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

Feb28

“We’ve been doing customer satisfaction surveys for five years and have consistently had a 90+ percent rate of customer satisfaction.”

Geoffrey Citron

Nomia Inc.

Founder and President

Geoffrey Citron is a founder and the president of Nomia Inc., which operates Thoughtbus.com, a growing email and collaboration Cloud Services provider for small to midsized organizations throughout the United States. Thoughtbus was established to provide customer organizations with exceptional hosted email and collaboration capabilities in a Microsoft environment, while also delivering industry-leading customer service. Geoffrey is also an investor and member of the board of directors of WhatEveryBabyNeeds.com, an online boutique featuring organic and eco-friendly clothing, toys, and accessories for newborn to 4. Geoffrey is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, and he received his Master’s degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1996.

Prior to founding Nomia Inc. in 2003, Geoffrey worked for 15 years in the information technology sector in a number of roles. Starting in 1988, he defined, implemented and supported a variety of factory automation systems at Pratt & Whitney, drawn to their slogan at the time of ‘Thrust You Can Trust’. He and 3 colleagues started Matrix Computing Solutions, Inc. in Connecticut in 1994, to provide customer organizations with exceptional Microsoft systems integration and technical support services, along with custom software development. In 1996, Matrix was selected by IBM Global Services to design and implement the systems integration for a very large infrastructure rollout for the state government of New York, with over 100 locations and supporting over 15,000 people. Matrix grew considerably over several years with a variety of projects from New York City to Burlington, Vermont; and was acquired by Vista IT of Herndon, Virginia in 2000. Geoffrey continued to provide technical consulting services for Vista IT, until Vista was acquired by Avaya Inc. in 2003.

Feb25

“We are a fundraising and donation engine, with a group buying twist.”

Ola Ayni is the President of BunchBite.com

Ola Ayeni has discovered a way to offer people discounts on food, while also offering them the benefit of helping nonprofits. BunchBite.com is a group-buying, fundraising and donation service for non-profits, schools, foundations and causes. Each week, BunchBite helps consumers experience favorite local restaurants, and new hot spots, while saving up to 85% and supporting local charities.

BunchBite is comprised of five employees; Ola Ayeni, Jodi Vanderwater, Cynthia Lamb, Mohammed Asim Ashraf, David Matus, and some dedicated interns. This team started Bunchbite in November 2010, and has partnered with some big name non-profits. The future of BunchBite is to expand statewide to schools, nonprofits, and foundations before going nationwide.

Feb24

“Our customer service philosophy is simple, direct, and human. We answer every call, email, Facebook message, Tweet, or support request with a human response.”

Every tour or activity provider can benefit from Rezgo, the software that Stephen Joyce and his company have developed. Rezgo is a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) reservation and booking system for tour and activity companies. Rezgo provides small tourism businesses with a complete on-line booking engine, inventory and customer management, and payment processing. Rezgo is simple and non-intimidating. Businesses can sign-up for an account on-line, add their tour and activity products, connect their payment gateway, and begin accepting bookings from customers in a matter of hours.

Stephen Joyce understands the importance his company holds in the travel industry. He is very proud of the fact that through the building of relationships with key influential members of the travel industry they have been able to help drive the importance of the tour & activity segment. What truly makes Rezgo unique, and a leader in the industry is their attentiveness to customer service.

Feb21

“each one of our bars is specifically designed to have an effect on your body based on the blend of herbs that we use”

In March 2008, while attending the University of Missouri, Steven Adamski and Sarah Newsome created a product that benefits the body, and packaging that benefits the environment. These wonderful products, Herbal Oats Granola Bars, are all natural and packaged in biodegradable wrappers. Sarah and Steven, both food science majors, started making the bars out of the kitchen at Café Berlin. Each bar has a specific function for your body based on the blend of herbs that are used. Herbal Oats currently sells four different types of bars: Energy, Focus, Immunity, & Strength.

Steven and Sarah are currently working on getting the bars into Whole Foods in St. Louis, and the store is very interested! Right now customers can find these delicious bars on University of Missouri campus, Hy-Vee, Clover’s Market, and Café Berlin.

