All Entries in the "Cover Stories" Category

Start Me Up: ‘Secret Sauce’ for Startup Success

In November, the Betaspring team watched with pride as the 13 startups participating in our fall accelerator program presented to a sold-out crowd of investors, mentors and partners from across New England. This is always a bittersweet moment–it’s thrilling to see our companies rise so far, so fast, but in the weeks following the conclusion of the program, I always miss the intense, day-to-day moments we share while in the trenches of the 12-week session.

The wistful, “day after” feeling we and our companies experience after the conclusion of the program is important: it’s proof that we’ve created deep, effective relationships with the startups we serve. It’s the secret sauce in our recipe for startup success.

Betaspring is focused on high growth, technology driven startups. We use a 12-week, full immersion model, providing our companies with $12-$20K in seed capital, intense mentorship and workspace in an active startup community.

Our year round program is run by full time staff. We have two sessions per year, one in spring and one in fall. Even when we are not in active session, Betaspring is working with our alumni, recruiting companies and building our network. Being focused on our companies 12 months a year allows us to customize our services and find the right resources for each company.

We’re entrepreneur led and entrepreneur driven. Our programming is designed, developed and delivered by people who have started multiple companies. We understand the highs and lows that our founders face and have been navigating the high seas of new venture creation for over a decade.

We take a stand on issues that matter to startups. Startups–and the founders who drive them–don’t typically materialize out of thin air. They evolve. This is why we focus on being active in the startups across New England and participants in national conversations about what it will take for America to launch more startups, faster (visit our blog at betaspring.com to see what we’re focused on).

We have a 24/7 galactic headquarters that includes private and shared office space for our companies. We also run a co-working community for startups that includes many of our alumni companies. Experience has taught us that nothing is more powerful to a startup than being immersed in a community of entrepreneurs.

As a bonus, we offer 10 weeks of free office space to our companies after the accelerator wraps and we run activities to enhance our companies’ growth. It’s like 2 accelerators for 1.

Providence, and really all of Rhode Island, plays a major role in our success–it is the ecosystem our startups flourish in while they are with us, and it’s a great place to build a start up. We’re like The Brooklyn of Boston, connected to a world class metro but unique in many ways. Startup costs are low, the community is supportive, quirky and proud of it, and Providence is perfectly positioned in the northeast corridor, one of the richest, most populous and diverse places in the US.

Since 2009, Betaspring has accelerated 57 companies. Our companies have raised $20M in follow on funding and we had our first major acquisition in early 2012. And even though we just launched the fall companies, it’ll be time to do it all again when we kick off our 6th session on February 11. You can read more about us on our website at betaspring.com.

Our companies come from all across the country to participate in Betaspring and many stay after completing the program. The 13 companies that participated in our fall session well-represent the diversity of our portfolio. They are:

AutoBike
AutoBike’s automatic shifting bicycle creates the smoothest, most comfortable riding experience ever. No shifting, just fun.

Crunchbutton
Crunchbutton curates the top food items from the top restaurants within a community, so you can order favorites online and on your phone with just one button. Brought to you by the creators of One Button Wenzel, the cult phenomenon that sold over $60K of a single sandwich at Yale.

Greentape
Greentape uses sensors and a mobile app to calculate shopper intent, tracking their interests, movement, and in-store location to instantly provise offers and loyalty points via smartphone.

HealthID Profile
HealthID Profile is a mobile solution that works with unique medical ID bands to offer simple, chronic disease management tools coupled with emergency communication.

Kuratur
Kuratur lets social media users filter out the noise and keep track of only the people, conversations and topics they care about.

Pennant
Pennant is a powerful ad creation tool that enables ad agencies to create interactive advertisements, delivered via advertising networks to desktops, phones, and tablets.

Plandree
Plandree is a collaborative vacation planner that helps you discover incredible experiences and makes planning easy. Simply create an itinerary and start group planning with your friends and family.

Rootless
Rootless is a ridesharing community that safely connects passengers and drivers to get them where they want to go.

Scholrly
Scholrly makes it easy for companies to find and collaborate with researchers. Fostering collaboration between academia and industry unlocks the value of billions of dollars of research that goes unseen and unused.u.

