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.
Suzanne McGann, president of Voyageur Information Technology in St. Paul, didn’t worry too much early this year when she decided to invite about 20 women business owners on a guided canoe trip down the St. Croix.
Then the calls started flooding in as guests got their invitations for Ladies Voyageur Day, printed on paper shaped like a canoe. “It gained momentum,” McGann says. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I think I just did something interesting here.’ ”
McGann has long loved canoeing, and has done several trips over the last 8 years. Meanwhile, her Web site design and development firm has used canoes and a hard-working image in its marketing materials. Then she was named president of Voyageur IT, and became an owner about a year and a half ago.
“I’ve become more aware of my ownership. I meet so many interesting women. I wanted to get these women together, key business owners, women who were really going to get someplace,” McGann says about how she got the idea for the event.
About 20 women met at noon at a state park, shuttled to their starting point and did a three-hour paddle down river, while the professional guide played a Native American flute and McGann read poetry. At 5 p.m. they got out of the canoes for a gourmet dinner
McGann did not invite customers or prospective customers, she says, because sales were not the reason for the event. “It was trying to be one level above that in strategic thinking,” McGann says. She is forming partnerships with some of the women who attended, and she says the event paid for itself.
“These women needed to take a break from running their businesses. They seemed hungry to have the fun,” McGann says. “We should be having fun while we’re doing these entrepreneurial pursuits. If you’re not careful, you can just send a lot of e-mail.”
Try to make it to: Next year’s Ladies Voyageur Day, planned for the last Friday in June. Contact Suzanne McGann, Voyageur Information Technology: 651.276.0008; su*****@********it.net; www.voyageurit.net
Attorneys and clients of Gray Plant Mooty played better than usual at the Minneapolis law firm’s annual dinner and golf event, all afternoon and evening Aug. 21. So says Les Korsh, emerging business attorney who helped to put the foursomes together.
His goal in asking for guests’ golf handicap beforehand is to balance the teams so that all are equally bad — or so he said in the flyer announcing the event. That’s suspect because the invitation requested that “scratch” golfers call him directly when they replied.
Korsh said attendance was a record, at about 140. His group was seven under par and they didn’t win; the 10-unders came in first. Did he keep the best golfers for himself? “Oh no, never,” Korsh says.
Confession: The Upsize Informer couldn’t attend this event or the fabulous Ladies Voyageur canoe day described above, because she was too busy gathering the best possible advice to help small-business owners in this edition of Upsize. You’re welcome.
Try to make it to: Gray Plant Mooty’s event next year, but you have to be a client first. Contact Les Korsh: 612.343.2800; le*******@****aw.com
At first Upsize Informer thought the event was a bust, when she arrived at the University of Minnesota’s Aug. 7 lunch in the boardroom of the newly renovated and stunning Coffman Memorial Union. Only a half-dozen people were there, including the host, Steven Rosenstone, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
It turns out that the tiny size is by design, because people pay attention. “People hear us in this setting. In a big setting the message is lost,” said Debra Behrens, with the college’s external affairs office. Rosenstone, dean for seven years, has been hosting small lunches with alumni every week.
He had some bragging to do. The fall class of CLA students is the best on record, based on test scores, class rank and grade point average, Rosenstone said. It’s also the most diverse. “It’s almost as good as the IT class,” Rosenstone said, referring to the Institute of Technology, and offering balm to the ears of the former English, history and political science majors in attendance.
There were 12,500 applicants, up from 9,800 last year, for a scant 2,500 spaces.
“We’ve tried to transform the quality of the experience for our students,” Rosenstone said, ticking off reasons why more good students are coming to the U. “Word is out that this is a hot ticket, it’s no longer true that Minnesota is the fallback, and then it’s the economy. Some can’t afford the $25,000 tuition at private schools.”
Times are tough at the CLA, he concedes. “We’ve lost 26 percent of state support as a college in two years,” Rosenstone said. He led an effort for faculty members and department heads to first set priorities — that the gains in quality would not be lost. “Nobody wants to go back there,” he said. They then worked to find cuts in every area except that priority one.
Try to make it to: a dean’s lunch, if you went to the U’s College of Liberal Arts. Contact Angela Starks: 612.625.5031; st******@*mn.edu
The local office of the U.S. Small Business Administration offered pointed tips to prospective business owners: Figure on 12 hours of work a day. Stay off the golf course. Don’t take too much salary. Conserve working capital. And get enough money to start with: Do a three-year projection before going to a banker.
The presenter also outlined a few creative ways to find money.
• If you’re buying a business for $100,000, you’ll need $25,000 in equity to meet the SBA’s guidelines. If the seller will stand by for $12,500 for five years, that amount will count toward the equity needed.
• A group wanted to build a motel, so they went to the owners of another motel, which they knew was a “horrible” brand. The investors offered the owners a chance to join them in a 29-unit Super 8. They put in 35 percent equity. The investors formed a corporation that took 25 percent ownership as a development fee.
Bonus: The SBA’s resources are vast. For example, its Business Information Center in St. Paul has four computers set up with business plan software already loaded. Call 651.209.1884.
Try to make it to: One of the SBA’s many programs: www.sba.gov/mn; www.scoreminn.org
