NovaSim – Kerrie Paige & Jaret Hauge

A mathematical couple find one thing indispensable to their love-and-work relationship: walls.

When couples move in together, disagreements inevitably arise, and a 40-hour-plus work week normally offers a respite. But that wasn’t the case for Kerrie Paige, a Ph.D. in mathematical analysis, who with her partner, Jaret Hauge, launched their simulation-software business, NovaSim, in January 2000 – she from her house in Bellingham, Wash., and he from his base in Toronto. When they started the company, they were both undergoing separations, and romance was the furthest thing from their mind.

Perfect business partners, they earned profits early on, and Hauge decided to move to Bellingham that summer. By year’s end, the two realized they were a great romantic match as well. He eventually moved into Paige’s home and office – which were one and the same. And so, they shared a work space. More than disputes over the décor or laundry or Paige’s kids (who live with her and were 5, 9, and 12 when he first arrived), it was the business calls that drove them a little crazy.

“We had to be on the phone with clients a lot, and our work is technically difficult so it requires concentration,” said Paige. “It got distracting for one of us to be on the phone while the other was trying to concentrate. We’d have to lower our voices when speaking with clients or put on headphones to drown out the other person’s conversation.”

They married in 2003 even though the office layout, says Paige, “just wasn’t working out.”

For a while they worked from separate floors of the house, but last fall they moved into a separate office building, where they hired a contractor to put up a soundproof wall between them. “We’re much more productive this way,” says Paige.

With their office space revamped, they turned their attention last year to restructuring their roles in their company. In the past, each would shepherd his or her projects from beginning to end, and whoever had spare time would pick up the administrative tasks.

“We soon realized that we needed to define our roles more clearly,” says Hauge. They’ve now carved out their duties by function, with Paige overseeing sales and management and Hauge making sure their products and services are delivered smoothly. Results soon followed: In 2007 they earned $357,000 in revenues, a 17 percent jump over 2006.

Profits aside, the company has inspired Paige’s 16-year-old son Alex, who has lived with Nova-Sim since grade school.

“I think it would be fun to start my own business, choose what I’m interested in, and have my own hours,” he says. “And if I got married, I definitely wouldn’t mind starting something with a spouse – we’d spend more time together that way. And that would be pretty cool.”

Original article written by Phaedra Hise, with additional reporting by Ingrid Tharasook for Money.com

 

 

 

 

ModCloth – Eric & Susan Gregg Koger

Susan Gregg Koger and Eric Koger took a love of vintage clothing and some tech know-how and built a popular online retail site. The husband-wife team is expected to bring in $15 million this year.

When Susan Gregg Koger and her then-boyfriend, Eric Koger, were about to start Carnegie Mellon in 2002, the Florida natives set out on a search for cold-weather gear to help them survive those harsh Pittsburgh winters. Susan, who always loved vintage wears, led them to thrift stores, where she enjoyed browsing so much, she even bought clothes she couldn’t wear because they weren’t quite her size or style. One day, Eric convinced her to set up a site to sell some of her finds. Today, that site, ModCloth, is on track to sell $15 million of women’s clothing and accessories this year.

The Kogers launched ModCloth in January 2003, during their winter break. The site operated out of Susan’s dorm room, and she personally fulfilled all orders while maintaining a full course load. “I’d get phone calls in the library,” she says. Eric, who had experience hosting and designing websites for retailers back home, provided technical support for the site.

As Susan approached graduation in 2006, she and Eric decided to run the site full-time. They realized, however, that it would be difficult to sustain ModCloth as a business selling only one-of-a-kind frocks. So they decided to offer retro-inspired pieces from independent designers in addition to actual vintage clothing. That year, Susan traveled to the MAGIC trade show in Las Vegas to buy inventory that fit the site’s new concept.

She and Eric married later that year and moved into a house in Pittsburgh, which they initially used as ModCloth’s headquarters — until the company outgrew it. “When we moved out, we had 16 people working out of there,” Eric says. “The living room was our conference room. We had to get a second fridge for the kitchen.” After receiving his MBA from Carnegie Mellon in 2007, he joined ModCloth full-time as CEO. The next year, the company moved into a converted steel mill in Pittsburgh’s Strip district.