TennisHub
TennisHub connects tennis players with high quality playing opportunities while providing tennis clubs with powerful tools like online booking to help them grow their business.

TouchVu
TouchVu allows small businesses to instantly turn their Facebook business pages into websites that are fully optimized for mobile phones, tablets, and PCs.

Umbie DentalCare
Umbie DentalCare is a web-based management solution for dental practices that provides all the functionality that a modern dental practice needs while meeting the HITECH law requirements.

WorldBrain
WorldBrain enables more students to travel the world than ever before. GoWorldBrain.com serves as a teacher’s salesperson, marketer and accountant to double the chances of a trip taking place.

Betaspring Fast Facts

• Founded in 2009
• 57 companies accelerated to date; $20M in capital
• In 2012, Betaspring expanded to two sessions per year
• Betaspring companies receive seed capital, intense mentorship, workspace at Betaspring HQ, immersion into a startup community and access to Betaspring’s mentor and alumni network.
• 24/7 facility with private and shared workspace
• Run by full time staff with deep experience in technology entrepreneurship

All photos from the event were taken by Cat Laine of Painted Foot (http://www.paintedfoot.com/)

All About Home Care

All About Home Care (AAHC) is a premier home health care agency that has been providing independence and peace of mind to hundreds of families since 2003. Located on Aquidneck Island, AAHC provides personal care services, homemaking, and companionship to Newport and Bristol counties.

Designed for people living alone in need of additional help with their everyday activities, AAHC offers the “choice” of staying relatively independent at home — rather than moving in with a son/daughter, or into an assisted living or skilled nursing facility – while having the services of a private, personally-tailored assistant, chauffeur, and companion. Highly-qualified and trained caregivers are ready to help with a variety of daily activities and services in managing everyday life. A home assistance program is created and tailored to each client’s personal requirements and might include light housekeeping, medication reminders, transportation to doctor or hairdresser appointments, errand running, grocery shopping, meal planning, assistance with grooming and personal care, monitoring bathing safety, and always above-all the vital gift of basic companionship.

Beginning in a tiny home-based office with just Executive Director Kathleen Devlin, her vision, determination and expertise at the helm, All About Home Care, LLC started to grow. At its inception in January of 2003, AAHC received its Certificate of Organization from the state of Rhode Island, offering non-medical services that could be scheduled for a few hours, a whole day, a few days/week, or “24-7”. In 2004, Kathleen took on a one-room office in Middletown. One desk, a copier, a printer, and a file cabinet filled the space and two or three people had to take turns using the office. The company outgrew its confines in just two years and moved its operations to the conveniently-located Irongate Building in Middletown in 2006. In May of 2007, Kathleen became a Certified Geriatric Care Manager (one of seven in RI) to expand AAHC’s services to include a health and human services professional with a specialized body of knowledge and experience related to aging and elder care issues. On January 1, 2009, the services expanded again with the acquisition of The Rhode Island Department of Health Home Nursing Care Provider license. This license allows AAHC to offer Certified Nursing Assistants and Nursing Services; both much needed to support the clients that started with the agency several years earlier, who need more personal and medical care than companionship at this time.  The ability to offer a continuum of care led the company to move again in January 2010 to a suite double the size in the same building. Occupying 2,100 square feet, each member of Kathleen’s administrative team finally had their own office and they also gained a training room that seated 20, a kitchen, a file storage room, and two bathrooms!

AAHC has experienced consistent and significant growth in both sales and staff since inception. The company has seen double-digit growth in revenue for four out of the last five years with almost 17% growth in 2011. That being said, AAHC has also seen a steady growth of employees over the years and today is hiring three or four people each month for care giving. The current administrative team has expanded to include a Staff Coordinator, Accounting Manager, Human Resource Generalist, Office Manager, three Registered Nurses (2.0 FTE) and a care giving team that consists of thirty-four Certified Nurse Assistants and thirty-eight Homemakers. This is a staff of seventy-nine employees with thirty-two persons being full-time. The turnover rate for this industry is high, but many of the staff have been with AAHC for several years and the Administrative team has not seen any changes except growth.

The Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Newport County Chamber of Commerce (NCCOC) have also played a big part in helping Kathleen through difficult times and adversity. SBA assisted Kathleen with classes, print materials, website information and counseling and also worked with Sovereign Bank to guarantee a loan to provide computer equipment for the first office expansion.  As AAHC continued to grow, SBDC reached out to Kathleen and offered an opportunity to participate with ‘Professionals Available to Help’ (PATH). The impact the PATH Council Members made on the issues and problems that Kathleen brought to their attention mid 2009 were notable. The PATH Council identified areas that needed to be ‘fixed’ and better yet offered the solutions!

SBDC has also fostered relationships with several Rhode Island colleges and universities.  These relationships have offered a chance for Kathleen to take advantage of several unique opportunities from internships for student nurses to senior class projects.

In October, 2009, Kathleen was approached by the SBDC to work with the MGT 490: Strategic Business Planning class of Salve Regina University. This senior project provided the students with an opportunity to develop a viable business plan including resources/operations plan, and financial plan based on actual data for AAHC. Kathleen was able to take this presentation and determine what information and changes would be pertinent for her to review as she made plans for the future of AAHC. Recently, a second opportunity presented itself to Kathleen and AAHC as she was again approached by the SBDC to participate with Johnson & Wales University.

Lastly, informative seminars and events held by the Newport County Chamber of Commerce (NCCOC) assisted Kathleen in attaining the skills and knowledge that she was lacking as a new business owner (i.e., writing a press release, understanding state and federal tax regulations, social networking, etc.).

Thanks to her determination and help from local organizations, Kathleen gladly accepted the award for Rhode Island Small Business Person of the Year for 2011 on behalf of AAHC as well as the Newport County Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Business Award.

Kathleen has also succeeded in establishing a work environment at AAHC that sets it apart from other agencies.  This goal was accomplished by creating a team of caregivers and administrative staff that enjoy working together, are always ready to assist when needed, and yet keep their days rewarding and fulfilling by having the flexibility of defining their own schedules and work environments.  AAHC is able to offer such a benefit, by carefully weaving together the desires of both client and caregiver regarding location, timing, skill strengths, etc.  As the staff recruiter emphasizes to prospective employees, “Tell us where you would like to work, what you like to do, and what hours you are available; and we will take it from there!”

Even the administrative team has been offered a Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) which includes telework/telecommuting, flex-time, compressed work week and banking of hours.  These benefits have been found to increase job satisfaction, energy, creativity, and the ability to handle stress.  They have also enhanced the company’s ability to attract, motivate and retain experienced, high-performing employees for both care giving and administrative positions.

Due to the unrelenting motivation to keeping both employees and clients content, as well as through help from local government and the community, All About Home Care is sure to enjoy continuing growth and success in the years to come.

VIBCO Shakin’ Things Up

VIBCO Vibrators has been manufacturing industrial and construction vibrators for almost 50 years, delivering the most reliable, most complete line of vibration products available on the market today. Since 1962, VIBCO has been providing customers around the world with electric, pneumatic, and hydraulic vibrators for industrial and construction use. As the originators of the Silent Pneumatic Turbine Vibrator, VIBCO holds more than 25 U.S. Patents for their vibrator designs and is committed to being 100% USA made.

This privately held company, led by President Karl Wadensten, employs 75 people at its 50,000 square-foot plant and office facility in Wyoming, RI and manufactures over 1,300 products with more than 8,400 component parts. VIBCO also has a distribution center in Toronto, plus sales and service offices in Pennsylvania and Florida. VIBCO vibrators are used by companies in over 600 SIC codes for a wide variety of applications, including one that is on the moon as a component of an Apollo lunar module. Some of the most common uses are for material flow, concrete production and placement and work truck applications.

