Now we can admit it. We felt a bit smug when dot-comers got their comeuppance last year.
All those fresh-faced twentysomethings. That moussed hair. Those laptops loaded with PowerPoint presentations. No question, they’re fading from the scene now that venture capital is drying up.
But even here, in the conservative heartland, people still are beating down the doors of venture capitalists.
They’re different from last year’s entrepreneurs. Some even have receding hairlines, bulging bellies and eyeglasses that are anything but high-tech chic.
They’ve been out there all along, though they were overshadowed by all the Internet hype. They’re hatching plans that in all likelihood never will make anybody get rich quick, but may just turn out to be decent businesses.
Ten were in the spotlight this week as finalists in a business-plan competition sponsored by McKinsey & Co. and First Tuesday, a networking forum.
The monthslong PrairieFire contest wrapped up in Chicago this week with $300,000 in prizes and–equally important–a chance for finalists to present their plans to venture capitalists.
Not that VCs put a lot of stock in contests. Judging them is more an act of community service than a chance to uncover the next big thing.
But these events, when successful, toss another slender reed on the bonfire necessary to fuel an economy. And as the business cycle starts to cool, stirring the embers is even more important.
PrairieFire ignited an idea that has been smoldering in Bruce Flachsbart’s mind since he completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Illinois a decade ago. The 33-year-old electrical engineer believes he has found a technique that will slash costs for assembling components in fiber-optic networks.
The company he incorporated to develop his technology–Optoelectric Assembly–was 13 days old when it won a prize at PrairieFire on Tuesday. Another winner, Gary Weil, 51, of St. Louis, has run a profitable family business for two decades, inspecting bridges for government agencies. He believes he has invented a system that can test structural reliability in seconds using a truck equipped with infrared, radar and visual-imaging technology.
“He’s had this idea cooling in his head for 2 1/2 years,” says his wife, Georgiana Weil.
Steve Landauer, PrairieFire’s grand prize winner, is chasing an IPO dream, but he’s no fast-money schemer.
He’s a 30-year telecommunications veteran and co-founder of Westell Technologies in Aurora. Telcom21 in Naperville, a six-person firm he started in August, is his fourth venture.
His goal? “I’d like to see it grow and be a successful public company.”
Julie Zimmer, a 36-year-old insurance industry vet, started Virtual Resourcing in June. She has developed online systems to help small and midsize firms manage their insurance needs.
“You sit in an office and you see how things can be done better,” she said. “If I didn’t do this now, I’d always regret it.”
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Adam Feldman, 31, a former commercial real estate broker, founded LiftVision to sell video screens with media for elevators. His partners are his brothers, David and Eric.
When a judge asked if they can work together, Eric replied, “We’ve been brothers our whole lives.”
A lot of dot-com dreams are dead, but entrepreneurism is alive and well.
“You’ve washed out the bright young stars with dollar signs in their eyes,” said McKinsey exec Gerhard Bette. “Now you’re down to the hard-core entrepreneurs who do it because that’s their mission in life. It’s what they get up for in the morning.”
And what keeps them awake at night.
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