provides expansion capital and advisory services to smaller middle-market companies.
She?s seen enough deals since then to nearly complete one fund and get ready to start a second. Her advice to small-business owners seeking financing: ?No one will lend you money or invest their money if you don?t know what you want.?
Help across the finish line was the focus in the second of two workshops offered to the three winners of this year?s Upsize Growth Challenge, presented by Fredrikson & Byron.
David Miller of Floorworx Distribution Services learned the finer points of negotiation from the contest?s legal expert, during the May workshop.
Lynn Richardson of GateKeeper Systems heard huzzahs from our financial gurus for his aggressive debt reduction plan, and for his disciplined efforts to diversify.
Jim Borofka of P.M. Bedroom Gallery told the pleasant tale that profit margins are up at his company, a point he didn?t know before he took our technology consultants? advice to dig into financial and customer data.
Upsize thanks the three winners for throwing themselves into the first Upsize Growth Challenge. Business owners can enter next year?s contest starting in December look for info in that issue of Upsize magazine.
We thank the sponsors and their experts at the second workshop for their dedication to helping these and other growing companies: Pat Kelly, legal expert from Fredrikson & Byron law firm in Minneapolis and presenting sponsor Kirk Hoaglund, technology expert from Clientek in Minneapolis Dean Cadry, finance expert from business banker Crown Bank in Edina Joseph Majeski, accounting and operations expert from EideBailly in Bloomington and Mary Korthour, telecommunications expert from Eschelon Telecom Inc. in Minneapolis.
Getting client attention is a tricky endeavor. Not only do clients have their own work to juggle, which is taxing enough, but they also have other companies vying for their time.
But that doesn?t mean it?s impossible to get their ear. Some companies are finding a way to capture client interest, reinforce business relationships, and spark future revenue, all at the same time. They do so with workshops and seminars, offering customers education and information that they can shoehorn into their busy days.
Tom Salonek?s company, Intertech Training in Eagan, has been teaching computer programmers since 1991 to work with each successive wave of technology. He?s seen lavish spending on training in the late 1990s, when employers used it as a retention tool. He?s kept growing even in the last few years, last year topping $4 million in revenue, when things such as training and travel were cut. Salonek offers tips on getting the most from training dollars, and choosing where to spend them in the first place.
Like many technology companies, Winland Electronics of Mankato saw tough times as the century turned. But it?s back.
?Many technology companies experienced difficulties from 1999 to 2000,? says Lorin Krueger, who runs the maker of custom electronic control products and systems. ?But since that time we have refocused our markets, curtailed spending and focused on building our balance sheet. We are starting to see record earnings.?