2009 Celebration of Entrepreneurship Nominees - TUVWXYZ
BUSINESS NAME: The LA Lakers Youth Foundation
BUSINESS CONTACT: Linda Rambis
BUSINESS WEBSITE: http://www.nba.com/lakers/community/foundation.html
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Entrepreneur of a Distinguished Biz for Kids;
Distinguished Philanthropic Event- FINALIST
The events Linda Rambis coordinates for the Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation include designing team calendars and cookbooks, fundraising shopping days and casino night events where Barker Hangar in Santa Monica is transformed into an upscale casino with poker tables. Whatever the case, the creation comes from Rambis’ desire to raise money to help the community while giving the fans a fun, memorable and interactive experience with the players. The Buss Family and their continued service and support in the community have served as her inspiration. Linda’s first promoter job was working for the L.A. Strings Team Tennis in 1978.
The Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation’s goal and mission of providing assistance to nonprofit community organizations based on need is extremely necessary to the community, which has an overwhelming demand for services and a lack of funding to provide those services. With the Foundation’s focus on the use of sports to promote education, teamwork and self-esteem among Los Angeles-area youth, fundraising directly supports these initiatives by providing financial assistance to children and local youth programs.
Rambis’s greatest reward has been seeing the children her fundraising affects so positively and how appreciative they are that the Foundation paid attention and cared for them. Her children and husband also participate as a family in these efforts and passing the legacy on to her children of caring for those in the community makes it all worthwhile.
BUSINESS NAME: The SoulTree Center
BUSINESS CONTACT: Karin McDermott, Founder
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.soultreemotion.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding New Business
Empowerment, peace, serenity: these are just some of the things that Karin McDermott hopes her female clientele will find at The Soultree Center, which offers movement and wellness classes designed to allow women to feel good about themselves. McDermott has been involved in teaching wellness and movement for years. Her current studio—which opened its doors in August—was inspired by her years of teaching, and her desire to create a place where women could heal through movement, in an atmosphere that emphasizes the senses. While McDermott has made it her life’s mission to inspire, she has found inspiration in many people, notably her paternal grandmother—a deeply spiritual and open-hearted person—and philosopher Thomas Moore, author of “The Care of the Soul.”
While McDermott’s studio has a deep philosophical underpinning, she says that it is a place that is designed for play. It is a space where women can forget about the world and be themselves, she says. And, unlike a gym, which often involves the feeling of trudging duty, the Soultree Center has more of a playground atmosphere where clients are excited to go, not because they “have to” but because they “get to.” McDermott’s path to the South Bay is a natural one. She says that when she was looking for a studio space, she wanted to be close to her Manhattan Beach home, near her teenage children, and be part of the community. She relishes being able to walk to work everyday. Soultree Center is only the beginning of what she believes is a journey filled with possibilities. “I’m trying to let the path unfold. But I know that there’s something bigger that I’m meant to do,” she said.
BUSINESS NAME: The Sweatshirt Project
BUSINESS CONTACT: Jason Jones
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Distinguished Philanthropic Event- WINNER
At just 15 years old Jason Jones, then a sophomore at Mira Costa High School, took his entrepreneurial spirit and created The Sweatshirt Project, a community service endeavor in which he single-handedly collected hundreds of new and “gently used” sweatshirts from all over the South Bay. Two years later, his project has doubled in size, providing hundreds of South Bay families in need with the warmth they deserve. After realizing that his sports-related injuries would prevent him from joining his high school’s basketball team, Jones decided to focus his energy on something else. His mother, who he said inspired him to start his project, had showed him an article of how some teenagers had collected old VHS tapes and redistributed them to people in need. Jones said he was inspired to do something similar. “I originally thought of collecting pajamas but after thinking about it more, I figured sweatshirts were more useful,” he said. He immediately enlisted the help of every school by combing through their Lost & Found collections for sweatshirts, persuaded the Manhattan Beach Cub Scouts to collect sweatshirts with their November canned food drive, and organized a sweatshirt drive at the after-school program at Pacific School where he volunteers as a tutor and coach. Then, he convinced several local dry cleaners to wash all the sweatshirts for free.
