This post by Blackstone Content Correspondent Summer Suleiman originally appeared on ideavillage.org.
We’re already two weeks into 2015. Are you sticking to your resolutions?
While a new year is an opportunity for all of us to evaluate the 365 days past, it’s also a time for businesses to regroup and think about their goals moving forward. We talked to some New Orleans entrepreneurs to find out how they plan to make their businesses better this year. Here’s what they said, and how they plan to execute on them.
Servato
Servato provides a solution for managing, charging and monitoring lead acid batteries used for backup or reserve power in industrial settings.
This year, our goals are to have an intense focus on sales (both direct and indirect), a gradual introduction of processes to support scaling, and close Series A funding.
We are selling into large industrial businesses such as telecom operators and power utilities, so the sales cycles are notoriously long. So, we are expanding our sales infrastructure with a few select indirect partners and rejiggering our mix of large and small account focus to provide our team small and medium account wins along the way.
Entrepreneurs hate process and detail, but some level of both are necessary to build businesses beyond the initial team. With one major account win, we could potentially grow our business 5- or 10-fold overnight. We want to prepare for that win now, so the doors don’t fly off as we start to scale the business. This includes methods for automating our service so that we scale profitably.
A young, growing business requires cash to grow. We have the advantage of revenue momentum, which gives investors confidence and provides some cash for the business, but at this stage it is not sufficient to support rapid growth. So, we are courting top-shelf venture investors on the west coast and in-region (Houston, Dallas, Atlanta) to fuel our growth ambitions. And we are very thankful toNOLA Angel Network, New Orleans Startup Fund, RiverBend Partners and individual investors from across Louisiana for their confidence and support in 2014. Having runway gives us time to make good decisions about how we grow the business.
-Chris Mangum, President and Chief Executive Officer at Servato
Tutti Dynamics
Tutti Dynamics delivers quick, interactive videos for efficient learning.
My New Year’s resolution for my business is to make sure our team takes time to celebrate our small and big wins with the Tutti community. It’s tempting to achieve a goal and quickly focus on the next task at hand. I want to be sure that our team members make time to recognize their accomplishments internally as well as with our larger network of users, content creators, and supporters. It’s important for building morale and momentum.
-Kristen McEntyre, President and Director of Operations of Tutti Dynamics
Munivestor
Munivestor is a financial data platform built for the modern municipal bond investor.
This year, we will focus more on delivering value to customers. It is easy to get distracted by tasks that are not directly related to the value proposition of the business. I believe our business will naturally progress if we focus more on creating a superior product for our customers.
-Damon Burns, Founder of Munivestor
MobileQubes
MobileQubes provides kiosks with battery powered cubes for mobile devices. Swipe your card to pay and take your Qube to go.
“This year the MobileQubes team is focused on growth – growth as entrepreneurs, executives, and as a company in general. Too many times as entrepreneurs are starting their companies, they get inundated with the tasks, opportunities, and issues that arise in the moment- a natural part of wearing many hats in the early days of a company. MobileQubes has lifted off and while there will always be “fire drills” and the fast-paced environment of a start-up, we as a team will be focusing on the strategies that are positioning us for accelerated and sustained growth in 2015.”
-Sean Carrigan, Co-founder of MobileQubes
How do you plan on making your business better in 2015? You can always join us for the 7th annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, March 20-27, 2015, to leverage great resources and connections with like-minded founders, thought leaders and investors! Follow @helloNOEW to find out more and join in the conversation with #NOEW2015!