Ron Lasorsa

Businesses looking for a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional marketing methods may find themselves irresistibly attracted to Local Magnet Inc. According to CEO and Co-Founder Ron Lasorsa, his company offers a new and improved spin on the tried-and-true practice of lead generation to help local businesses gain clients. “[They] no longer have to worry about ineffective, expensive or complicated marketing strategies, because we simply deliver consumer-initiated telephone calls directly to their office,” he says.

Local Magnet Inc. utilizes its own marketing methods to refer pre-qualified customers directly to the participants deliver leads. “Best of all,” adds Lasorsa, “the business only pays when we have successfully delivered a call.”

Lasorsa, a Bayshore, NY native and graduate of U.S. Naval Academy, founded Local Magnet Inc. in 2008, transplanting it to Texas and converting it to a C-corp in 2012. The entrepreneur notes that his company’s gestation was built on hard work, trial and error — and without the aid of initial investors. “We have spent over $200,000 of our own money pursuing a variety of different business ideas. After speaking with a bunch of industry experts, we realized that lead generation was the answer,” he says.

Having finally hit on its winning formula, the company now actively seeks funding. “We are raising capital, growing our business and clawing our way to profitability,” says the entrepreneur, noting that the business is on track to close $900,000 in gross revenues this year. His advice to his fellow startups? “Sign up with the TEN as soon as possible. Had I known then what I know now, I would have saved myself a ton of time and money on missteps!”

James Bohan-Pitt

SiphonLabs seeks to take much of the drudgery and inefficiency out of website development, hosting and management. Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer James Bohan-Pitt describes it as a powerful cloud-based toolkit that reduces the time, effort and cost of developing, hosting and maintaining websites. This makes it a potentially huge boon to creatives who can then get on with what they do best -- creating.

The company’s cloud platform automates many of the more tedious details of managing website infrastructure, from initial software configuration in the design phase though launch and ongoing maintenance. “Many of these processes would take hours, sometimes days to complete,” explains James. “We felt that we could design a tool that would remove these pain points, enabling designers to focus on what they are great at, namely designing great sites, while we turn those time-consuming tasks into automations and one-click processes.”.

The concept delivered the expected results right from the beginning. James notes that users of the SiphonLabs platform enjoy 90-percent time savings over traditional server based hosting and management processes. As website designers can complete tasks without the aid of systems administration staff, they now have more time to focus on the design and development phases.  At launch, SiphonLabs will enable users to work in WordPress and MODX, and will eventually embrace Magneto, Drupal and Joomla! as well.

Since launching themselves as a separate enterprise from their original software company in January 2013, the SiphonLabs team has been pitching to VCs, to angels, and at various events. “We have used a number of Entrepreneurial networks as well as personal contacts to engage the funding community,” says Bohan-Pitt. He credits the SoftLayer Catalyst Startup Program for giving them access to some powerful senior-level mentors, saying, “They have helped us challenge ourselves at various stages, and they've been instrumental in helping us focus.".

More information, and the option to sign up for their open beta is available at http://siphonlabs.com/.

Jack Terrazas

Over 100 million dryers inhabit homes across the U.S. Unfortunately, highly flammable lint eventually builds up inside a dryer vent, causing poor performance or even a catastrophic fire — a situation that inventor Tom Asciolla and entrepreneur Jack Terrazas aim to prevent through their new product, the DrySafer Dryer Vent Alarm.

“Tom has serviced thousands of burnt-out dryers during his 25 years in the appliance repair business,” says Terrazas. “He saw the need and huge potential for an alarm device that warns homeowners of potential fire caused by lint buildup in a dryer’s exhaust system.” The two business veterans combined Asciolla’s technical know-how with Terrazas’ strategic/corporate background to create Safety First Appliance Protection, Inc.. The company’s flagship product- DrySafer, is an affordable, easy-to-install (10 minutes), energy-saving device that detects insufficient air flow within the dryer, alerting homeowners to clean out the lint in their exhaust vent before their dryer runs to long and overheats.

