About this project
The Upsize Growth Challenge, presented by Winthrop & Weinstine, is a contest created by Upsize magazine to match two winning business owners with the expert advice they need to reach their goals. From nominations, judges select two winners based on the ambition of the growth goal and the quality of the work already completed to meet it.
They participated in a workshop this spring with expert advisers supplied by the sponsoring companies, which was covered in the August/September issue. In September, winners told their stories at a public event and experts gave advice applicable to all growing firms, covered in this article. Nominations for next year’s contest open in spring 2017.
To launch a new product,
Way Cool Cooking School’s founder should give way
Lynn Elliott entered the Upsize Growth Challenge in order to get feedback about her new idea, making cooking crate parties and shipping them directly to customers so they could do their own cooking classes at home.
Her existing business, Way Cool Cooking School, offers team-building cooking classes, summer cooking camps, birthday parties for all ages along with Scout troops and school groups who come to her Eden Prairie school to cook. Way Cool has become so successful over 12 years that Elliott has to turn customers away.
Her new idea got a big thumbs up from the assembled experts in the first workshop in June, who agreed that she has figured out every angle about how best to launch, although pointing out she’s thinking a bit too small—her idea to assemble the crates in her basement got the thumbs down, for example.
Nobody wants to work in your basement, one expert said. Also, she needs to nail down her plan for how to finance growth if the new business takes off.
But her biggest takeaway was to realize why three of her earlier ideas for new businesses had fizzled—she didn’t identify an executive who could take that idea and run with it. Rather, she tried to control every aspect herself, a typical challenge for many entrepreneurs.
“What I love to see is you’re creating a business where you’re letting go a lot,” said Dan Moshe, founder of Tech Guru and an Upsize Growth Challenge expert. “Designing a business that doesn’t require your involvement is killer and you’re on the right track.”
By the time Elliott presented her story at the Upsize Growth Challenge public workshop in September, she was proud to announce the new idea was off and running—to be executed by her office manager, with her providing overall vision. That’s a clear win for this entrepreneur, and one that many others would do well to follow.
Below are excerpts from her presentation followed by experts on the panel.
Lynn Elliott, founder, Way Cool Cooking School: The hardest part for me as an entrepreneur is the alone part—not having others to turn to. I started Way Cool Cooking School 12 years ago. At first it was a kids’ cooking school, only the adults would say why can’t we do it, too?
I had a mentor, and his advice was when starting something new, listen to what people want you to be. Don’t tell them what you want to be. We do cupcake wars, food truck wars. That’s pretty much what people wanted to do. They want to live out what they see on TV.
For the last four years I’ve had double-digit growth. We do cooking birthday parties and summer camps, that makes up half of my business. I’ve tried to expand in other locations.
The struggle became me. I learned a lot from those experiences about who I am and what I wanted to do. I want to expand, but not have a bunch of leases.
So I had the idea, we’re calling it cooking crate parties. We ship it to people, so people can create our cooking parties at home. Then summer camp hit—and the new project went on hold. Now we are back and trying to get the cooking crate parties launched.
When I met with the Upsize Growth Challenge experts earlier this year it was awesome to hear their comments. It was interesting to hear their thoughts on going to market.
I’ve tried three things before and they fizzled. I met Dan Moshe, CEO of Tech Guru and an Upsize Growth Challenge expert, and now I understand why. Because he’s like me. I have tons of ideas.
What I learned is, I have an office manager, and she is going to move this project along. I’m not going to stand in the way of my new idea this time. Now after this I realized I don’t have all the answers.
Beth Ewen, moderator, editor of Upsize magazine: For each of our experts, please comment on what stands out to you, when you hear this business owner’s story? What has she done particularly well, and how could other business owners apply it?
Rick Brimacomb, Brimacomb + Associates: When we met with Lynn earlier this year, we heard the full 12-year story. She is extremely resilient. She worked hard. Lynn really put a lot of effort in this. She listened to her customers. She pivoted a couple of times. Lastly she had financial goals for herself and her family. Her story can be so many other owners’ story.
Steve Grohn, L. Harris Partners: What stands out to me is, she’s really into it. It was a constant, when we asked her anything, she had already worked through it, with so many ideas cranking. Lynn, you’re a bit of a Renaissance person. So the discussion turned onto more, who do you want to be, and still have the same drive and energy.
Dan Moshe, Tech Guru: The thing that stands out to me is that Lynn is a genuine and authentic person.
Mary Stoick, Highland Bank: When planning to launch a new product, it comes down to planning. You’ll have inventory, for example. What will you do if this blows up? How will you respond and how will you finance the growth? These are important points to back up your plan.
Dean Witter, Winthrop & Weinstine: We all sound like the Lynn Elliott Fan Club. She did everything right.
As TimeSolv grows, so does challenge to focus on customers
Scott Clasen is the embodiment of a key shift that CEO Raza Hasan is making at his company, TimeSolv, which makes time-and-billing software mostly for attorneys. Clasen is the first marketing director the company has ever hired, as it shifts from focusing solely on improving the product to a new stance: becoming customer-obsessed.
Clasen presented on behalf of Hasan at the Upsize Growth Challenge public event in September, and was keen to talk about many of the new initiatives he has started, like drilling into customer information to find the exact point when a prospect who tries the product for free becomes a paying customer. That’s just one of many data points he is unearthing as he develops the right marketing mix for TimeSolv.
