Business Interviews with Entrepreneurs, CEO's, Founders, Funding Sources, and Policy Makers

Jul29

“I think the secret to building a client list like mine is showing people you can respect their values and goals.”

Meg Hall

Made by Meg

Celebrity Chef, Caterer & Owner

http://www.MegHall.com

Meg Hall is a celebrity chef, caterer and owner of Made by Meg – a catering commissary and test kitchen in Redondo Beach, California. She specializes in healthy farm-to-table meals, local farmer’s markets and catering for parties.

Chef Meg has trained at the Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, CA, followed by a job alongside a renowned chef at Michelin-star restaurant Ortolan. She has worked with high-profile companies including Absolut Vodka, Citysearch.com, Paramount Studios, Seacrest Productions and the Supper Club, as well as celebrity clients such as Kaley Cuoco, Jaime Pressley, The Jonas Brothers, The Kings of Leon, Tori & Dean Spelling and more.

BusinessInterviews: Tell me about your catering company, Made by Meg.

Jul25

“Part of being a successful business owner is hiring the right people.”

Sandy Korem

The Festive Kitchen

Founder

http://www.FestiveKitchen.com/

Sandy Korem is the founder of The Festive Kitchen, a premiere catering company in Dallas, Texas, featuring recognizable gourmet food. Self-taught in the culinary arts, Sandy started the business in 1991 by providing handcrafted brownies to a local upscale casual restaurant. Within its first 10 years, The Festive Kitchen experienced annual double-digit growth in catering sales.In 2000, The Festive Kitchen began selling some of its most requested items from its production catering kitchen that had previously only been served for catered events. This concept proved to be explosive in the growth of the company and absolutely something that is recession-proof.

BusinessInterviews.com: At what point did you decide that catering was the industry you wanted to start a business in?

Jul21

“You need to fail often in order to succeed once.”

Bill Balderaz

Fathom Healthcare

Founder & Managing Principal

http://www.FathomDelivers.com

Bill Balderaz, Founder of Webbed Marketing, grew the company from a one-man consultancy to one of the largest and fastest growing independent interactive marketing agencies in the Midwest. In 2011, Webbed Marketing was acquired by Fathom.
Fathom Healthcare is helping the healthcare industry and patients connect during this time of change. Nothing is changing like health care and they are there to help hospitals and other healthcare organizations navigate the legislative, technological and societal changes that are reshaping the industry.

BusinessInterviews.com: Can you elaborate how you’re using turmoil and transition in healthcare industry as an opportunity to build a better system?

Jul14

“Beef up customer relationships so an acquirer can feel confident in the performance of the business post-sale.”

Chris Warden

Fox Powers

Co-Founder

http://www.FoxPowers.com

Chris Warden is the Co-Fuonder of Fox Powers. Fox Powers is an innovative M&A firm that helps small and medium-sized businesses sell to private equity groups. Traditional M&A firms have a poor model. They charge large up front retainers and rarely close deals. Fox Powers works with no retainer, on a limited 90 day timeframe. This means they only take on clients who they know they can sell, and sell quickly. After years working in the M&A space, they grew tired of seeing so few successful exits for owners. So Fox Powers fixed it.

BusinessInterviews.com: Chris, Fox Powers works on a performance basis, not a retainer basis. This is unheard of in the M&A industry. Talk about why you operate this way?

Jul11

“We educate our clients and potential clients on the facts”

Benjamin Geyerhahn

BeneStream

Founder and CEO

http://benestream.com/

Benjamin Geyerhahn is an experienced entrepreneur, healthcare policy expert, and member of New York Governor Cuomo’s Health Benefit Exchange Regional Advisory Committee. He is the founder and CEO of BeneStream, which uses a combination of technology and a multi-lingual call center to guide both employers and employees through the Medicaid enrollment process.

Businessinterviews.com: Tell us a little bit about BeneStream. How did your experience in litigation and consulting prepare you to lead a company like BeneStream?

Benjamin: Being an attorney (and later a policy consultant) gave me the skills to understand both the complexity of the regulatory environment insurance brokers operate in and the opportunities the Affordable Care Act has created for brokers. Running a political and policy consulting firm requires a team that can develop and launch a new effort for a new client every year or every election cycle. I understand how to develop a plan and execute that plan. That’s the core of what a startup must do.

Businessinterviews.com: BeneStream’s business model is unique; no other business is offering services specifically related to Medicaid migration. Was there a particular experience that made it obvious that this was a huge need?

Jul10

“Computer Market Research is focused on providing businesses with software solutions that cultivate effective channel programs.”

Del Heles

Computer Market Research

President

http://www.ComputerMarketResearch.com

Del Heles founded Computer Market Research in 1984. With over 30 years of providing channel services to companies like Acer America, Samsung and Fujitsu, Del is unparalleled in his knowledge and expertise in the industry. His passion and dedication to helping channel businesses proves to be an invaluable resource to building a successful channel strategy.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Computer Market Research, Ltd. (CMR) delivers cost effective, web-based applications and services to channel vendors across the globe. CMR aims to assist manufacturers in managing channel data, optimizing trade promotions, and maximizing the effectiveness of indirect sales channels.

