From Greg's Head

I’m here at Texas A&M's Zone Club, within the confines of Kyle Field, where the 2008 Aggie 100 were just announced. 

Guest speakers included Richard Scruggs, Executive Director of the CNVE; John White, the Vice Chairman of the Texas A&M University Board of Regents; Dr. Elsa Murano, President of Texas A&M; Dr. Jerry Strawser, the Dean of the Mays School; and yours truly to give the details on the honorees for the Class of 2008.

My speaking role was limited, but the role of PKF Texas in the background and verification process was an enjoyable and tedious process.  I want to thank John Stephenson, my assistant for all his help.

Over 650 people attended the Awards Luncheon today.  The event was sold out several weeks ago without and marketing effort and is now the hottest ticket on campus!

Major sponsors of the event include:  The Texas A&M Foundation, The Association of Former Students, Hollinden Professional Services Marketing, Research Valley Partnership, Infinity Prosports, and PKF Texas.

In addition, Clay Schlinke, CEO of the #1 ranked Aggie business Tesoro Homes and Development, spoke and Herbert Glover, CEO Of last year’s #1 ranked Aggie 100 #1 company challenged the attendees to add to the Aggie 100 Scholars program. The Aggie 100 Scholars program was started last year by the honorees of the Aggie 100 program. Four PhD candidates received proceeds from the scholarship fund.

The singing cadets kicked off the event and followed by lunch.

The highlight of the day was the countdown to the actual honorees. 

Below is the list of Honorees:

Acequia, LP
Achilles Group
Advanced Inspection Technologies
AFS Environmental, Inc.
AgniTEK
AGS Scientific, Inc.
Allstar Recycling
AQWA, Inc
BakerRisk
Barhorst Insurance Group, LTD
BJ's Restaurants, Inc.
Bray International, Inc.
Brazos Technology
Bury+Partners, Inc
Cabinrock Investments, L.L.C.
CAPSHER Technology, Inc.
Capstone Commercial Real Estate Group, Inc.
Catapult Systems Inc.
CENTAURI Technologies, LP
CES Environmental Services, Inc.
Chaparral Energy Inc
Clarus Imaging of Houston
Collins, Basinger & Pullman
Command Commissioning, LLC
Commercial Insurance Solutions Group, LLC
Compliance Strategies & Solutions, Inc.
Computer Innovation Services, Inc.
Cypress Advisory Services Ltd., LLP
D&S Factors LLC
Dailey Electric, Inc.
Desert Industrial X-Ray, LP
DrawWorks, L.P.
DSI - American Manufacturing
Earth Information Technologies, Corp.
eInstruction Corp.
Elements Of Architecture, Inc.
Energy Systems Group, LLC
EnerSys Corporation
Fat Tire Bike Tours / City Segway Tours
FiberOptic Bulbs Incorporated
Frontier Truck Gear
Gas Certification Institute
Gill Services, Inc.
Gladstone Inc.
Green Grass Studios
Heritage Wealth Mgmt
Hill Country Electric Supply, LP
Hollinden | professional services marketing
Hotslings, Inc.
House of Forgings, Inc.
Industrial Solutions de Mexico
Intelligent Logistics
Intercontinental Consultants, LLC
Internet Truckstop LLC
JaCody, Inc.
John Moore Services, Inc.
JWA Financial Group, Inc.
Knowledge Systems
Lake Highlands Financial Services, LP.
Land Design Partners, Inc.
Latshaw Drilling & Exploration
Layne's of College Station
LiquidFrameworks
Mackey & Tanner LLC
MacResource Computers
Margarita Naturalmente, S.A. de C.V.
Marquee Tent Production, Inc.
Mechanical Reps, Inc.
Meridian Constructors, L.L.C.
Miner Fleet Management Group
Miner Houston, Ltd.
Mustang Engineering
New Tech Engineering
Next IT Corporation
Olive Barn Inc.
Omega Atomizers / SDA Engineers, LTD.
Oprex Surgery Center of Houston
OTA Compression, LLC
Premier Placement Media, LTD
Project Solutions International (Thailand) Company Limited
Ranch House Designs, Inc.
RBSI Consulting Inc.
RE/MAX Town & Country
REDE, Inc.
River Place Golf Group L.P.
Routh Development Group
Schipul - The Web Marketing Company
Slay Engineering Co, Inc.
Specialty Appliance, Inc
Speech Privacy Systems
Sterling Structures, LP
TDI-Brooks International, Inc.
Team Housing Solutions
Tesoro Homes and Development, Ltd.
The Liere Agency
Vanguard Fire Systems, L.P.
Workman Commercial Construction Services, Ltd.
Zajonc Corporation
Zerenity Sleep Lab of Houston
ZT Investments, Inc.

