SCORE Honors Six NY Small Business Successes

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On Tuesday July 25th, the New York chapter of SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, presented awards to the founders of six successful small businesses: Lisa and Felix Hendrickson of Hendrickson Custom Cabinetry, Peggy Levee of Rain or Shine (tent rental), Caylin Sanders of EscapeMaker.com, the founder of The Pink Slip, Carl Broady of Urban Biker Magazine and David Rudofsky of Rudofsky Associates. For a full list of previous SCORE successes, go to: http://www.score.org/success_story_archive.html

My SCORE counselor was the one who suggested the name Rudofsky Associates, and also gave me great advice on how to network with other independent consultants and grow my consulting practice. Interestingly, most of the other awardees needed assistance from SCORE in the areas of business planning and financing, as opposed to marketing. SCORE has a strong affiliation with the Small Business Administration, which gives them deep insights into how new business owners should apply for SBA-backed loans. -dr

MuscleMorph wins Wharton Biz Plan Contest

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MuscleMorph won the ‘Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs annual business plan competition and first prize of $20,000 on April 25th. The team included Rahul Kothari, a Wharton MBA student and Rodrigo Alvarez, an inventor and doctoral student in bioengineering at Stanford University. MuscleMorph’s most promising initial application would be prosthetic limbs — including those used by 1.8 million amputees in the U.S. Other finalists in the competition included Biometric Payment Solutions, Focus Therapeutics, Home-Base, iBroker, IntelliStem Orthopaedic Innovations, Leto Pharmaceuticals, and OrthoLab Technologies.

Biz Plan Challenge Winner Declines VC Funding

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As winner of the Carrot Capital Education Foundation Business Plan Challenge, Tom Szaky was in position to get venture capital funding for Terracycle, a start-up business focused on the organic plant fertilizer market. However, as discussions with the firm’s potential VC backers progressed, the two sides clashed over spending priorities, the need for specific cash flow projections and milestones, and composition of the management team. As described in Canada’s “National Post”, despite having only $500 cash on hand at the time, Terracycle ultimately did not go the VC funding route, but instead was able to use the resulting PR to attract a smaller level of angel funding.

The Company that Grew too Fast

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Brian Le Gette and his Wharton classmate and business partner Ron Wilson could not finance the spectacular revenue growth of 180s, a Baltimore-based sports apparel company which had once place 32nd on the INC 500 listing of fast-growing small businesses. Le Gette ultimately had to give up control of the company, and get help from Patriarch Partners, a private equity firm specializing in companies with distressed debt. John Anderson’s story in the November 2005 issue of INC. Magazine gives all of the details.

Fundraising Advisor Helps Zoe Foods Prez

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Zoe Foods founder and president Tori Stuart tells Entrepreneur magazine readers how she is staying focused on running her business by outsourcing the fund raising process as she seeks $3 million to fuel the growth of her $2 million natural foods company. “As a small company owner, I find raising capital is a big time-sink,” Stuart says. “And nobody’s going to do my job if I’m raising money.” Patrick Vaughan of Triarch Capital Partners concurs with Stuart: “It’s a significant distraction to raise money yourself. Once you publish your numbers to a prospective investor, they’ll start tracking how you do. That’s the wrong time to stub your toe.” An investment banking advisor can help a small business owner complete or polish a “deal book”, create a “data room”, help decide whether the money raised should be equity or debt, and help price the deal.