Since then, ModCloth has only continued to grow. The site now offers fashions from more than 300 designers. The Kogers have ramped up their staff, which totals 92. In the past year, to keep up with demand, they have added nearly 60 positions — from fashion writers and stylists to Web developers and fulfillment staff.

ModCloth sets itself apart from other online clothing retailers, Susan says, through its authenticity. She and most of the company’s employees are women in their 20s — the company’s target demographic. Susan, in consultation with ModCloth’s buyers, still handpicks each piece sold through the site. The site also holds regular contests through Twitter, Facebook, and its own blog in which visitors submit names for new items and photos of their fashion ensembles. “We really want the customers to be truly involved,” Susan says. “We’re not some big retailer telling you, ‘This is what you should be wearing.” ModCloth has also succeeded in extending its online visibility. In the beginning, Susan swapped links with mom-and-pop vintage retailers in order to spread the word across the Web and increase ModCloth’s page rank. The site is now one of the first results on Google for both the terms “vintage clothing” and “clothes.”

But the Kogers have a larger vision for the site. Ultimately, Eric says, they aim for ModCloth to emulate the feel of combing through racks in a boutique. ModCloth has taken a small step toward that goal by allowing visitors to browse through ensembles worn by its models, similarly to how a brick-and-mortar shopper might browse mannequins’ outfits. “The way that fashion is purchased is dramatically different than how books and electronics are purchased,” he says. “Apparel is much more about the browsing experience. But every single e-commerce site is built with a books and electronics mindset.”

That concept has helped ModCloth gain some impressive backers. In March, the company closed a $3 million round of funding led by Maples Investments, which has also invested in Digg and Twitter, and First Round Capital, a seed-stage venture firm led by Josh Kopelman, the founder of Half.com.

Developing that technology, the Kogers say, will help them build upon their strong rapport with their customers, which remains their top priority. “I think we’re very unique in that there aren’t many other retailers with a specific point of view,” Susan says. “I’d much rather buy from a company where the founders are similar to me.”

Orginal article written by April Joyner for Inc.com

 

The Body Evolution – Jason & Heather Hansen

The Body Evolution was founded by two fitness and supplement gurus. Jason and Heather Hansen.  After competing and winning the 2000 Mrs. Utah America pageant, Heather ( who was on a strict diet) tried to continue drinking protein shakes but could not stand it anymore. She would complain to her husband Jason about the thick, hard to mix what she called ”Sugar filled mudshakes.”

After her competition, she challenged Jason to lose some weight. Being an athlete his whole life, Jason paid attention to the physical aspect of running, lifting etc. in his sports, but never focused on the nutritional side. He took Heathers challenge and had no problem with the workout side of losing weight, but could not stand the taste of the shakes and supplements he was taking.

Jason decided to begin his quest in formulating a great tasting Meal Replacement Protein Shake that would have an 85% absorption rate with no artificial flavors, colors, sugars, unnecessary fats, hydrogenated oils or lactose in the product. He thought it was ridiculous that he had to take a protein shake, amino acid supplement, glutamine supplement for muscle recovery and a multivitamin pill, instead of just drinking one shake. He told Heather he was going to come up with the first ever complete MRP product. What he never expected was he was about to develop a David amongst Goliaths.

Jason visited with over 10 manufactures and suppliers of nutritional supplements. The majority told Jason that there is no way to place all of those ingredients in a shake and make it taste good and mix easy. Jason, didn’t give up.

After much research, Jason found a bio-chemist formulator that has created some of the best selling supplements and cleanest supplements found in America today. With Jason’s insight and vision of providing such a profile in a protein shake, Evolve was born.

Initially, Jason bought the supplement himself and began to take it to the gym with him. It was at the gym, that many people would ask about the unlabeled white bottle he would carry around in his gym bag. Jason began to give people samples and no one could believe that this was a protein shake. It tasted way too good and mixed way too easy!  Even Jason’s world known trainer and Professional Powerlifter, David Edgell had a hard time believing the product was for real.

