From Greg's Head

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.

Do you do business internationally, or are you thinking of global expansion? Your local District Export Council, or DEC for short, is a great resource to assist companies looking to expand internationally.

The DEC contributes leadership and international trade expertise to complement the U.S. Commercial Service’s export promotion efforts through counseling businesses on the exporting process and conducting trade education and community outreach. 

Houston’s DEC may be found online at www.ExportTexas.com/Houston. There you will find advice on a wide range of topics including marketing, technology licensing, and international legal considerations.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has created The Basic Guide to Exporting, to addresses the various issues related to doing business internationally. The guide can also be found on the Houston DEC website. 

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I know right now is a busy time for many of you with the holidays just around the corner, but I wanted to let you know about a great even the Rice Alliance is hosting, the 6th Annual IT and Web 2.0 Venture Forum.  This year’s theme is “Showcasing the Most Promising IT and Web 2.0 Technology Companies.” They have a great line up of speakers and sessions.

One particular session of note is the afternoon keynote featuring Jaime Casap, Business Development Manager for Google.  Google always has something brewing and I’ll be curious to hear what Casap has to say about the technology community in Houston.  For more information about the event, send an email to alliance@rice.edu or call 713-348-3443.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving tomorrow!

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As I was browsing AccountingWeb last week, I ran across a new section (well, at least new to me, I wasn’t been aware of it before now), called Celebrity News. 

Intrigued, I clicked on it and was taken to a page with news stories about celebrities who have all be in the news lately for accounting or IRS problems. Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, actor Wesley Snipes, and former NFL quarterback, Bernie Kosar were all listed for various issues.

There is a message from Gail Perry, CPA, Managing Editor of AccountingWeb which states:

“Stars Behind Bars

Not all of the articles that appear on this page refer strictly to celebrities who are fighting the tax and accounting authorities. From time to time there might be good news about celebrities who are helping underpriveleged people with tax preparation. Maybe there will be news of politicians who are going above and beyond to help taxpayers by lobbying for intelligent and simplified tax laws. But for the most part, we expect to have fun on this page at the expense of those folks who make the headlines by making a mess of their financial lives.

Meanwhile, don't forget to read our Sitcom tax series - humorous articles about how America's sitcom programs interpret the tax laws. You'll be laughing in the aisles!

Best wishes,

Gail Perry, CPA

Managing Editor, AccountingWEB

editor@accountingweb.com”

While I don’t think I’m necessarily the intended audience for the celebrity section, I think this is an interesting, light hearted addition to the website. I can definitely see where it would be of interest to the next generation of accountants. What do you think about celebrity run-ins with the IRS?

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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.

The talk of tough economic times has a lot of entrepreneurs I know taking a hard look at their companies to make sure they can weather the storm. I’ve read several good articles lately that give advice to business owners about ways they can prepare for and respond to economic instability.

The consensus is that you need to complete a thorough analysis of all areas of your business.

Key things to keep in mind include:
• Cash flow
• Marketing budget
• Sales strategy
• Pricing strategy
• Customer feedback and
• Keep an eye on the competition

Look at ways to become more efficient, solicit feedback from your customers, what are you doing well? Where can you improve? Which divisions are most susceptible to a downturn in the economy? Use a one page plan or a force field analysis to help guide the conversation with your management team.

The AICPA has a number of resources for business owners on their website, aicpa.org. If you take the time now to analyze your business, you will be able to anticipate and respond to issues as they arise as the economy fluctuates.

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As you are aware, I am very connected to Texas A&M’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship. They have a great program called Aggies in Business (AiB) and I asked Jessica Pullen, member of AiB Consulting to provide a guest blog describing what they do. Below is a little bit more about AiB.

One hallmark of an Aggie education has always been the practical application of academic lessons. In the fall of 2006, the Center for New Ventures & Entrepreneurship launched a dynamic new program to further complement the lessons taught everyday in the classroom. Two years later, AiB Consulting is a thriving business seeking to add value to the education received at Texas A&M by providing students with the chance to manage and operate a real-world business.

Students involved with AiB Consulting manage and perform consulting projects for businesses seeking assistance. Currently, the students are primarily MBA students but also include other graduate students, as well as outstanding undergraduate students.