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Last night at the Jon L. Hagler Center, home of the Texas A&M Foundation, the Aggie 100 Class of 2008 came together for the first time. Over 250 attended the welcome reception.

Richard Scruggs, Executive Director of the CNVE addressed the crowd and welcomed everyone to the campus. Additional comments came from: Carl Jaedicke, Vice President for Development for the Texas A&M Foundation, Porter Garner, Executive Director of the Association of Former Students and James Lancaster of the Research Valley Partnership.  

Today is the big day! I’ll have more later today after the winners are announced! Come back at 1 PM today and see who won.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

An effective way to ensure your team meets continuing education requirements is to develop a formalized company internal university training program.  Many businesses use the university concept as an umbrella for all of their training and learning activities.

The curriculum should include both soft and technical topics.  Examples of non-technical topics include: stress management, networking and personal finance.  It is also an excellent tool to spotlight different niche areas within your firm and industry.

Using experts within your firm to make presentations is an easy way to keep costs down. Though many outside speakers will reduce their costs, or speak for free to get the chance to network with your firm.    

Opening classes when appropriate, to strategic referral partners, clients, and prospects is great for adding value to your relationships in the marketplace.

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Howdy from the Aggie 100!

It’s an honor and a pleasure for PKF Texas to again serve as the Aggie 100 accountants. PKF Texas strongly supports the Mays School and its Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship here at Texas A&M. 

A big Aggie thank you to Richard Scruggs, Lenae Huebner, Dean Strawser and Dr. Elsa Murano for your unwavering support of a unique one-of-a-kind program at a “Unique American Institution.” We already know that every Aggie is already a winner. But the Aggie 100 stands for the school’s legacy as well as its future. So how did we get this year’s list of the Aggie 100?

Over 175 companies completed the application process this year. Additional information was sent to our offices in Houston, where we verified the financial information, and reviewed the data submitted by the applicants.

In some cases we spoke with some of applicants to gain additional insight about the business. It took about 6 weeks to review all the applications.

Once we had the data, we calculated the two year compound annual growth rate from 2005 to 2007. Then the individual companies were ranked by their compound annual growth rate to get the Aggie 100. For those or you who won't be able to attend the Aggie 100 Awards Ceremony on Friday October 31, we have another way for you to participate. KBTX television in College Station will be filming the event and streaming it live on their website www.KBTX.com . The coverage will begin around 11:15 a.m. (Central Time) and will last until all the honorees have been announced (around 1:00 p.m.).

 Check back at 1:00 PM CST on October 31, 2008 for an update on the winners!

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I’ve just received information about the 2009 Rice Business Plan Competition.  The Rice Business Plan Competition is the largest and richest intercollegiate new venture competition in the world.  Thirty-six of the top MBA and Graduate Schools from around the world will compete for over $675,000 in prizes at Rice University in Houston.  The event is judged by over 170 venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the technology entrepreneurship community.   

2009 Rice Business Plan Competition 
Thursday – Saturday, April 16-18, 2009
Rice University, McNair Hall, Jones Graduate School of Management – Houston, Texas

More Information:  www.alliance.rice.edu/rbpc

The competition is open to all graduate level teams from any university.  Both U.S. and international teams can apply to compete.  EVERY team that is accepted to compete is guaranteed to win cash prize money. 

If you know of a graduate team or university that should compete, please encourage them to apply.  