For the past two years, Jones has set up a “free store” Saturday before Thanksgiving, at the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne, an organization that provides services to families dealing with abuse. He then welcomes children and adults to select a sweatshirt when they come to pick up their donated Thanksgiving meals. His philanthropic event went from 400 sweatshirts in 2008 to 1000 for 2009. Jason, who wants to attend USC business school, said that his entrepreneurship experience has inspired him to one day have his own business that will entail giving back to the community. “I think the responsibility and independence of this project has given me confidence and has inspired me to one day have my own business,” he said. “I think the gratitude that you get when you are able to give back is well worth the time and effort you put into it. My hope is that more people my age step out of the bubble and see how others live and realize that the people in need are only a few miles away from where we live. I just really want people who are able to live here to respect and appreciate what they have.”
BUSINESS NAME: Tin Roof Bistro
BUSINESS CONTACT: Mike Simms
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.tinroofbistro.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding New Business- FINALIST
Tin Roof Bistro, located in Manhattan Village, is a casual American bistro with influences from France and Italy. What differentiates Tin Roof Bistro from other restaurants in the area is value. It’s about offering fresh products in a really snazzy atmosphere with great service at a better price than the guy down the street, according to Mike Simms, who also owns Simmzy’s restaurant in downtown Manhattan Beach. He had always worked in restaurants throughout his life with the exception of picking up balls at the local golf range when he was 14. Like his grandfather, father, and brother before him, Simms wanted to own a restaurant, so he opened the Tin Roof Bistro, which is now in its fourth month in business.
Simms’ family was available to mentor him early on in his career since running a restaurant was in his bloodline. He currently lives in the South Bay and had looked all over Los Angeles for a location to open his restaurant. Three years ago, it so happened that he was walking out of his dentist’s office when he decided to pursue one of the locations next door and the rest is history. Ten years down the road Simms sees himself remaining in Manhattan Beach refining his business for the local patrons and possibly opening some new restaurants.
BUSINESS NAME: Tree Musketeers
BUSINESS CONTACT: Tara Church
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.treemusketeers.org
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Entrepreneur of a Distinguished Biz for Kids- FINALIST
It started in 1987 when 13 little girls in a Brownie Troop on a camping trip were trying to decide whether to use paper plates. The discussion wandered into how trees are cut down to make paper and how entire forests of trees were disappearing. Soon the girls had decided not only that they wouldn’t use paper plates, but they would plant a tree in order to help the planet. As they looked around and saw the environmental perils faced by their community – with noise pollution, air pollution, a sewage plant, and an oil refinery – they decided that they would take action. When they returned home to El Segundo, they planted “Marcie the Marvelous Tree.” Soon thereafter, upon learning more about the environmental benefits of trees, the girls came up with a business plan for the Tree Musketeers, a non-profit dedicated to planting trees. By 1990, the kid-led non-profit had planted 700 trees in El Segundo and established the city’s first recycling center. Now, four generations of Tree Musketeers later, the organization has included 1 million children worldwide who have planted 1 million trees.
Gail Church was the Brownie troop leader who helped the girls launch Tree Musketeers 22 years ago, and today she currently serves as the executive director of the organization. Her daughter, Tara, who was a third grader when “Marcie the Marvelous Tree” was launched, still serves as the chair of the organization’s board of directors. Tara became a nationally recognized environmental leader while still a youth, travelling the country as a speaker and serving on councils as a youth representative at the White House. From the outset, the Tree Musketeers has been a different kind of business – the organization has been run by kids, not for kids. Adults serve on the board of directors, but the Council of Youth Directors set policy and plan projects, which have grown to include a speakers bureau, documentaries, a website, a hotline, an international network, and, as always, getting their hands in the dirt and planting more trees.
BUSINESS NAME: Twelve & Highland
BUSINESS CONTACT: Frank Klutka, restaurant private parties
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.12andhighland.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding Entrepreneur
Music has always been part of Frank Klutka’s life. His father was a musical booking agent, and Frank and his brother and business partner Nicholas took music lessons from the time they were very young. Frank eventually sang in his high school choir, where he dreamed of either being a football player or, less surprising given his musical interests, a rock star. So it isn’t a stretch that the Klutka brothers would establish a restaurant, Twelve & Highland, that parlays their love of music and entertainment into an enjoyable and memorable dining experience. It’s also not surprising that they chose the South Bay. Having family living here for decades, Klutka says that this was where he spent summer vacations growing up. During college he dreamed of escaping the cold climate of the Eastern United States for the warmer climes of Southern California. “I love it out here,” he said.