Throughout the fall semester, consultants have had the opportunity to work on a total of 11 projects including a business plan for a Guatemala-based clothing company seeking U.S. investors, a workforce evaluation survey and analysis for an economic development corporation located in Texas, and market research and analysis for a local home insurance agency interested in expanding operations. AiB Consulting is always open to new ideas and can help you accomplish that project you may not have time to complete.

AiB Consulting is currently lining up projects to begin work in the spring. Projects are billed at $50/hour and typically range from 100-300 hours. Whether you are looking for cost savings in your organization, looking to increase market share, or pursuing new business opportunities, a project with AiB Consulting can help you reach your goal. To talk to someone about your needs, or to get more information about AiB Consulting you can send an email to Jessica Pullen at consulting@txaib.org, or Ryan Urban at bizdev@txaib.org.
 

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Several PKF Texans attended the Gulf Coast Innovation Conference, hosted by the Houston Technology Center, yesterday. This was the first year for this conference, and it was a very well attended event.

Approximately 32 companies, with specialties in life science, energy, nano tech and IT, made individual presentations. In addition, there were two panel presentations and a keynote speech from Leo Linbeck. All of the company presentations were quite impressive. I've said it before and I’ll say it again, the amount of entrepreneurial talent in Houston is astounding. We are lucky to live in a city that supports such a diverse group of innovators.

The panels and Linbeck all had great things to say. The several of our team members commented to me that Linbeck’s speech was the highlight of the conference. He was very candid about the current economic situation and how it will impact entrepreneurs. While the news wasn’t all upbeat, he did say that even in rougher economic times, entrepreneurs should keep going, and that it’s actually not a horrible time to start a business.   There is a lot of opportunity if you seek it out.

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There was an interesting article on AccountingWeb yesterday, “Economy Not Expected to Impact hiring of College Grads” On the very surface, that seems like great news. However delving a little deeper into the article, employers expect to decrease hiring levels by 1.6 percent.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently released the report referenced in the article. The report features updated figures comparing responses from an August 2008 hiring survey with an October 2008 survey.

The findings show that despite the decrease in hiring levels overall, the rates for professional services firms will remain relatively flat, keeping with earlier predictions.

This is mixed news for the Class of 2009 looking for professional services jobs. While its good there hasn’t been a change in hiring expectations, it isn’t great that there will not be a boost in hiring. It’s a competitive market and recruits will have to stand out in a positive way to get noticed and hired.

On a personal note, my son is a member of the Class of 2009 and will graduate with an accounting degree, so the fact professional services firms aren’t making drastic hiring cuts bodes well for my checkbook…

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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.

In these uncertain economic times, have you done everything reasonably expected to prevent or detect fraud?  A fraud risk assessment may be the next logical step to lower the potential for fraud against your organization.

The risk assessment reviews the operations and controls including policies and procedures of an organization to determine where gaps exist that could allow a person or persons to carry out a fraud within an organization.

We are all operating in a global, fast paced marketplace with pressure to continually improve our operations.  This creates the need for more timely assurance that your risks are being mitigated effectively.

Because the threats to your company change over time, it is imperative to reassess your policies and controls, paying close attention to any discrepancies.  The sooner you know of a problem, the sooner you can find a solution. 

If you have concerns about your threat level, PKF Texas offers an online tool to help assess a company’s potential for fraud.  The tool may be found at pkftexas.com/fraudsurvey.

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Have you registered for the Gulf Coast Innovation Conference yet? The conference will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel, next Tuesday, November 18^th. This is going to be the innovative conference of the year in Houston.

Hosted by the Houston Technology Center, PKF Texas is proud to be a sponsor. This year’s keynote speaker is Leo Linbeck III, President and CEP of Aquinas Companies, LLC. He will present “Entrepreneurship Life Cycle, Early Stage to Seed Capital and the Implications of Current Economic Trends.” I think that given our current economic climate, this is a must see presentation for any entrepreneur. 

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Sue Moore at 713-658-1750 or smoore@houstontech.org.

If you attend the conference, let me know what you were able to take away that will be useful for your business. 

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Congratulations to all of the FastTech 50 winners! 