• Intent to Compete Deadline:  Friday, February 13, 2009
• Executive Summary due: Friday. March 6, 2009, 5:00 PM CST

International schools can apply for early acceptance in January:
   - January 5, 2009 – Deadline to submit Intent to Compete
   - January 16, 2009 – Deadline to submit Executive Summary
   - January 19, 2009 – Early acceptance invitations sent to international schools

Competition Prizes - Over $675,000 in total prizes
• $325,000 Grand Prize – including
     $125,000 equity investment from The GOOSE Society of Texas
     $100,000 investment sponsored by: Opportunity Houston and Greater Houston Partnership
     $20,000 cash: Sponsored by: Kenda Capital & Shell
     $80,000 in services
     Ringing the bell at NASDAQ in New York City
• Over $475,000 in total cash prizes, plus over $200,000 in services awarded
• EVERY team accepted into the Rice competition is guaranteed to win at least one cash prize

Special Cash Prize Categories include:
    • $20,000 – Dow Sustainability Award – sustainability & clean technology cash award
    • $20,000 – NASA Earth/Space Life Science Innovation Award
    • Information Technology Cash Award
    • Energy Cash Award
    • Medical Device Cash Award
    • Life Science Cash Award 
    • Intellectual Property Cash Award 
    • Hispanic Business Plan Cash Award
    • International Team Cash Award 

Other Benefits include:
• Multiple opportunities to receive individual feedback & mentoring
 
• Largest, most-experienced judging panel
    • Over 170 VC’s, early-stage investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders
    • More leaders from the entrepreneurship community than any other competition

• Multiple Presentation Opportunities
   • All teams are guaranteed to have at least four presentation opportunities

• Best facilities and hosting of any competition
   • World-class Jones Graduate School of Management building at Rice
   • Over 100 Rice student volunteers will act as hosts and guides

• Low-cost travel, centrally located
   • Houston serves as hubs for Continental & Southwest Airlines with two major airports
   • Discounted hotel rates & all meals provided for competitors 

Who Is Eligible
    • Full- or part-time graduate students: includes MBA, Masters, PhD, and MD candidates from all disciplines
    • Teams with 2-5 team members  (at least one team member must be a graduate student)
    • Ventures must be "for profit" entities seeking outside equity capital
    • Teams must be university-affiliated and have endorsement of a faculty member

Ventures must have no revenues or outside equity capital PRIOR to the start of current academic year
 

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I just received an email from the Greater Houston Partnership about this year’s Houston’s Greatest awards.  You remember that last year PKF Texas was one of the winners and finalists for the People’s Choice award.  

This year I’m pleased to report that our friends at the Rice Alliance are receiving a special award for being “Houston’s Greatest Economic Ally.”  Congratulations!  It’s always great to see good organizations receive the recognition they deserve.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

With almost everything in life, complexity is usually not a good thing and simplicity is better. In software, complexity sometimes means both higher costs and less ability to keep the system up to meeting the ever-changing needs of the business. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be a measure of complexity in your IT area.

No business stays the same. You face challenges including, customers demanding new ways of doing business. Challenges include governments setting new regulations. Challenges include companies changing to gain competitive advantage. As is often said, the only constant in business is change. When systems are complex, it means that the company is less able to respond to these challenges. “Systems are often an obstacle to change”, says Olin Thompson of Lawson Software.

A direct benefit of a lower TCO is the pure economic benefit of spending less. Actually, that dollar could be used more effectively elsewhere in the business, for a purpose that offers a higher rate of return.

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I’m proud and excited to announce that PKF Texas was recently named as one of the Best Accounting Firms to Work for.

This first annual program was created by The Accountants Media Group, publishers of Accounting Today, Accounting Technology, CPA Wealth Provider, Practical Accountant and host of WebCPA.com and Best Companies Group. We’ll find our actual ranking when the list appears in the January 5, 2009 issue of Accounting Today.

This survey and award program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in the accounting industry, benefiting the nation's economy, its workforce and businesses.

Companies from across the country entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Accounting Firms to Work for. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration, survey and analysis process and determined the final rankings.

For more information on the Best Accounting Firms to Work for program, visit www.BestAccountingFirmstoWorkfor.com.

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Business managers worldwide believe that their company's number one business issue is customer relationships. According to a recent Forrester Consulting study, there's a huge gap between how business managers rate customer relationships, and how much they're willing to spend to support them. Their study asked the questions:

1. If customer relationships are so important, why don't more companies make them their top IT spending priority?
2. Why don't more managers see the connection between investing in human capital and strengthening customer relationships?
3. Why is innovation perceived largely as a cost-reduction tactic, rather than a key strategic priority?