However, he says, realizing his dream of living in the South Bay and abandoning a solid, conservative career (and its steady paycheck) to partner with his brother in the restaurant business was the biggest risk he ever took. But the risk has turned into success. Twelve & Highland stands out, says Klutka because of the live entertainment, the beautiful décor (designed by Nicholas), and the fun, young, local staff.
BUSINESS NAME: Venice Baking Company
BUSINESS CONTACT: Jimmy DeSisto
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding Entrepreneur; Lifetime Achievement
Almost anyone who eats pizza has eaten a crust baked at Venice Baking Company in El Segundo. The third generation family business headed by Jimmy DeSisto makes roughly 300,000 pizza crusts daily and distributes its products to major grocery chains, pizzerias, school cafeterias, and to American military troops all over the world.
The Venice Baking Company story began when 13-year-old Nazzareno Palmeri arrived at Ellis Island in 1930 and found work at a Bronx bakery. He moved to California in 1953, bought a pizza business in Venice Beach and shortly thereafter moved it to El Segundo. Anthony DeSisto took over the business in 1970 and grew it into a nationally distributed pizza crust business, largely through USDA contracts.
Jimmy DeSisto took over Venice Baking in 1994. The company has grown from $700,000 in sales when he took the helm to more than $7 million last year. Crusts that are baked by Venice Baking are sold at Disneyland and as private label pizzas at such grocery stores as Kroegers, Wegmen’s, Winn-Dixie, Ralph’s, Vons, and Safeway. Roughly a half million pizzas that originate in El Segundo are shipped to troops in Iraq, Dubai, and Kuwait every week. Recently, the company developed a gluten-free crust intended simply as a way to enable autistic children to enjoy pizza in their diets. The crust, however, has found a broader market, and now sells at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and health food stores throughout the country.
DeSisto attended business school at USC with a split major in entrepreneurship and information systems and had no shortage of suitors upon graduation. He chose Kent Landsberg, a paper and packing company, because it didn’t offer a salary – DeSisto didn’t want a price on his head but instead wanted the unlimited income opportunities of straight commission. Over eight years, he became one of the company’s top salesmen. He learned four basic principles under Landsberg CEO Gene Shelton that he has applied to his family business: keep close customer relations, and offer a quality product at a competitive price with on-time delivery.
His approach has worked spectacularly. Venice Baking is a relatively small company – 50 employees work out of the three family-owned buildings on Main Street in El Segundo, where there is almost no turnover – that has attained a fast-growing national and even global reach.
BUSINESS NAME: Vox DJs
BUSINESS CONTACT: KC Campbell
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.voxdjs.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding New Business
KC Campbell, owner of VOXDJs, didn’t realize that when he hammed it up at his 8th-grade school dance, it would determine his future career as a disc jockey and business owner. Campbell has always loved music and dancing so it wasn’t out of the question for him to get a crowd on its feet whenever he attended the school dances. However, when his older brother’s friend, who was working as a DJ at Campbell’s school dance, saw Campbell’s knack for pumping up a crowd, he hired him to come along to other events. By the time he was 16 years old, Campbell was DJ-ing local high school proms and parties.
After graduating from University of Boulder, Colorado, Campbell moved back to the South Bay and decided to look for a “real” job other than his weekend DJ gigs. However, after years of being unsatisfied with anything else, he decided to jump in with both feet and turned his hobby into a career. “There is nothing I enjoy more than to play loud music and fire up a crowd,” he said. “I look forward to every event I get to DJ and I am just so appreciative of all the support I have received from people here in the South Bay. It’s because of them that I get to do what I love.”
Campbell, 32 a graduate of Mira Costa High School, initially was introduced to VOXDJs by the same guy who saw him hamming it up at his school dance. “We say that the business started 25 years ago when Shawn Sedlacek (co-owner) had his first gig, which was to DJ an event at the Manhattan Beach Country Club. He was 12 years old and he got paid $15,” Campbell said. “Because of that we are going to have our 25-year-anniversary party at the Manhattan Country Club in November.”
Besides his business partner, Sedlacek, Campbell said his mentors include his mother and father. Both have instilled a good business sense, work ethic and ability to think outside the box. “They are both always excited to hear about what is going on with the business and they are always helping me come up with new ideas or unique ways to approach the market.”