This year’s Number 1 ranked Fast Tech 50 honoree is Globalogix .  You will find a profile on this company later inside this special section of the Houston Business Journal.  They grew a remarkable 1,343% during the past year!  Congratulations to James Hamilton and his team.  It’s a great story of entrepreneur collaboration.  The single largest revenue contributor from the Fast Tech 50 to our local economy is The Planet at $122 million.  As we noted earlier, the cutoff this year to make the Fast Tech 50 was approximately 37.4% year over year growth.

Here is the official 2008 FastTech 50 list by Alphabetical Name:

Access Sciences Corporation
Additech, Inc.
Agoric Source, LLC
Alert Logic Inc.
Apollo Sales & Marketing Group
B Resource
BBS Technologies
Bluegate Corporation
CONTENTACTIVE, LLC
Customer Velocity
Eagle Information Mapping
eCardio Diagnostics, LLC
Enaxis Consulting, L.P.
Energy Solutions Inc.
EpiladyUSA, Inc.
ERGOS Technology Partners, Inc.
Fairway Medical Technologies, Inc.
GlobaLogix
HighRadius
HostGator.com
I.T. Works
iKAN Software
Ingenious, Inc.
Institute of Information Technology, Inc.
Kerdock Consulting, LLC
Lensec
LHR Technologies
M3 Technology, Inc.
Medical Metrics, Inc.
Merrick Systems
MicroSeismic, Inc.
ObjectWin Technology, Inc.
omNovia Technologies, Inc.
OpenSpirit Corporation
Paymetric, Inc.
Petris
Pop Labs
PreCash, Inc.
RigNet, Inc.
Search Technology, LLC
Secure Cash Network, Inc.
SolArc, Inc.
Spring Medical Systems, Inc.
Spur Interactive (Formerly Spur Digital LP)
Techcess Group
The Planet
Transtar POS
US LED, Ltd.
Whitefence
X-ISS (eXcellence in IS Solutions, Inc.)

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As we prepare our program for the eighth year of the Fast Tech 50 Awards Luncheon, I am struck with a sense of pride and accomplishment pertaining to the region’s tenacity and desire to take an idea and make it a reality, which quite frankly in other parts of the country would never see the light of day.  It’s been six weeks since we all felt the impact of Hurricane Ike in the Houston region.   And while many parts of our region are still recovering from Ike, the entrepreneurial leaders and emerging companies are still humming along.   Our community came together in ways that are reminiscent of time gone by.  Neighbors came together, offered help and took an interest in the welfare of each other so that all could make it through those tough days after the storm passed.  That same spirit is found within the emerging market community as well. With entrepreneurial leaders from all backgrounds, service providers, and investment communities offering their assistance, the emerging companies of Houston are finally getting the national respect long deserved. 

The Class of 2008 will be one of the youngest we have ever had in our program. In comparing this year’s group of winners, it’s clear that they represent a much younger and still developing group of early stage companies.  They will have an impact on our local and national economy for many years to come, and they will add to the legacy of what makes Houston the top city in the country to start a business.  The youth of many of our new emerging companies is evident with the threshold to make the list rising to the second highest ever at 37.4% for 2008!  The average growth rate for this year’s group is a staggering 133%.  You always know that you have arrived on the scene when several “national entrepreneurial magazines” are now mentioning many of our Fast Tech 50 companies as organizations to invest in, or watch.  Thanks for the publicity guys, but the Houston Business Journal and our Fast Tech 50 program, already scooped you!  We’ve been blowing the horn of these entrepreneurs for over 8 years!

During this past year we had over 360 companies express an interest in becoming a member of this exclusive club.  The Fast Tech 50 class of 2008 continues Houston’s tradition of technology excellence.  And they also bring to the forefront new and different stories of entrepreneurial success.  This year’s list of honorees includes; 21 first-time honorees, 14 two-time honorees, 4 three-time honorees, 5 four-time honorees, 5 five-time honorees and 1 six-time honoree.  Our five time honorees include:  BBS Technologies, Inc., Bluegate Corporation, I.T. Works, Paymetric, Inc., and PreCash Inc. And our only six time honoree this year is Merrick Systems, Inc.  What staying power!

During the past year we saw many successful technology events throughout the city.  The Houston Technology Center and the Rice Alliance (including the highly success Rice Business Plan competition) held many forums for the start up community.   The Houston based Gulf Coast Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization (RCIC) is doing very well in its third year.  We continue to hear from the State’s oversight group that the plans submitted from the Houston area are some of the most well received.

