Catalyst, May 2010

BizStarts Milwaukee Catalyst

May, 2010

BizStarts is Clearly Doing Something Right!

We recently learned that BizStarts received a $458,000 federal grant from the US Dept. of Commerce to fund our Venture Track and other programs. The grant will help us achieve our goal of fostering entrepreneurship in the region through the delivery of innovative programs that support startups and entrepreneurs.

“This EDA grant forwards President Obama’s goal of building a sustainable 21st century economy based on innovation and entrepreneurship by helping potential entrepreneurs plug into the expertise of the region’s existing small business development centers, workforce development boards and technical colleges,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, John R. Fernandez.

Since we started in 2008, 22 hi-growth companies, about one per month, have started up in the region, many with the help of BizStarts. "Our goal is to double-that rate; this grant will help us achieve this." said BizStarts President John Torinus. Torinus believes these high-growth companies are the only ones that will truly promote economic growth in the region, he said. 

“There’s no other way that I can see to create lots of jobs,” he said. “Chasing smokestacks just doesn’t work any more. 

Special kudos to Chelsea Krause, Director of Venture Track, and staffers from the Wisconsin Dept. of Commerce for writing the winning grant!

 

Mason Wells/BizStarts Awards $15,000 in Biz Plan Competition

Winners of the first annual Mason Wells BizStarts Collegiate Business Plan Competition were announced at the May 26 BizStarts networking event, hosted by the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Prize money of $15,000, provided by Mason Wells, was awarded to the following top-five business plan contest winners.

1st place, $5,000, Gabriel Wahab, US Combat Sports, submitted by UW-Milwaukee - an online website where fans of Ultimate Fighting Championship and other combat sports can go to look up fighting dates and locations, stats on players, and other related information.

2nd place, $4,000, Tyler Sailsbery, Nomoredorms.com, submitted by UW-Whitewater – a website that allows students attending a college or university easy access to find off-campus living and housing.

3rd place, $3,000 Trevor Whately, 5tooltee, submitted by Carthage College - an new product designed for use by baseball players, that combines varieties and styles of batting tees into a single, easy to use tool.

4th place, $2,000 Hugh Morris, Proximity LLC, submitted by UW-Milwaukee - a Marketing alert system that uses the technology of smart phones to forward special coupons, messages, or deals to a user whenever they are in the proximity of their favorite stores.

5th place, $1,000 Vince Anewenter, Eco-Disk, submitted by Milwaukee School of Engineering - A company that specializes in creating putters and drivers for the popular sport disc-golf, made from recycled plastic and resin.

Eight colleges and universities in the M7 region vetted over one-hundred business plans and submitted their top two plans to contest officials. Participating colleges and universities included Alverno College, Carthage College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee School of Engineering, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Whitewater and Wisconsin Lutheran College.

BizStarts offers a special thanks to William Dougan, UW-Whitewater, who chaired the committee, and to Tony Gierczak, UW-Whitewater student who coordinated the contest. Other committee members included John Komives from UW-Milwaukee, Jeff Blessing and Dennis Wanless from MSOE and Penny Scheuerman from We Energies.

Photos of the event

Two BizStarts Name Changes

The BizStarts Milwaukee strategic initiative to push entrepreneurship education deeper and wider on the 20 college and university campuses in the M7 region will be known as the BizStarts College Consortium. New majors and minors in entrepreneurship are blossoming on the campuses, as are courses and certificates in that subject matter.

Also, the governing council will be known as the BizStarts Advisory Council going forward to properly reflect its role in the organization. These are business leaders and legacy entrepreneurs who support and champion our mission, as well as providing counsel for the general direction of our effort to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the seven county region.

21st High-Growth Company Up and Running

Former Air Force pilot Gary Miller and his team have launched HandsOn Garage at Silver Spring and Hwy. 45. This new business model for car repairs is intended to be the first of many such operations across the county. Miller, an American Airlines pilot in his day job, has put together a management and investor team to take the concept national. Bank funds, backed by the Small Business Administration, provided the start-up capital. Their model is for independent mechanics to use the facility and systems of HandsOn, while bringing in their own customers.