With a total of three employees including himself and 12 contracted DJs, Campbell is busy working nearly seven days a week. “I think what makes us different is that we are extremely professional. We don’t just show up and DJ the event and leave. We make sure we get to know the people who hired us, make sure we have their song requests and that they are completely comfortable and confident in us and the service that we are providing,” Campbell said. “After the event is over, we follow up with them and make sure everything went the way they expected.”
BUSINESS NAME: Vox Entertainment
BUSINESS CONTACT: Shawn Sedlacek
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.voxentertainment.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding Entrepreneur
Shawn Sedlacek, president of Vox Entertainment in El Segundo, has gone to work for Vox every day since age 12. His family started Electrovox in 1984 to entertain Manhattan Beach families, and now the full-service event company is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In 2009, Vox handled event production for the Sundance Film Festival and hosted parties for the Oscars, William Morris and Wolfgang Puck. Vox is working with such high-profile clients as Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, T-Mobile, Target, Nintendo and Samsung.
He believes Vox has succeeded in this tough economy because of its two-pronged business approach. “We focus on strategy and execution in event management and experiential marketing initiatives for brands looking to connect with consumers. We’re very creative. We do everything internally rather than outsourcing different services.”
Vox has become a national presence, with offices in New York and Chicago. In 2004, Sedlacek took a risk in making his first acquisition, a sound company for the producers of the Warped Tour—and a competitor. He says it helped Vox to grow and gain traction. Other mergers soon followed.
Sedlacek says he dreamed of staging events as a child and still loves to entertain people. At USC Business School, he wrote a business plan for Vox that became a reality with hard work, tenacity and help from mentors like Gary Kief, a producer and artist manager.
While the event industry took a 70% hit in business this past year, he says Vox experienced growth. “That we were able to grow, keep our team together and thrive in the worst year ever in event planning is unbelievable,” says Sedlacek. “Every single high-profile target we wanted to hit, we are doing business with.”
BUSINESS NAME: Voyage Integrative Health Care
BUSINESS CONTACT: Tzur Gabi, DMD
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding New Business
Stepping outside of the box of traditional healthcare is what inspires Tzur Gabi, DMD. A prosthodontist by training, Gabi sees healthcare as an integrative approach designed to treat a patient physically, emotionally and spiritually—something that he also wants as a patient as well. His Voyage Integrative Healthcare is designed to provide this holistic experience. And like his unique, boundary-less approach to healthcare, he finds inspiration everywhere he looks—other doctors, businesspeople, spiritual thinkers and even celebrities—all with a similar interest in following their own, autonomous path.
Gabi has created a model in which all medical information from every specialty is merged together. The idea is to eliminate the gaps that often result in traditional medical practice. Los Angeles and the South Bay is only the starting point for this new model. Looking into the far future, Gabi hopes to have integrative health clinics sited all over the world.
BUSINESS NAME: Walker's BBQ Smoke Pit
BUSINESS CONTACT: Greg and Janine Walker
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding New Business
To an outside, disinterested observer, Janine and Greg Walker took a big risk when they opened Walker’s BBQ Smokepit in January. Restaurants are a tough business in the best of times, but, in the worst economy since the end of the Second World War, the odds were stacked even higher. But the Walkers are defying these odds and bringing the South Bay a taste that no one else delivers. The only barbeque-style restaurant in the South Bay, Walker’s BBQ Smokepit is a family-oriented business that follows a long Walker tradition. Greg’s dad, Johnny Walker, served as the business’ inspiration and mentor, showing the Walkers the ropes during those early, critical days. Johnny owned a similar restaurant for many years, where Greg worked when he was younger and got a taste for the restaurant business. Greg—an environmental engineer by training—has wanted to replicate the successful business since 2000. Janine jokes that the reason they opened the business this year was that Greg had “worn her down.” In truth, Greg was tired of working for others and wanted to only have to answer to himself.
The South Bay seemed like the ideal place to open the restaurant. Walker’s BBQ Smokepit serves both as an antidote to the plethora of fast food restaurants and as a gateway to a type of food not found in the entire area. Greg works in Walker’s every day and can often be found sitting and chatting with customers. The décor has a homey air, featuring photos of the Walker family. Greg has big plans for Walker’s future. He hopes to be able to franchise the business and have the concept go national.