Safety First launched the first generation of DrySafer four years ago. “We sold 50 percent of our initial test pilot production to 22 of the largest distributors in the industry within the first year!” notes Terrazas, who, along with Asciolla, bootstrapped the company while both men continued to operate other businesses. The company has since improved and expanded its product line, developing a 2nd and 3rd generation DrySafer for both trade and consumer channels, including a cloud-based model with app capabilities. Mr. Appliance, the industry’s largest appliance service leader, recently engaged the company to develop a cloud based private label version of DrySafer.

Terrazas has plenty of good advice for budding entrepreneurs, including, “Spend every dollar as if it were your last,” and, “Network like crazy, because you never know who knows a guy who knows another guy” that loves your concept and can help you speed to market at half the cost with a better product.”

To learn more about dryer fires caused by lint build-up:

http://www.aol.com/video/inside-edition-investigates-dryer-fire-dangers/517670857?a_dgi=aolshare_email
http://www.ksat.com/news/KSAT-Defenders-Dryer-lint-poses-fire-hazard/-/478452/18461022/-/j8y2tm/-/index.html
http://www.kens5.com/video/raw/Dryer-lint-buildup-lea-146826505.html
http://www.kens5.com/video/yahoo-video/Pin-166815146.html

For Juan Gonzalez, the idea behind Gazelles Growth Institute is a simple yet powerful one. “Online Executive Education should focus on teaching contemporary and relevant business methodologies,” he states. “Instead of  just teaching, it should also include practice and guided implementation. A good implementation represents a positive impact on the business.” The Institute is living proof of that; his Web-based executive education company is already growing impressively after only 7 months in operation, from $120,000 in revenues in 2012 to a projected $800,000 for this year.

Gonzalez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico and graduate of Texas A&M, already had many years of experience reaching executives about business methodologies when he co-founded Gazelles Growth Institute, where he serves as CFO. The company offers “a village of gurus” from the top echelon of thought leaders in their respective fields, giving C level executives the skills and knowledge they need to improve their companies’ bottom lines. The Institute’s executive classes each place intense focus on a particular business methodology, while its corporate programs can train and educate anywhere from a few employees to more than 200 at a time.

Gonzalez and co-founders Daniel Marcos and Verne Harnish relied on funding from friends and family while also bootstrapping the startup themselves. “To get to operative mode, we worked on the project for 12 months as a side job,” says Gonzalez. “After we sold our first $40K, we transitioned to full-time mode.” The next step, he says, will be “to prove the model works and scale it.”

Gonzalez and Marcos advise fast-growing companies: “Find a clear goal, develop a clear and practical strategy and develop a habit of effective execution¨

Rather than teach how to Plan Strategically we teach how to Think Strategically and execute effectively.

Entrepreneur Anish Sheth is proving to the world that pea snacks don’t necessarily mean settling for the tried-and-true wasabi flavor. World Peas lives up to its name by producing its healthy snacks in a globe-trotting range of international yet unique flavors. “After a food trip to Sichuan province in China, I decided to start a seasoning company,” says the Texarkana native and UT graduate. “After meeting some wasabi pea manufacturers at a food show, I came up with the idea to use the seasoning I created on the peas.” The rest, as they say, is history.

The World Peas product line includes such exotic flavors as Bombay Curry, Santa Barbara Ranch, Kansas City Bacon, Hungarian Garlic, Sichuan Chili, Sicilian Tomato & Garlic, and of course Texas BBQ. In its first few months of operation, Sheth managed to win over Whole Foods on the products’ healthfulness and flavors. “Things took off pretty quickly after that, but there were lots of challenges along the way — expiration, labeling, finding a good broker, forecasting demand, et cetera. Every day has proven totally different!” World Peas products can currently be found at more than 3,000 distribution points, including regional grocery stores, independent natural food stores and even movie theaters.

Sheth bootstrapped the new enterprise entirely on his own. “Product development took months,” he notes, ”mostly because of the time it took to adjust the flavoring.” The company now enjoys month-to-month growth thanks to distributor-based advertising, trade shows, and a broker network that has encouraged more key buyers to come aboard. Sheth predicts revenue growth from $190,000 in 2012 to $1 million or more in 2013. “We currently have more demand than supply, so we’d like to use the funds to increase our on-hand inventory,” he says.

A new company is combining state-of-the-art infrared camera technology with unprecedented affordability. InView Technology Corp, founded by bob Bridge, has application including microscopy, life sciences, surveillance, military and maritime use.