Feb17

“Price and Convenience make us better than competitors. Many of our repairs are less than 50% the price of Apple and our turnaround time is an hour if you live in Columbia.”

Zach Hockett and Keegan Burkett

iPatchit.com

Founder & CEO

http://www.ipatchit.com/

Keegan Burkett and Zach Hockett have taken full advantage of Apple’s mistakes. The two junior business school students from the University of Missouri have made a business around fixing broken iPhones. They started a company called iPatchit in November 2010.

Keegan and Zach pride themselves on their amazing customer service, repairing most phones in an hour or less! Since their beginning in November 2010, iPatchit has grown sales revenue to between $1,500 to $2,000 a month, and are continuing to expand. They are very excited about their up and coming ability to “color change” the iPhone.

Feb16

“Looking back the ability to start and fail and then just start up again has been a major cultural advantage that has been very good for business in the US.”

Morten L. Jørgensen

Magma

Co-Founder

http://magmahq.com

Morten L. Jørgensen is a Co-Founder at Magma. Morten is a serial entrepreneur and has founded multiple companies and including a VC backed startup. Morten’s experience is almost entirely in the web space. He has started, a music community called BandBase, and a web 2.0/marketing consulting company called dotweiser and co-founded an interactive design firm called Aabenbart with Sebastian Stockmarr and Andrew Dahl. Morten’s current business is Magma an Aabenbart spin-off which was part of the inaugural Startupbootcamp group in Fall 2010.

Magma is an online management tool for planning, organizing and collaborating to create publications. It is designed to be used by editorial teams working with print and/or digital magazines, journals, etc. The goal of Magma is to remove the constraints of the publishing work flow process and make it as easy and efficient as possible.
Morten Jorgensen is the Founder of Magma

Feb14

“Every single person that I knew discouraged me from pursuing this. That goes to show that some things that may not sound like the best business model end up ultimately being that.”

Brad Wilson

BradsDeals.com

Founder

http://BradsDeals.com

Brad Wilson is the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of BradsDeals.com. Brad started BradsDeals while a college student in 2001 and is a recognized online shopping expert and professional bargain-hunter. Brad has appeared as a deal expert on NBC’s The Today Show, Oprah & Friends, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money and USA Today. Brad has also appeared in scores of local media including Fox Chicago, Fox Cleveland and Fox Milwaukee.

BradsDeals finds and publishes online shopping deals, online coupon codes and in-store printable coupons. BradsDeals has an active coupon for 90% of stores consumers would shop at. The average visitor to the site takes about 90 seconds to find coupons and discounts worth an average of $24 off their order. Stopping at BradsDeals can save you hundreds of dollars per year.

Brad's Deals

Feb11

“If new users don’t quickly understand your website, don’t expect them to stick around figure out how it works”

Marco Massaro

eBackers

Founder

http://eBackers.com

Marco Massaro is the Founder of eBackers. Marco is a user interface/design specialist. eBackers is his third company. His first was Audiolizer, a streaming music service. His second is Masswerks, a web development company that specializes in user interface design. His most recent company is eBackers.

eBackers “is a place for web professionals, online businesses, startups and people with ideas to connect.” It behaves much like Craigslist with users anonymously posting information about their needs. It also anonymizes email addresses and automatically expires posts. Unlike Craigslist, it is very easy on the eyes and has an intuitive user interface. eBackers’ goal is to create a place for web oriented people and businesses to connect.

Feb10

“If you root through the dumpster of life and pull out the things that most people just consider trash and you use it to your advantage, you’ll clean up in the business world.”

Mike Michalowicz

Obsidian Launch

Founder

http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com

Mike Michalowicz is the author of the book “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.” He started his first business at the age of 24. With limited resources and no experience, he developed a multi-million dollar technology business, sleeping in conference rooms to avoid hotel costs. After selling his first company, Mike launched a new business the very next day, and in less than three years, sold it to a Fortune 500. With his newest multi-million dollar venture, Obsidian Launch, he grows authors and experts into industry superstars.