BUSINESS NAME: Walt Dougher
BUSINESS CONTACT: Walt Dougher
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Lifetime Achievement
Walt Dougher and his wife of 52 years, Barbara, have lived in Manhattan Beach for 40 years, and their four sons attended local public schools. Though he wanted to be a doctor when he was young, Dougher graduated with a B.A. in economics from Pomona College in 1957 before a six-month active-duty stint in the U.S. Army Artillery. He burst onto the professional scene in 1958 in public affairs with the Southern California Edison Company holding numerous positions, including credit manager, area manager of Beverly Hills and district manager for the Porterville, Inglewood, Compton, Huntington Beach and South Bay Districts. In 1978, he was named manager of personnel and employee development. He served as division operations manager responsible for crews and customer service personnel in Southwest Los Angeles County. He finished his service with Edison as regional manager of public affairs, responsible for Edison’s relations with cities and elected officials in much of Los Angeles County. In this capacity, Dougher was responsible for bringing Wyland to the Redondo Beach Generating Station, where he painted one of his most celebrated whaling walls
Upon retirement in 1997, Dougher became the interim executive director of the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce on two occasions. He served as president of the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1992-93 and vice president of the South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce in 1994. He has served on the Boards of the Beverly Hills, Porterville, and Inglewood Chambers of Commerce. In 1997, Dougher was named as a planning commissioner in Manhattan Beach. In 1999, he successfully ran for City Council in Manhattan Beach and served as mayor in 2001. Highlights of his four-year term were the approval and start of construction of the Metlox parking and commercial center, police and fire headquarters and Marine Avenue sports complex.
In February 2006, Dougher was appointed director of the Beach Cities Health District where he is currently president. He was chair of the Los Angeles County Beach Commission in 2005-06. Dougher advises young entrepreneurs just starting out to not be afraid because fear tends to change their decision-making process.
BUSINESS NAME: White Light White Night's “Walk with Sally”
BUSINESS CONTACT: Michael Harrington & Wil Silva
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Distinguished Philanthropic Event- FINALIST
A cancer diagnosis affects not only the patient, but their families and friends as well. Most hard hit of all are the patient’s children. Walk with Sally teams mentors with kids who have a parent diagnosed with cancer, lending a supportive hand or shoulder to help them deal with this life-changing event. It takes about $1,000 a year to support each mentor and that’s where White Light White Night comes in to lend its own hand. Michael Harrington and Wil Silva chair the philanthropic efforts of this organization, which was founded specifically to support the work of Walk with Sally’s program. But the goal of the program is more than just to raise money, but to create a sense of community and awareness about the important work that the charity does.
White Light White Night is a call to action, bringing the community together to celebrate life and the healing power of community. Everyone who attends the yearly fund-raiser is asked to wear white, which, Harrington says creates an energy among the participants. The fundraiser has been successful in numerous ways, raising money, awareness, and recruiting new mentors and families coping with the pain of a parent with cancer. Harrington and Silva, both businessmen themselves, bring their organizational acumen to the table, so the success of the event isn’t surprising. What does surprise them is the amount of support they have found—from the business community that routinely donates time and money to the fund-raiser to the public support that’s been generated. The event now draws several hundred people a year and, thanks to the savvy use of social media, has generated more than 15 million media impressions.
BUSINESS NAME: Wild Eyes Productions
BUSINESS CONTACT: David Keane
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.wildeyesproductions.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding Entrepreneur - WINNER
David Keane has taken entrepreneurial risk to a different level. Keane is the founder and driving force of Wild Eyes, a small documentary film company based in downtown Hermosa Beach that tackles large and unnervingly far-flung projects. The Wild Eyes production team consists of only eight full-time employees yet has filmed on six continents and in over sixty countries. The documentaries have explored such topics as the search for bin Laden, the death of Pablo Escobar, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the dark art of interrogation. Keane has travelled with guerillas through South American jungles, trekked across the Sahara, sat on stakeouts on busts of Chechen drug lords in China, and maneuvered with his own crew of hired thugs through the streets of Mogadishu in search of the true story of Black Hawk Down. Wild Eyes films have appeared on the Discovery, History, National Geographic, and A & E channels.