The company, which incorporated as a C-Corp in mid-2009,  manufactures infrared camera systems that feature a unique technology licensed from Rice University, where Bridge was a student (he also attended UT Austin). The technology, known as Compressive Sensing, allows cameras to capture and reproduce images far beyond the visible spectrum and into the Short-Wave Infrared or SWIR range. The InView SWIR cameras are available in 1024×768 or HD resolutions, and are designed to work “out of the box”. The cutting-edge technology used by these cameras actually reduces their cost by a factor of five compared to other infrared cameras, according to Bridge.

Bridge relied on outside investment instead of bootstrapping to fund the fledgling company. “Series A was led by InQTel. InView also received funding from the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund, and angel investments from two general partners at Sevin Rosen Funds,” says the Austin entrepreneur, though he cites the building of a world-class technology team as the biggest challenge of the startup phase. He also credits The Emerging Technology Fund for providing funding when the company was still “too early” for other investors.

The team’s hard work has paid off handsomely so far. InView took in $180,000 in product sales and more than $400,000 in R&D revenue in 2012, with a projected $2.4 million in product revenue for 2013 and a focus on continuing to build a steady revenue stream. As for Bridge’s advice to would-be entrepreneurs who would like to replicate InView’s success, he can boil it down to a single word: “Persevere.”

Film producer Ryan Hawkins’ latest entrepreneurial venture is sure to leave people laughing — and that’s just the way he wants it. His current film project, The Wedding Party, is an independent romantic comedy that takes place entirely at a wedding reception.

“Our writer-director, Thane Economou, attended several weddings in the summer of 2012 and was inspired by the unique atmosphere that goes hand-in-hand with the reunion of old friends at such a symbolic ceremony,” says Hawkins. “In an effort to capture the true essence of the reception, Thane wrote a film that takes place entirely at a wedding reception, which is showcased in one continuous long take.”

Hawkins officially filed the film’s production corporation — Reception to Follow, LLC — in February of 2012. Since then, his team has been heavily engaged in pre-production as well as financing. “We expect principal photography to take place early this spring, pending financing,” he says. His principal fundraising efforts are directed toward private equity investors: “We budgeted $10,000 in development funds, which was acquired within a month’s time. Since then we have raised almost $150,000 in investment capital and are looking for an additional $250,000 to complete our production budget.”

The private equity funds are deposited into an escrow account set at $250,000 for the investors’ protection. Once fundraising has been completed, Hawkins will be able to lock down shooting dates and begin a two month pre-production process. He credits the team’s attorney, Shameer Sonni, with introducing him to the Texas Entrepreneurs Network, “one of our greatest assets at this stage of the game.”

Attaching on-screen and production talent to a project before funding has come through was a major challenge. Notes Hawkins, “We have managed to garner interest from a wide array of talented actors and industry professionals because of our unique, one-shot shooting style, but without securing letters of intent from these respective team members, it is difficult to accurately project box office revenue for our investors.” He adds that while projecting an independent film’s revenues is always a highly speculative task, it will be easier to make such calculations following festival exhibition, saying, “We anticipate the majority of our revenue to come in via the 2015-2016 theatrical exhibition window.”

Ryan’s advice for any startup venture? “Grow a thick skin, be honest about what you are looking for when approaching investors, and let your passion for your endeavor shine through.”

Evan Hanson knows first-hand the difficulty of turning a great idea into a moneymaking reality. “I have had many great ideas throughout my life, yet many of them lay dormant in my head because I either had no money to move forward, or I was overwhelmed with trying to start a business,” he explains. But from these experiences sprang the seed of his new entrepreneurial venture, Hevan — a resource for innovators and investors to connect, work together and create the Next Big Thing.

“People like to talk about how certain entrepreneurs were in the right place at the right time, or just happened to know the right people,” he says. “They ask, ‘What would Apple be if Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had never met?’ Well, Hevan brings those people together and creates that ‘right place at the right time.’” Members of Hevan’s online network — a mix of creative talent, marketers, and investors — can use the company’s Web-based tools to share business plans and informational videos, create partnerships and build new business models.