Jason achieved fantastic results and competed in the Utah Natural Mountain States Bodybuilding show that year. He put on an amazing 20lbs of lean muscle for that show! The supplements had worked. Jason went from a mere 162lbs to 182lbs of pure muscle in just one year.

After six months of trial and error, Jason sold his first bottle of protein to a small Health Shop in Utah and opened The Body Evolution. Over one million shakes later, Jason and Heather Hansen still believe in providing the highest quality lineup of products at a reasonable price. As food costs and protein costs have soared, Jason and Heather have remained steady and constant in providing the same level of protein that they have for the last eight years at almost the exact same price. They are continually approached to dumb down their product and make more money.  But, have stood steady in providing a product that really works!

Jason enjoys competing as an Open Natural competitor in bodybuilding. He has competed in over 8 shows and has never placed lower than fourth in his class. He also has competed in a National Strongman competition where he placed sixth out of 56 competitors and weighed in as one of the lightest competitors at the competition. He consistently powerlifts and supports the sport of powerlifting. He also has consulted and helped hundreds of athletes and everyday people achieve their high level dreams. He also loves to snow ski, waterski, hunt, fish and play with his 3 beautiful kids.  He is extremely active in his community, church and neighborhood.

Jason believes in his products more than anyone else. He drinks two MRPs a day and two blended whey shakes each day. He also is an avid believer and user of both Creatine Power Plus and glutamine empowered products.

But, his favorite thing in life by far is his beautiful wife Heather. When you see them together, you know they are in love.

Heather enjoys an active lifestyle with her family, scuba diving, powerlifting, pageant consulting, figure fitness training, snow and water skiing, cycling and is a great Mom! She is a friend to all and also has consulted with hundreds of people to help them lose weight and feel good about life. She competed in pageants for years and won the most esteemed pageant in Utah the Mrs. Utah America pageant in 2000. She is very active in her community, church and family.  Her favorite thing in life is laying by a pool with Jason and reading a good book. When you see her, you will know. It is hard to not stare at her, because she is so beautiful!!

Heather is a firm believer in food that tastes good. She loves the shakes mostly because they taste good mix easy and have all of the RDA for her daily vitamins and minerals.

For more information visit www.thebodyevolution.com

They Open Their Motel To The Homeless – Tim & Nancy Nicolai

Sioux Falls, S.Dak.

Retired steelworker Tim Nicolai envisioned a quiet second act for himself and wife Nancy when they bought the Arena Motel in 2004. But just a few months later, on a frigid winter day, a woman and her daughter showed up at the front desk, with no money and nowhere else to go. “I had empty rooms,” recalls Tim, 48, “and they didn’t have a roof over their heads.”

Four years later, after converting four of the motel’s 26 rooms to family-friendly setups with hot plates and cribs, Tim and Nancy, 47, have provided free shelter to more than 100 homeless people. Staying anywhere from a few weeks to more than a year, these guests have morning coffee with Tim, who helps them comb “help wanted” ads and has hooked up several with work from friends. “I’d be on the streets if it wasn’t for them,” says 27-year-old Heather, a mom of four young children, who now works as the motel housekeeper. “They’re such caring people.”

Original story can be found at People.com

 

Power Couple Jack & Suzy Welch – The Welch Way

Jack Welch is the legendary former CEO of General Electric. His many books include the best seller Winning, written with his wife, Suzy. Suzy Welch is the former editor of the Harvard Business Review. She attended Harvard University and Harvard Business School and has written numerous articles about leadership, creativity, change and organizational behavior. Together, the Welches write a column for BusinessWeek, “The Welch Way,” which delivers nononsense, getitdone answers to readers’ questions about business and careers.

Suzy Welch is a best-selling author, popular television commentator, and noted business journalist.

Her latest book, 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea, presents a powerful decision-making strategy for success at work and in parenting, love and friendship. Widely featured in major media outlets including The Today Show and Time Magazine, 10-10-10 became an instant New York Times bestseller and is now published in 29 countries worldwide.