Mike is a graduate of Inc. & MITs Birthing of Giants Entrepreneurial Program. He has received multiple entrepreneurship awards, including the SBAs Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Mike is a recurring guest on CNBCs The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, ABC News, Fox News and other television programs. He has also been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, US News & World Report, National Public Radio (NPR), the New York Times, and other publications. He is a frequent guest lecturer for entrepreneurial groups and professional business groups throughout the world. Mike is also a guest lecturer for collegiate entrepreneurial programs such as Babson, Boston College, Columbia, Emerson, Harvard, Penn State, Pepperdine and Princeton.

Feb7

Why Yelp Will Triumph in the Groupon & LivingSocial Wars

Johns Wu

MO.com

Partner

http://www.MO.com

Groupon and LivingSocial have been getting all the attention lately, but where is the love for Yelp?

Yelp’s core challenge has always been monetization. However, with the construct of the “local deal” now firmly accepted by consumers and local-businesses alike, I feel Yelp has a cleared an immense hurdle and is the best positioned for long-term growth and profitability in this space. The value of Yelp has always been undeniable. For business owners, a Yelp rating can make or break them. For Yelpers, Yelp is hands-down the best resource for discovering new restaurants, bars, and local businesses.

I’ve always resisted signing up for group-buy sites because I despise America’s tasteless consumer culture. However, I finally gave in to the the irresistible LivingSocial $10 Amazon deal. To be fair, I also signed up for Groupon so I could compare the two and see what all the hype was about.

Long story short, I was utterly disappointed, so here is my bear case on Groupon, Living Social, and all the copycats that follow in their footsteps:

1) HORRENDOUS (lack of) targeting.

After getting signing up for Groupon/LivingSocial, they have been sending me ridiculously poorly targeted offers—nail salons, yoga, day spas… WTF!! Targeting is a BIG DEAL!! Targeting is the reason why Google Adwords is a multi-billion dollar cash cow, and lack of targeting is the reason why the Groupon model is fundamentally flawed.

Feb4

“Most of our marketing is done through in-store samples. We’ve found that once customers taste the bars, they’re hooked!”

Bill and Leigh Keith

Perfect Foods Research Corporation

Bill (President/ CEO), Leigh (Vice President)

http://www.PerfectFoodsBar.com/

Siblings Bill and Leigh Keith run Perfect Foods Research Corp. Perfect Foods is a family owned business started by their parents in 1995. Perfect Foods’ main product is a nutrition bar (Perfect Foods Bar) that is 100% whole food with absolutely no GMOs, preservatives, chemicals or fillers. They are produced in their own certified organic factory in San Diego, California. Perfect Foods believes food can be delicious and healthy without making compromises such as using artificial preservatives. Their hand made product has gotten the attention of many top dieticians, athletes and health conscious people. It has also made a guest appearance on a popular TV show: The Big Bang Theory and recently voted favorite energy bar by actress Marisa Tomei in the August issue of Shape Magazine.

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Spotlight Interview: Gordon Logan

Spotlight Interview: David Allen

Spotlight Interview: Chris Babel

“We’ve been doing customer satisfaction surveys for five years and have consistently had a 90+ percent rate of customer satisfaction.”

“We are a fundraising and donation engine, with a group buying twist.”

“Our customer service philosophy is simple, direct, and human. We answer every call, email, Facebook message, Tweet, or support request with a human response.”

“each one of our bars is specifically designed to have an effect on your body based on the blend of herbs that we use”

“Price and Convenience make us better than competitors. Many of our repairs are less than 50% the price of Apple and our turnaround time is an hour if you live in Columbia.”

“Looking back the ability to start and fail and then just start up again has been a major cultural advantage that has been very good for business in the US.”

“Every single person that I knew discouraged me from pursuing this. That goes to show that some things that may not sound like the best business model end up ultimately being that.”

“If new users don’t quickly understand your website, don’t expect them to stick around figure out how it works”

“If you root through the dumpster of life and pull out the things that most people just consider trash and you use it to your advantage, you’ll clean up in the business world.”

Why Yelp Will Triumph in the Groupon & LivingSocial Wars

“Most of our marketing is done through in-store samples. We’ve found that once customers taste the bars, they’re hooked!”

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