Keane is a Colorado native who began his career in print journalism and moved to California to work as a screenwriter in Hollywood. He was living in the South Bay when he first got a taste of the visceral world of documentary filmmaking while with a locally-based filmmaker Rob Engelhardt on a show about high security prisons in 1995, then worked with documentarian Rasha Drachkovitch on a variety of programs – including one following the most dangerous police beats around the world – before launching his own production company in 2000. He met his future wife and business partner Arcadia Berjonneau that same year – one of their first dates was on a stakeout with New Orleans narcotics police – and together they grew Wild Eyes into one of the most successful production companies of its kind.
Keane one of those determined few who is doing exactly what he loves to do: finding stories about a very wide world and telling them on film. Keane has recently inked a deal with Warner Bros. for a feature film based on the true story of a Delta Force mission to retake a prison in Atlanta that had been taken over by inmates.
BUSINESS NAME: Wrights Clothing/Baby Wright’s
BUSINESS CONTACT: Nancy McFarland
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.wrightsclothing.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding Entrepreneur;
Entrepreneur of a Distinguished Biz for Kids
A love for fashion and clothing was the inspiration for Wright’s Clothing, along with a large dose of luck and pluck, said owner Nancy McFarland. For the last 23 years, Wright’s Clothing and its younger sibling, Baby Wright’s, have specialized in high-end, high-quality beach casual threads, stocking unique fashions from new designers across the globe. Though McFarland credits a certain amount of luck to her success, she does acknowledge that this was what she was “meant to do”—pointing to the great South Bay locations of her shop and the support of the community. While McFarland’s stores may stock high-end clothing, the stores’ atmosphere is decidedly South Bay-casual and friendly. McFarland says that it’s friendly customer service, the hallmark of her stores, that differentiates them from other high-end establishments. The staff is delivers service with a sense of professionalism and a welcoming spirit that makes people want to come in and come back again and again. This approach was adapted from the customer service model that Nancy experienced years ago at an area restaurant where she worked. It’s a lesson that has served her and her customers well.
From the time she was a kid, the South Bay had fascinated McFarland, so when she and her husband had the opportunity to open the store, they jumped at the chance to work in the community they loved. They settled here too, raising their three children in view of the beach. Baby Wright’s opened in correspondence with the birth of McFarland’s first son. While opening a high-end fashion clothing store may seem like a risk, all of the stores have been designed to take into account the customers that McFarland wants to attract. She is cognizant that her stores may not be for everybody, and she strives to create an atmosphere that caters to high quality and good taste. She and her husband are very hands-on, renovating the various spaces and designing the décor themselves.
BUSINESS NAME: WSI Quality Solutions
BUSINESS CONTACT: Gregg Towsley
BUSINESS WEBSITE: www.wsiqualitysolutions.com
CATEGORIES NOMINATED: Outstanding Entrepreneur
After years working for others, Gregg Towsley took the biggest risk of his career—he started his own business. But abandoning the security of a steady paycheck and benefits had an even more attractive upside: He was able to fulfill his dream of working for himself and control his own destiny, he said. And, he says, he hasn’t looked back since striking out on his own. As a franchisee for WSI Quality, a network of 2,000 independent businesses specializing in helping small and medium businesses taking advantage of the Web, Towsley has been able to leverage his experience working for large software companies.
Towsley’s dream, while risky, reflects the influence of Towsley’s twin inspirations: his father and management guru Timothy Ferriss. The elder Towsley started a successful engineering business when Gregg started college. His success was fueled by good old-fashioned hard work and dedication. Ferriss reflects the philosophy that Towsley embraced during his years in software consultative sales, there’s no need to have a large staff in the same office. Towsley’s five employees are sited throughout the world from San Francisco to Boston to India. Towsley, originally from Massachusetts, has adopted Manhattan Beach as his home base because he sees it as a “Mecca” for thriving businesses, offering the perfect balance of a dense population and a diverse business community. He also sees Manhattan Beach’s competitiveness as a kind of benchmark, believing that any business that can survive here can make it anywhere. Part of his success has been driven, he says, by the fact that he listens to his customers, allowing them to focus on their business while WSI focuses on the details of what they need from their Web presence. He notes that because WSI is part of a 2,000-office network, the business is both big and small, global and local.
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2009 Celebration of Entrepreneurship Nominees - TUVWXYZ