BusinessInterviews.com: Can you talk a bit about the art and importance of cultivating a mutually beneficial relationship between vendor and partner?

Jul7

“We focus on the customer first, and that makes StorageMart strong in every local market.”

Cris Burnam

StorageMart

President

http://www.storage-mart.com/

Cris Burnam has been working in the self-storage industry since 1987. He has served as president of StorageMart since founding the company with his brother Mike Burnam in 1999. Cris grew StorageMart from a single self-storage facility into the world’s largest privately owned self-storage company, with 149 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

Cris was named a 2014 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year in the Services/Real Estate category for the Central Midwest region — one of the highest honors an American entrepreneur can receive.

Why did you choose the self-storage industry for your career?

My family has been in many different businesses because my father has always been a serial entrepreneur. Most of them had a strong real estate flavor.

When he decided to get into the storage business in 1973, it was clearly a case of being in the right place at the right time. It was the beginning of an industry. We had the opportunity to shape the way the self-storage industry grew and develop strong relationships with other self-storage founders. I’ve been around it since I was 10 years old, so you could say I grew up in the storage business.

What are a few trends in the self-storage industry that really excite you?

Jun30

“Rather than getting too focused on equity funding early on, tech start-up teams should look at alternative business models, including revenue-funding, government grants, and crowd-funding.”

Bernd Schoner

ThingMagic

Co-Founder

http://www.ThingMagic.com

Bernd Schoner was a researcher at the MIT Media Lab before co-founding ThingMagic with four fellow PhD graduates. His research has led to devices and software applications as unique as the Marching Cello, a wearable instrument providing the functionality of a cello, and a giant polyphonic floorboard for the Flying Karamazov Brothers. Despite his work on digital stringed instruments, he still enjoys playing his acoustic cello, and is also a competitive gymnast. Bernd holds Master’s of Engineering degrees from RWTH Aachen, Germany, and from Ecole Centrale de Paris, France. He received his Ph.D. from the MIT Media Laboratory in 2000.

ThingMagic is a leading provider of UHF RFID readers and systems. The company was acquired by Trimble Navigation in 2010. It is now operating as a division of Trimble.

BusinessInterviews.com: What are some common reasons that technology startups never make it to the funding stage?

Jun27

“One of the exciting items coming down the road is the ability to use single sign-on from any device, anywhere.”

Dean Wiech

Tools4ever

Managing Director, NY

http://www.tools4ever.com

Dean Wiech joined Tools4ever in April 2006 and is responsible for the Tools4ever, Inc. operations the United States. His duties include direct sales, as well as the responsibility for the sales, technology and consulting team along with the day-to-day operations for the company.

Tools4ever’s core business offerings include a combination of robust software and consulting services in the identity and access management (IDM/IAM) market. Tools4ever’s identity and access management software applications have been installed in organizations varying in size from 200 user accounts to more than 300,000 user accounts.

BusinessInterviews.com: How do you separate yourself from the competition?

Jun26

“I heard a quote from a customer who said, ‘Your team would come and paint my roof if I asked them to.’ We’ve been able to help our customers the most simply by doing whatever it takes.”

Dan Price

Gravity Payments

CEO

http://www.GravityPayments.com/

Ten years ago at the age of 19, Dan Price created Gravity Payments out of his Seattle Pacific University dorm room because he saw thousands of hard-working small business owners being under-served and over-charged by credit card processors.

Today, Gravity Payments serves over 11,000 merchants across America, saving them millions in fees and hours in headaches and frustration.

BusinessInterviews.com: What gap did you see in the market that inspired the launch of Gravity Payments?

Jun25

“There are three predictable barriers to business growth: leadership and management, market dynamics, and systems and structure.”

Sean Morris

Digitech Systems

Director of Sales

http://www.DigitechSystems.com/

Digitech Systems offers a comprehensive Enterprise Content Management (ECM) product suite that enables businesses to more effectively manage information of any kind—from paper documents and electronic files to print streams, forms and even email. Choose an on premise system or move your ECM to the cloud and get access to any document, anywhere, anytime on virtually any device.

BusinessInterviews.com: How can ECM help a business that is overwhelmed by their current information management system?

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Spotlight Interview: Dave Mattson

Spotlight Interview: David Allen

Spotlight Interview: Gordon Logan

“I think the secret to building a client list like mine is showing people you can respect their values and goals.”

“Part of being a successful business owner is hiring the right people.”

“You need to fail often in order to succeed once.”

“Beef up customer relationships so an acquirer can feel confident in the performance of the business post-sale.”

“We educate our clients and potential clients on the facts”

“We focus on the customer first, and that makes StorageMart strong in every local market.”

“Rather than getting too focused on equity funding early on, tech start-up teams should look at alternative business models, including revenue-funding, government grants, and crowd-funding.”

“One of the exciting items coming down the road is the ability to use single sign-on from any device, anywhere.”

“I heard a quote from a customer who said, ‘Your team would come and paint my roof if I asked them to.’ We’ve been able to help our customers the most simply by doing whatever it takes.”

“There are three predictable barriers to business growth: leadership and management, market dynamics, and systems and structure.”

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