• VIBCO vibrators and vibrating tables help with material flow, by improving the loading and unloading of bulk materials into or out of containers and trucks, eliminating hang-ups and bottlenecks
• VIBCO Vibrators aid in concrete production and placement by helping it to reach its rated strength by removing entrapped air. VIBCO vibrators are used in both the production and placement of concrete to improve the flow of aggregate, sand and cement as well as improve the flow of mixed concrete through pump grates and down chutes.
• VIBCO Vibrators also manufactures a complete line of vibrators for use on a variety of work truck applications including dump trucks, dump trailers, sand and salt spreaders, agricultural spreaders, and mobile screen to empty sticky or stubborn materials from dump beds and dump trailers without tailgate banging or over-hoisting
• VIBCO Vibrators manufactures plate compactors and vibratory rollers for use in pothole and asphalt repair, landscaping and pool installations.

Building on the original foundation of quality, trust, and reliability, VIBCO continues to evolve its mission and philosophy to adapt to today’s competitive marketplace. Embracing a True North (Same Day, Next Day; Throughput; Innovation; Quality), VIBCO has developed a culture of change – one where continuous improvement and the elimination of muda (waste) are embraced wholly; where employees are inspired, encouraged, and empowered to act on their ideas and where they are collectively focused on the voice of the customer. “Same day, next day is the voice of our customers. When they call to order, they want our products shipped the same day they call or — at the bare minimum — the very next day of the business work week”, said Wadensten.

To stay true to their mission and maintain their True North, VIBCO has focused on an overall dedication to a Lean transformation. Based on the Toyota Production System, Lean is a term that describes an improvement system in which every employee strives for an ideal condition where 100% of their efforts can be devoted to providing a perfect product or service. Documented results over many industries and occupations show that a consistent application of Lean practice and philosophy can produce year on year productivity gains of 25% or more while providing shortened lead-times and flexible, problem-free service to customers. The system is comprised of three parts which are all critical to creating a Lean system and culture.

The first is Lean Philosophy with a few simple but powerful ideas. Together these ideas articulate an ideal condition:

• Provide the customer’s exact order immediately with perfect quality
• Employees are the most important resource
• All improvement and problem-solving must be based upon direct observation (scientific method)
• Improvement and problem-solving is part of everyone’s job, every minute of every day

The second part of a Lean system is the Lean Management System: the strategy, organization, policy and measures by which an organization is managed. Conventional management systems are not supportive of Lean philosophy and therefore undermine implementation. A Lean management system provides policies and an organizational structure that encourage Lean improvement.

The third aspect of a Lean system is Lean Tools. Also referred to as “best practices” or “countermeasures,” these Lean tools provide employees with reliable methodologies to close the gap between the current and ideal condition, and to constantly make small improvements to their jobs every day.

Put simply, Lean is based on a sincere respect for people and a commitment to unlock the genius in each employee. It engages their minds to innovate solutions to eliminate waste. It is about continuous improvement and working smarter – always to the pull of the customer.

“One of the biggest challenges was to get everybody rallied around continuous improvement and to encourage people not to be afraid of stepping out of their comfort zones” said Wadensten. “We tried to take everybody’s uniqueness and differences into account, so we didn’t just get rid of people because they weren’t falling in line with the continuous improvement effort.”

VIBCO Vibrators has embraced Lean and realized unbelievable gains as a result. Dramatic inventory reductions, shortened lead times, and a focus on the whole end-to-end customer experience are just a few of these.

Key achievements of the two-year-old lean conversion include:

• Cutting setup time on CNC equipment from 2.5 hours to 10 minutes
• Improving on-time delivery rate to 99%, measured as same day or next day shipping
• Improving OEE (a total productive maintenance (TPM) measure of how effectively equipment is being used) from 20% to 52%
• Increasing productivity in selected Work cells as much as 300%
• Reducing Inventory by 40% (over $2,000,000) in two years
• Turning Work-in-progress Inventory 88 times annually with many SKUs turning once-per-day

In addition to the recent Lean transformation, Karl’s leadership has helped VIBCO win numerous awards including Best Places to Work in Rhode Island by the Providence Business News and Best Companies, the Progressive Manufacturing PM100 Award, and a Providence Business News Business Excellence Award. VIBCO has also been featured in the lean training video, “Vibration Nation: Learning to See” produced and marketed by Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership.