Together with her husband Jack Welch, Suzy is also co-author of the #1 international bestseller Winning, its companion volume, Winning: The Answers, and The Welch Way, a weekly column on business and career challenges which appeared in BusinessWeek magazine from 2005-2009 and was published in 45 major newspapers across the globe by The New York Times Syndicate. In 2010, the Welches launched an online MBA program through Chancellor University.

On her own, Suzy has written extensively about work-life balance and other cultural issues for publications ranging from O, The Oprah Magazine to The Wall Street Journal. In addition, her candid and incisive commentary has made her a popular commentator on television programs including Good Morning America, The View, Morning Joe, Your World With Neil Cavuto, and Power Lunch.

Born in Portland, Oregon, Suzy received her BA from Harvard University in 1981 and then joined The Miami Herald as a reporter. She left daily journalism to attend Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar in 1988. Suzy joined the Harvard Business Review in 1995 and was named editor-in-chief in 2001. During her tenure at HBR, Suzy was the author of numerous articles on leadership, change, creativity and organizational behavior, as well as the contributor to several books on management.

Suzy is the mother of 4 children and lives in New York City. She serves on the board of several non-profit organizations in the fields of education and homelessness.

Jack Welch is the author of Winning, a #1 Wall Street Journal and international bestseller.  In 2001, he wrote his #1 New York Times and also international best-selling autobiography, Jack:  Straight from the Gut.  From 2005 – 2009, together with his wife Suzy Welch, he wrote a widely read weekly column, The Welch Way.  This column appeared in BusinessWeek magazine and was published by the New York Times syndicate and appeared in more than 45 major newspapers around the world, reaching more than 8 million readers. He recently launched the “Jack Welch Management Institute,” a unique online MBA program aimed at giving students around the world and at every career level the tools to transform their lives and the organizations of the future.

Jack is the head of Jack Welch, LLC, where he serves as Special Partner with the private equity firm, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and is a advisor to IAC (Interactive Corp).  He speaks to business audiences and students around the world.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Jack received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts and an MS and PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois.  He began his career with the General Electric Company in 1960, and in 1981 became the Company’s 8th Chairman & CEO.  During his 20+ year tenure as CEO, the Company’s market capitalization rose from $13 billion to $400 billion.  In 2000, he was named “Manager of the Century” by Fortune magazine.

Jack is the father of 4 children and has 10 grandchildren.  He is an avid Red Sox fan, is a life-long golfer, and is a fanatic about sports and business news in every medium.

For more information visit www.welchway.com

Managing Growth at a Pet-Insurance Business – Natasha & Chris Ashton

The British-born married couple moved to the U.S. in 2001 to attend the The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after enrolling, their cat, Bodey, became sick. The ensuing $5,000 vet bill forced the couple to move to a smaller apartment and prompted them to look for pet insurance. Their search did not prove fruitful. Even though the pet products industry was booming, pet insurance was practically nonexistent. The Ashtons thought the few available insurance products were overly complicated and restrictive, so they put their business degrees to use and started their own company to fill the gap.

Following their graduation, in July 2006, the Ashtons launched Petplan Pet Insurance in the U.S. with coverage for all hereditary conditions for the life of an insured pet. Petplan now insures tens of thousands of pets across the country.

Revenues: Estimated $15 million for 2009

Their Story: Anyone who’s ever had a pet knows that accidents happen. Take one of our client’s dogs, Cooper, an 8-month-old lab, that ran head-first into a mailbox while chasing a Frisbee. He fractured two of his vertebrae, landing him in the ER and his owners with a $12,000 veterinary bill. Luckily, Cooper made a full recovery and we picked up the tab.

As a pet health-insurance provider, we are in the accident business. And it was accident, though of a different sort, that made us change our management and operations strategies to be able to handle growth.

A year after launching our company, Chris shattered his ankle and broke two ribs. He endured several surgeries and six months of rehabilitation before he walked again. Complications from blood clots sent him back to the hospital twice.

This accident could not have come at a more critical time in our business’ short history. Demand for pet insurance was huge. By July 2007 we were seeing double-digit growth each month. We were selling policies nationwide, and we needed to expand our operations to accommodate the growth. Though we had built a strong team of 10, like many entrepreneurs, we had trouble delegating responsibility to enable us to push the business forward rather than just focus on the day-to-day tasks. After the accident, our hand was forced: We had to create more structure to enable our team to function in our absence.