The conclusions raised by the study were:

1. Lack of discipline. Many organizations don't have corporation-wide programs, leadership, metrics in place, or even a clear customer experience strategy. Instead, they have siloed customer experiences, industry tunnel vision, and inward-focused product development.
2. Path of least resistance. Most project teams find it easier to build a business case for technology and human capital investments that result in operational efficiency than to justify improvements in customer relationships. It is easier to calculate the ROI of shortened cycle times or reallocated headcount, for example, than it is to quantify an increase in customer satisfaction or customer retention.
3. Shades of CRM. Many business and IT executives do not feel that the business benefits achieved with CRM investments meet their expectations, or that they are able to quickly realize value from the applications.

So how do we turn this thing around?
 

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Have you seen the latest Microsoft commercial?  The “I am a PC” commercial has been running here in Houston for the past couple of weeks.  What you might not have noticed is one of Houston’s own is featured in the commercial!

Dr. Bernard Harris, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Houston Technology Center appears as one of the PCs!  The ad is embedded below or click here see the commercial on Microsoft’s website.  He appears about 40 seconds into the spot.  

Video: Pride

An accomplished physician, Dr. Harris was selected by NASA in January 1990 and became an astronaut in July 1991. A veteran of two space flights, Dr. Harris has logged more than 438 hours in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-55 (April 26 to May 6, 1993), and was the Payload Commander on STS-63 (February 2-11, 1995).  Dr. Harris is truly an American Hero and a native Texan.

Dr. Harris also oversees The Harris Foundation.  The Harris Foundation is powered through two different programs – Dare to Dream and the Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp. Through these initiatives, THF encourages math and science education, motivates youth to stay in school, fosters youth leadership and citizenship, as well as instills the values of responsibility, fairness and respect. To date, more than 3,500 K-12 students have participated and benefited from THF programs.

I am a PC!

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The FastTech 50 is rapidly approaching. Please join the Houston Business Journal, PKF Texas, Capital One Bank, Oracle, Pierpont Communications, Phillips & Reiter PLLC, The Griffin Partners: 1301 Fannin, The Houston Technology Center, Rice Alliance and Fox 26 News at the eighth annual Fast Tech 50 Awards Ceremony. This high-energy event is a must to attend especially if you want to meet the top executives of the hottest technology companies in Houston.

The Fast Tech 50 Awards are presented to the 50 fastest growing Houston area based high-tech businesses ranked by percentage of revenue growth in 2007. These top level CEOs of the Fast Tech 50 will be honored at this exciting luncheon on Friday, November 7, 2008.

The winners are also announced in the Fast Tech 50 Special Section of the Houston Business Journal that will be published on Friday, November 7th and handed out at the event.

Do not miss your chance to network with over 600 businessmen and women as well as congratulate the Fast Tech 50 of 2008. Deadline for reservations is Friday, October 31, 2008.

When? Friday, November 7, 2008 11:30am - 1:00pm
Where? InterContinental Houston Hotel 2222 West Loop South, Houston, TX 77027

Click here to register online

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

With world wide connectivity, global regulation, and an increasing request for even the smallest organization to be 24/7, how does an organization rise to these challenges in our present world?

The one constant for success against these external forces are people. The people in your organization are you key to success.  Only people have the flexibility and steadfastness to identify and then respond to new information to meet challenges or take advantage of new opportunities.

What the values of an Empowered Workforce?

1. People lead and create innovation;
2. People seek and promote operational excellence;
3. People strengthen vendor partnerships; and
4. People build customer relationships

By using products like Microsoft’s Dynamics NAV you can amplify the abilities of your personnel to meet these challenges.

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 Monique A. Hitchings is the Editor in Chief of FUEL Magazine, a Hart Energy publication.  You may recall that PKF Texas partnered with Hart Energy to host the NASDAQ OMX presentation.  Hart Energy is hosting the Energy Solutions Conference in Houston on November 6 and 7, 2008.  Monique may be reached via email at mhitchings@hartenergy.com.

Conventional vs. alternative fuels and energies, refining technology, clean technology, climate change – these are today’s buzzwords to effect tomorrow’s changes.

