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.
UPSIZE STAGES: THE EARLY YEARS
06 :: Implementing technology systems.
Choose tech
systems to grow
along with company
One of the more complex and changing aspects of starting a small business will be the implementation and upkeep of a technology system that will grow with your company. There are many providers and the products are always changing. So it?s important to find a technology partner you trust.
There?s a lot of research available on vendor performance and customer satisfaction levels and on the promises and pitfalls of various technologies. Or you can do your own background research through referrals. Nearly every business needs some sort of technology system and you probably have one or more peers who can provide you with contact information.
Use that and interview multiple providers before deciding who you will allow to build your systems. You?ll definitely want to put in the time early because once you?ve installed a system reversing it will be extremely expensive.
Depending on your industry, it might be appropriate to find a company with specialized experience in your area of practice. It?s not always necessary and it might cost more, as sometimes you?ll have to look around a bit to find technology partners with expertise in a specialized area.
Once you?ve decided on a partner and a system you?ll want to stay in contact and stay focused. Technology industry insiders say small-business owners often make the mistake of being bowled over by the latest fancy gizmo they saw a commercial about. The item might be fantastic, but it might not fit your needs.
You?ll want to make sure someone within your company has some tech savvy. If you lack the background yourself you?ll want to hire someone or at a minimum have someone on your board of advisers or directors.
Or you can consider outsourcing some of this work. For example, whether it?s a technology company or not, almost all businesses need some sort of presence on the Web. You can hire someone to build and maintain Web sites for your business.
Finally, once you have your system set up, make sure future tech purchases work with what you already have. Even products made by the same company can be incompatible. And you need to make sure staff is constantly being trained so they understand upgrades and how various parts work together.
As the name suggests, Owatonna-based Kamp Automation looks for customers with a process they’d like to automate. It could be a small, inconvenient, tiny part that people can’t assemble. It could be a high-volume product so needed that the customer can’t find enough labor to produce it in the necessary quantities. “We’ll work anywhere from medical device companies to the seed industry for corn and soybeans,” says Kent Patterson, co-founder, president and CEO. “We just jump all over wherever there is custom automation.” The company started in his garage. Patterson and his partners built a machine. The company started to grow to the point where now it has 48 employees — and had a bunch of people and stuff in different locations. “We went from a garage to a shop to a shop and just kept moving to new places and signing leases,” he says. “We got to a point where it’s like, OK, this is getting big enough and sustainable — we felt that we wanted to look for our own space.’”