Services offered include:

  • Oil Change
  • Engine Analysis
  • General Diagnoses
  • Preventative Maintenance
  • Tune Ups
  • Brakes
  • Manufacturers Recommended Services
  • General Maintenance Advice

Give HandsOn a try for your repair work and check out this new venture. This brings to 22 the number of high-growth ventures launched in the region since BizStarts began counting in July 2008. Our goal is 50.

Student Entrepreneur Conference Earns High Marks from Students

Over 125 students from 13 of the 20 colleges in the Milwaukee 7 region attended BizStarts' first annual college Student Entrepreneur Conference, held at the Harley-Davidson Museum on April 16.

Keynote speaker 28-year-old Tom Szaky, CEO of Terracyle, wowed the students with his amazing success story of running a $20 million dollar company he started at age 19. Ohio entrepreneur and real estate developer Jason Duff was also a featured speaker. Several local and regional speakers, including James Carlson of Milwaukee’s own Bucketworks, addressed a broad range of topics, including: Funding Your Start- Up, Using Social Media to Market Your Start-Up and Young Entrepreneurs Tell Their Stories.

Students labeled it a success, with comments such as: “Loved it,” “Great Day,” “Executed Perfectly,” “Very cool,” “Most informative conference I have been to,” “Great speakers” and “Fantastic.”

Venture Track Advisors Offers Strategic Guidance for New Ventures

During the last year Venture Track spent a lot of time reviewing its programs and further exploring the needs of entrepreneurs. What resulted was a merging of BizStarts' Mentors and the BizStarts Coaching programs into one: Venture Track Advisors.

Venture Track Advisors is made up of volunteer Mentors and Coaches who want to share their skills and knowledge to help entrepreneurs accelerate their company development process.

Chelsea Krause, Director of the Venture Track program, said the newly combined group offers new ventures a robust blend of strategic guidance, resources and advice.  “When we first began Venture Track there was a great deal of interest from Mentors, but also 'specialists' who had not started a company, but who nonetheless wanted to be a part of what we were doing," Krause said.

"I knew I wanted to capitalize on those skills and enthusiasm so I created BizStarts Coaches. However, over the course of the year we've come to the conclusion that these two programs work better together than apart."

Mentors are serial entrepreneurs, or senior-level leaders of successful companies who can provide overall business strategy. Coaches specialize in a particular aspect of the business, such as legal, sales, marketing, finance, operations, prototype development, FDA, software, human resources and public relations.

In addition to attending Ugly Baby Panels, Venture Track Advisors are part of the “mini” board of advisors formed to help entrepreneurs develop roadmaps, milestones and offer general advice.

This project was funded in part by the Department of Labor Employment and Training WIRED grant.

Venture Track Welcomes ModularIQ

ModularIQ recently joined the Venture Track program and made its debut pitch at the first meeting of the newly formed Venture Track Advisors on May 11.
Using a propriety process, ModularIQ helps companies within the electronics industry build prototypes at the touch of a button.

Jason Crist, president of ModularIQ, presented at the Ugly Baby Panel portion of the meeting to a group of Venture Track Advisors. He said the feedback he received from the group was helpful.

"This has been a great opportunity to gain perspective,” Crist said. “The meeting went well and we received a great deal of constructive feedback. As a result, we have completely re-written our presentation. “

Venture Track has several ventures looking to develop teams. For more information about becoming a member of Venture Track Advisors or to apply to become a Venture Track Company, please contact venturetrack@bizstartsmilwaukee.com to learn more about the program.

BizStarts College Consortium and Venture Track are funded in part by the Department of Labor Employment and Training WIRED grant.


For up-to-date information on BizStarts Milwaukee, be sure to visit the website:
http://www.bizstartsmilwaukee.com

Classes and events relating to business can be found on the BizStarts calendar at:
http://www.bizstartsmilwaukee.com/Calendar.htm

Ask questions and get help from your peers on BizStarts business network myBizStarts.com
http://www.mybizstarts.com

Check out the BizStarts Milwaukee LinkedIn group!
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1766387


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