It was incredibly difficult at first. Chris and I were both hands-on managers. We were used to being in the office, doing everything from designing and marketing our products, to answering the phones and stuffing envelopes, to recruiting. There were many late nights where we would sit on the floor surrounded by hundreds of policies and completed claims that had to be collated and mailed. Often we would work through the night to make sure that everything got out. With policy sales and call volumes increasing at a rapid rate, we were so immersed in the doing that we became further and further removed from the strategic vision that fueled our early growth.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT

Chris’ accident really forced us to rethink the company’s organizational structure. For two (British) kids straight out of business school, with no experience of living or working in the U.S. and no experience in the insurance industry, let alone pet insurance, we had achieved a great deal. For instance, the Humane Society of the United States selected us as their exclusive pet health-insurance provider.

Landing such a renowned client prompted us to seek clients of similar caliber, to build the strongest foundation possible for our business. And although we also had a number of strong external business partnerships, the accident prompted us to realize we couldn’t do it all ourselves. We needed an internal partner who would help us refocus on the bigger picture to continue to drive growth.

ack during our days at Wharton, Chris had met Vernon W. Hill II, founder and retired chairman and CEO of Commerce Bancorp. Hill is known for having put the retail in retail banking, building his company to an $8.5 billion market cap from an original investment of $1.5 million in 1973. He is famous for reinventing retail banking in the same way we wanted to reinvent pet insurance in the U.S., so we approached him for help.

Our first meeting took place in January 2008, with Chris still on crutches. Four months later, Chris was finally off his crutches—and Hill was now Petplan’s chairman of the board.

From the outset, we quickly learned that Hill is not one to procrastinate, and his get-it-done mantra meant the pace of our decision-making increased significantly. We learned to seize the moment. When we were presented with the opportunity for a partnership with a major pet products company, we got on a plane and flew halfway across the country to meet with the execs face-to-face—securing the deal. Prior to Hill’s involvement, we would not have moved nearly as fast. In retrospect, that may have lost us a few deals along the way.

TAKING CARE OF THE BASE

With Hill’s guidance, we spent more time looking at the business as a whole and got back to discussing and formulating strategy. It was during one of Chris’ many hospital stays that we discussed automating document processing. The office was coping remarkably well but only because our team was staying late and working weekends. It was taking three people a day to complete the printing of all of the documents and to mail them out. By automating administrative tasks, we could focus on taking better care of our rapidly growing customer base. When we finally introduced electronic documents three months later, we saw huge cost savings of over 90%. It also enabled us to reallocate resources to customer service, which was an area we had neglected.

Additionally, we began to review customer feedback more carefully. Hill showed us that there was still room for improvement in terms of customer service. We had focused our business almost exclusively on building an unmatched product but what we really hadn’t accounted for was servicing our customers once we secured them.

As we looked at some of the comments we received from policyholders, we realized that all of our efforts had been focused on sales and claims but little or no thought had been put into the day-to-day experience of existing clients. One immediate change was that we extended our hours to cover West Coast business days fully. This small change resulted in an even bigger increase in sales—over 30% in a single month after implementation—and it practically eliminated complaints regarding our opening hours.

We also received plenty of feedback regarding the length of our claim form from both clients and veterinarians alike. Upon close review, it became apparent that we could scale our claim form down from three pages to one. This was another small change that had a huge impact. From the client’s point of view, completing and submitting a claim was a much simpler process. From an operational standpoint, it reduced the average time it took to assess a claim by 70%.

Six months after his accident, Chris and I returned to the office full time. Since then we have continued to see double digit growth each month. Though there are times where we still answer the phones and get immersed in “doing the doing,” we have learned that building a strong team and relying on it to handle the daily machinations is the best way forward. Doing so allowsus to continue to build the engine that drives our growth.

We have always known that accidents happen. What we have learned since Chris’ accident is that it’s how you deal with them that really matters. One of Hill’s favorite expressions is, “you got paid for yesterday.” The accident made us focus on tomorrow.

Reprinted from Businessweek.com