As we enter a new U.S. Administration, a new year and face financial constraints in all aspects of the global downstream industry from refining to transportation to research and development to fuel management, it’s time to continue much needed dialogue and recognize potential solutions to myriad challenges our industry faces.

The gap between supply and demand continues to grow and a reduction in the heavy dependence on imported crude is paramount.

Companies are noting alternatives to typical ways of conducting business, including implementing alternative fuels and technologies in all arenas of the downstream business.

Industry representatives have been talking about it; government and organizational leaders have been talking about it; operating companies and their vendors/providers have been talking about it. It’s time to bring these entities together to talk about it and learn from one another.

Houston’s Energy Solutions conference featuring the Global Energy & Environmental Excellence Awards Celebration and Biofuels Briefing, Nov. 6 and 7, is the place to interact with leading energy industry strategists and analysts, policymakers, refinery and transportation executives, financiers and technology providers.

These sector leaders will examine national and global progress since the release of the National Petroleum Council’s report and the 2008 World Petroleum Council meeting in Madrid in July.

One notable industry icon, Donald L. Paul, president and managing director, Energy and Technology Strategies, chief technology officer, Chevron (retired), will share innovative ideas for saving energy tomorrow, noting “every molecule counts” on the road to sustainability and clean technology.

Timely and topical information will be discussed, analyzed and in some cases debated in an array of manners by the best in the business. Discussion points include:

• U.S. post-election policy and energy outlook;
• The effect the U.S. election will have on international energy opportunities;
• The degree to which we’ve progressed toward energy security;
• The true nature of worldwide demand;
• Supplies that are available now and in the future;
• Upcoming transportation technologies to change energy use;
• Local and global low-carbon solutions;
• The meaning the weaker dollar has for capital markets; and
• The way in which biofuels fit into the global market.

At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: improve our environment in the most cost-effective, energy efficient manner that results in less dependence on conventional fuels and foreign crude imports. How do we get there? One step at a time – working together, listening, talking and acting to arrive at energy solutions for tomorrow from challenging times today.

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I was perusing Inc.com the other day and ran across this slideshow about the 10 Things Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know. 

Definitely some good advice in the top ten. My favorite is number nine: “Culture drives a company. In the long run the boss’ most important job is to define and enforce it.”  I’ve talked about culture before on the PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook™. If you have a good company culture, it will affect your business’ performance in a positive manner.

This 10 Things list reminds me of the annual Nuggets of Wisdom from our Aggie 100 winners. They too have great advice for entrepreneurs. Take the time to check it out. 

What is the best advice you have received? What are some lessons you learned the hard way?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Bob Anderson with Microsoft had an interesting way of describing the way businesses tackle various improvement portfolios within their organizations.  Traditional views of business process re-engineering (BPR) establish a baseline based upon very stringent rules and data sources.  If your company follows this way of thinking you play a lot of orchestra music.  A structured process, with distinct rules. 

However business is not always structured and that’s where the cool cats of jazz come into play.  Jazz musicians base their success on improvisation, adapting to changes in condition.  They work within the framework of music, but outside the established processes.

Today’s world is about improvisation and adapting to change rapidly and quickly, do you have the team or tools to be a cool cat business jazz player?

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook™ page of the PKF Texas website.

Social Media is here to stay and if your company is not involved in it, you will be soon far behind your competitors.  Recently the movie “The Dark Night” opened its weekend at $155 million.  The head of distribution for Warner Bros. say that the movie’s gross was partly because of the incredible buzz and word of mouth that preceded it.  Much of that buzz came from on-line chat rooms; blogs, discussion forums and web pages on peer to peer networks..

The rise of social media is increasing at unprecedented magnitude beyond movies to every consumer product or service.  Savvy businesses are employing technology based solutions for leveraging word of mouth as a way of raising brand awareness, drive marketing improvement, and ultimately increasing shareholder value.

What’s your most recent example of social media that you saw, used or participated with recently?

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This week has been full of news about the federal bailout of our banks. The stock market has had a record drop and a near record gain. There has been no shortage of opinions from the political and economic pundits about the best way to get back on track.

I’m curious to hear from my readers about their thoughts. What would you like Congress to do? What changes do you think we, as individuals, can make?

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