Replacement Text: As a commitment to the community, VIBCO Vibrators regularly hosts free plant tours and produces The Lean Nation – a radio and web TV talk show featuring engaging discussions of Lean concepts, real-life implementations, leadership and improvement strategies. Guests include line workers, Lean practitioners, government officials, noted authors and thought leaders.

As VIBCO approaches their fiftieth year, they continue to grow, gain global market share, and enhance their position as the industrial vibrator brand of choice. Their responsiveness and operational efficiency enables them to remain cost competitive while providing an unsurpassed level of product quality and service to their customers. From same-day shipping, to rapid fulfillment of custom orders, to the development of innovative strategic partnerships throughout their value stream, VIBCO is — and will continue to be — the home of “The Expert Vibrator Guys”.

Excel Tire Gauge

Although many may believe the local Rhode Island economy is in dire straits, there are some gems out there that are growing at rates that are impressive – even in good times.

Excel Tire Gauge is one of those gems, located right in our own backyard in Warwick, Rhode Island. If you have ever visited a Gulf or Cumberland Farms gas station and have put air in your tires – chances are you have used an air tower manufactured by Excel. Through years of R&D and good old fashioned hard work, Excel has developed a technology that digitally inflates or deflates a tire to a level of accuracy and precision that is unmatched in the industry. As a result, Excel has risen to the top of the air inflation industry by supplying the likes of giant names such as Costco, Discount Tire, Shell, Cumberland Farms,
and Gulf Oil.

What started out as an idea between two friends to bring a new technology, developed in Brazil, to the US market has turned into an established business consisting of a team of 25 employees. “While it didn’t happen overnight, we have become the industry leader for digitally calibrated air machines” says Jay Nelson, CEO of Excel Tire Gauge.

Marrying cutting-edge design with state-of-the-art technology It’s common for entrepreneurs and business owners to initially write their ideas on the back of a napkin, but the actual execution of the idea and its success requires resilience, hard work and a vision. “We saw an opportunity in the marketplace and realized we could fulfill a real customer need with a product that
incorporated state-of-the-art technology with a cutting-edge user-friendly design. Our products provide the consumer with a simple solution to what was formerly an awkward process of filling your tires with the traditional tire gauge”, says Nelson explaining why they went into business in the first place. Nelson explains that it takes passion to create confidence in a potential customer that might consider your new product or service ‘risky or foreign’. “When a product or service is new to your customer or an end-user, it can be difficult to convince them to forget what they’ve known or have been using for so long and to convince them to use your product.” says Nelson. Excel’s digital air machines have chipped away at this mindset by marrying high-tech functionality with a user-friendly head interface.

As any entrepreneur can relate to the expression ‘to wear many hats’, Nelson describes how during the formative startup years he took on the role of marketer, technician and traveling salesman all at once. He says it was hard work being on the road for almost half the year, going to trade shows, talking to potential customers, learning what the end users would want to see in the product, and building business relationships. Now that the foundation of the company has been built, his role has since shifted from the ‘Chief Everything Officer” to its current focus on managing the organization, setting strategy and direction, and making sure to stay close to his loyal customer base. Nelson says, “Looking back on the first years of business, it’s hard to believe that we have now sold over fifty thousand machines worldwide and have industry giants like Cumberland Farms and Costco as our customers – it’s proof that good things can and do happen to start-ups like us.”

Playing its part to help the local economy To start and succeed at a business may seem like an impossible task, “it is a rewarding experience to know that you are helping the local economy by creating jobs and employing local people” Nelson says. “Treating people right and providing a product at a fair price is essential to our success and is

really something that we pride ourselves on.” Success and growth drives many businesses forward, Roger Audette, Director of Sales says, “keeping the momentum that we have built up over the years is essential. It’s really exciting to play a role in the growth we have experienced and to watch a company grow right in front of your eyes – especially when you see all of the opportunity that we’ve yet to tap.”

Even though Excel sells its digital air towers nationwide, it is important to note that their success has had a positive effect on Rhode Island’s business community through its local network of employees, business partners, and customers. The Excel team continues to focus on growing the business and expanding its business network with Jay now setting his sights on breaking into the tire and auto rental industries. We have a hunch that somehow Jay and the Excel team will climb those mountaintops in the near future as well!