Qualifications

Let’s review the nomination and listing process.  To qualify for the Fast Tech 50, a company’s headquarters, or a foreign company’s US headquarters must be located in Houston SMSA region.  A minimum of 51% of the company’s consolidated net revenues must be involved in the original manufacture, design or development of technology products or delivery of services.  A nominee must have minimum net revenues of more than $200,000 in both years.  Rankings were determined on the revenue growth percentage from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007.

The nominees were asked to submit the following information:  nomination form; audited, reviewed or compiled financial statements or tax returns for 2006 and 2007; an overview letter; and background information on the company, its products and/or services.  Representatives from PKF Texas validated the information on the nomination form from the information packet.  The percentage of revenue growth was computed by comparing net revenues from 2006 to 2007.  During the past year we received over 360 nominations for the Fast Tech 50.   The organizations that made the top 50 places were then listed. 

Overview of the 2008 Fast Tech 50

Our Fast Tech 50 represents a wide variety of industries.  The industries represented by our award winners, and the number of entries by their area are as follows: Medical Devices 3, Software 24,  Hardware 5, Technical/Consulting Services 5, eCommerce/Business Portals 6, Energy Technology Products 5, and Communications 2. 

One honoree was started in the 1970s.  Two of our honorees were started in the 1980s.  Fourteen honorees were started in the 1990s.  Finally, thirty three honorees were started since 2000.   This group of honorees is by far, our youngest group of companies ever.  Hang on Houston; we’ve got some growing to do!

The local economic impact made by this year’s Fast Tech 50 is phenomenal!  When reviewing the entire 50 companies, an impressive overview quickly emerges.  These organizations are responsible for creating almost 3,270 jobs and over $629 million in revenues to our local economy.  No one industry dominates the Houston business climate anymore.  Our businesses are as diverse as our people and our cultures.

Nominations will be accepted for next year’s Fast Tech 50 listing by contacting the Houston Business Journal, PKF Texas, or any of the additional sponsors.  Organizations that are nominated will receive additional information and application packets during the spring of 2009. Congratulations to all of our honorees!  We look forward to seeing you in next year’s listing.

I have long known that Houston is the best place to start a business, but the facts speak for themselves.  Houston, we believe in you! And thanks, for being what you are: The Home of Entrepreneurism.

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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.

If you are like most entrepreneurs, you started your company because you saw an opportunity in the market, developed a plan to capitalize on that market, and put a team together to implement your plan.

As your business grew; perhaps distance started to grow between you and the people that make things happen in your business.  Communication started to breakdown and before long, your business became the “job” you left to start your company.

How do you get your business back on track?   Keep it simple.  What separates you from your competition and makes your clients keep coming back?  What is your Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)?

Gather your management team and list the things that make your company great. Is it service? Technical know how? Unique product? Whatever it is, expand on it and work to make it even better.  Use that SCA to drive your marketing efforts.

Take a hard look at your operations and analyze what could, or should be done to improve.

Ask yourselves:

• What are the latest innovations in your industry? 
• What procedural changes should be in place to make your product or service flow better from order to delivery? 
• Do you have access to timely and accurate information from your financial system allowing you to make good decisions?

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The numbers have been crunched, the envelope has been sealed and the final preparations for the FastTech 50 luncheon are being taken care of as you read this!

If you are in the tech community here in Houston, then you better be at the InterContinental Hotel in the Galleria on Friday for the 8th Annual Fast Tech 50 Awards.   It’s the can’t miss event of November!
 
This is the eight year of our participation as the presenting sponsor and it will be the best event yet!  This is the second year we will be awarding one company the Paul Frison Accelerator Award. 

If you don't have a seat you will miss out on the premier event for emerging and tech based companies in Houston. To register visit:http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/event/4270 or contact Lee Ann Semmel at lasemmel@bizjournals.com or 713-688-8811.
 
I look forward to seeing many of our friends at the luncheon.  A huge thanks to our sponsor group the Houston Business Journal, FOX 26, Capital One Bank, the Houston Technology Center, Oracle Software, Pierpont Communications,  Griffin Partners, the Rice Alliance, and Phillips & Reiter, PLCC.
 
I also want to shout out a personal thank you to my assistant, John Stephenson for doing such a great job behind the scenes working with me to get the rankings established.

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