Hanson has prepared for Heven’s imminent launch by building interest through a preregistration web page. “I’ve been encouraging people to preregister and share through other social networks. I am spreading the word as much as possible and offering the first 5,000 people to submit their email addresses the opportunity to be named a special contributor on hevan.net,” he says. Once the business launches, his team will spend the following week refining and adjusting the site according to the feedback received. Afterwords, a two-month promotional tour will focus on college campuses in Texas and a few neighboring states.

Hanson has brought the business to its current stage entirely without outside investment, explaining that during his previous work at Apple, Inc. he had saved his money diligently while searching for the just the right project to come along. For him, the most significant challenge to starting a new business has been the development process. “After you draw up your initial vision, the team finds new ways to refine it, which delays the launch.” He advises budding entrepreneurs to share their ideas with others to determine the “rightness” of the concept. “When you do finally hit  on that great idea, you will feel passionate about telling anyone and everyone who will listen.”

Readers of all ages who enjoy electronic books may soon encounter an enormous leap forward in the power, capabilities and sheer fun quotient of this increasingly pervasive medium. John Adcox’s Atlanta-based ePic Adventures, Inc. is working on their manifestation of this next frontier — a line of interactive titles called ePic Books.

Adcox points out that modern electronic books fail to take full advantage of their potential to create interactive, immersive, entertaining experiences. “The rich media capabilities of a smartphone, e-reader, or tablet can turn a gripping story with broad, four-quadrant appeal into a truly immersive experience, with illustrations that come to life and move, a soundtrack with music, addictive games, and even an e-commerce shopping element,” he says. “The failure to use e-reading’s full potential represents a huge missed opportunity in the marketplace — and we’re going to change that through our ePic Books.”

The key to unlocking all this potential lies in ePic Adventures, Inc.’s patentable platform for enabling immersive, media-rich experiences. “Think of ePic Books as ‘eBook 2.0,’” says Adcox. “We can integrate video, music, games, and even e-commerce shopping into the larger context or a literary or educational text.” The platform’s education potential includes the ability to learn through interactive activities that unlock each chapter after the previous chapter’s material has been mastered.

Adcox’s own passion for a good story well told fires his enthusiasm for his new venture. “I have a deep love of storytelling, and I was involved in user experience before the term even existed. The two seem like a natural fit,” he explains.

Early development of the ePic Books platform has been entirely bootstrapped by Adcox and company. “I created a dynamic design and then gathered a ‘dream team’ of developers, business and financial advisors, including the creative designer who won the first-ever Prime Time Emmy Award for interactive television.” He cites money and time as the two principal challenges: “We need the funds to to create rich media assets, market, and protect the IP. Time-wise, we have an amazing opportunity to own this space, but the window of opportunity is by definition a narrow one.” He projects positive cash flow within 18 months of investment.

“Keep believing!” says Adcox to other high-tech hopefuls. “Never stop working. There are ways around every barrier.”

Pennies add up to dollars, and dollars add up to profits. This philosophy drives the bustling penny auction industry, in which participants pay a non-refundable fee for the right to bid on items, with the winning bid coming in at well below MSRP. And Houston entrepreneur Cory Owens intends to take the industry by storm as President and CEO of BidSerious, LLC.

Owens is well versed in the online business world, having worn multiple executive hats at a Web-based Houston fulfillment company for 17 years prior to launching BidSerious. When that business merged with a California-based company in 2010, he embarked on a search for the next big idea. His interest in traditional auction sites led him to penny auctions. “I decided to really dig deep and investigate the heart of the penny auction world,” says Owens. “I found that with the right model, a strong penny auction site can be highly profitable.”

BidSerious changes the existing Internet penny auction model by incorporating three key advantages focusing primarily on the customers’ wants and needs. The combination of these three key advantages will change the face of Internet auctions in the future.

Owens expanded his original thoughts on this business model into the present BidSerious structure over a seven-month period. While his extensive business development knowledge helped come up with an attractive business plan, establishing the right connections has proved invaluable as well. “Texas Entrepreneur Network has been incredible about giving advice and pointing our business in the right direction. Our membership in Technical Incubator West Houston has also helped us develop our plan into what it is today.”

BidSerious is currently proceeding with the investment phase of its development. “The process is much longer than you anticipate it to be,” he notes. “But if your plan has merit, and you put in the time and effort, the final result makes it all worthwhile.”