But the bigger shift is cultural, which the Upsize Growth Challenge experts agreed is crucial, especially as the company grows through a remote workplace model and via acquisitions. Clasen has suggested a weekly conference call, for example, so everyone in far-flung offices can get on the same page, and that tactic received approval from the experts.
Steve Grohn of L. Harris Partners points out the obsession needs to be ongoing. When he hosts a breakfast meeting for employees, for instance, and they thank him, he says no, they should be thanking their customers because customers fund everything.
Backed by their new marketing guru, Hasan and his team are working to take the product they’ve developed so meticulously and invite many new customers in.
Below is an edited version of Clasen’s comments and the experts’ advice at the panel discussion.
Scott Clasen, marketing director, TimeSolv: We are a SAS company (software as a service.) We provide billing and time management tools to law firms, primarily. TimeSolv started as a part of Thomson Reuters, then spun off in 2006.
The good news is we’ve been an internet-based software company since 1999. The bad news is we’ve been an internet-based software company since 1999. It took until 2014 to get the development work done.
By nature we were focused on the product itself. We think of ourselves as a start-up company after 17 years of existence. We have 10 employees.
Our main growth goal is simple. We want a certain number of free trials every month. We also have long-term goals. So in theory at the end of 2019 we will have tripled the revenue that we have today.
The things our CEO, Raza Hasan, did: He started an advisory board. In a super smart move, Raza created a marketing director position and hired—me! I’ve been here six months only.
A marketing focus is one of the reasons why Raza wanted to enter the Upsize Growth Challenge. At the first workshop, a couple of things resonated with him.
One, the idea of offering a “freemium” for new customers. You can use it for free but it’s limited and pulled back. We’re looking at that. Our competition is not doing it.
Two, the other thing was the acquisition model. How do you get big—you buy companies. Owners of some of these companies are now 65, 70 years old. There are two we’re in negotiations with right now.
A big problem for us is if new customers have to migrate their data it’s a challenge for our developers.
The first thing I did right out of the box is data analysis. There was nothing in our database about when did people become a paying customer. My work was organizing our company’s information to help us determine that.
The next step is, which one of our six or seven channels became paying customers at the fastest rates. We haven’t cracked that nut yet, but we will.
One lesson is really getting to know your customers. Really listen to your customers, and when they say what do they need. As you continue to grow, still listen and have the finger on the pulse.
When you get to a certain size it’s easier to look at the competition, but you need to stay focused on your customers, what they need. We’re still trying to meet the challenge and we’re going to get there in 2017.
Beth Ewen, moderator, editor of Upsize magazine: For each of our experts, please comment on what stands out to you, when you hear this business owner’s story? What has he done particularly well, and how could other business owners apply it?
Dean Willer, Winthrop & Weinstine: Their product allows attorneys to do what attorneys love best—bill. The earlier you can get attorneys the better, because they don’t want to change later.
Mary Stoick, Highland Bank: It struck me you were already anticipating the culture change that comes with growth, and already thinking about it. That is great.
Dan Moshe, Tech Guru: I love the top of the funnel scorecard, but zooming out a little, you have a leadership team that knows its strengths and saying this is what we’re good at.
Steve Grohn, L. Harris Partners: One of the things you’ve done particularly well is the product. The value you’re giving is massive, so you might be underpriced.
Rick Brimacomb, Brimacomb + Associates: I also consult with TimeSolv, and they were focused on the product but not from a marketing perspective. I had to hold Raza’s feet to the fire, especially on the budget for marketing.
Beth Ewen: What is your main piece of advice for this business owner in order for it to reach the goal?
Dean Willer: I would focus on key differentiators. There are a lot of people like you. Whether there are aspects of the software that make it better, get your customers addicted early and often.
Mary Stoick: If you’re looking at acquisitions, have conversations around what type of capital do you need. Plan for the capital needs, both the financial capital and the human capital.
Dan Moshe: The thing that’s beautiful about the SAS model is there’s a way to get it to go viral. Lawyers are cost-conscious—if you could give it away to share it with colleagues, that would make it real.
Steve Grohn: It’s that sort of almost obsessiveness—how do you retain and how do you keep the new customers. Are they into it? How do they stay into it? That’s what you have to be talking about with your employees, making sure they understand that everything comes from the customers. When I hold breakfasts for my staff, they thank me. And I say, thank the customers, they’re the ones who are paying for this.
Rick Brimacomb: In the venture world, if you don’t start with the end in mind—we have to look out that corridor to future revenue growth. Everything has to focus on the growth.
Sean Boland, DS+B [via e-mail]: Both companies grew the business very well and now they need help to get to the next level, similar to all businesses. It’s very hard for entrepreneurs to give up that ownership but once they do, they have a growth spurt because they have more capacity. But giving up the keys to your baby is very hard to do. The ones that do sooner versus later end up wondering why they didn’t do it earlier.
[contact]
Lynn Elliott is founder and CEO of
Way Cool Cooking School: 952.949.6799;
lynn@waycoolcookingschool.com;
www.waycoolcookingschool.com.
Scott Clasen is director of marketing at TimeSolv: 651.687.0090;
scott.clasen@timesolv.com;
www.timesolv.com.
