Taxis in Portland are stiff competition, so when Kadir Waqayo came to us with an idea for a new cab company, we knew that even with a great business plan, he had his work cut out for him. Kadir was up to the task. With his plan in hand, Kadir went off to the city and won 50 new taxi licenses for his company, Union Cab, which is co-owned by the group of 50 cab drivers who had previously worked for other Portland companies. The project was not only successful for Union Cab, but also fun for MasterPlans. It's great to work in our local community and everyone on our team feels a sense of pride seeing the Union Cab logo whizzing around town. In Portland and need a ride? Give Union Cab a call!
Today, more than half the companies on the Fortune 500 rely on Conductor for their SEO efforts. From content and linking strategies to advanced web technologies, Conductor's leading SEO platform has been at the cutting edge of Internet optimization for half a decade. But Founder Seth Besmertnik first needed a hefty $14 million in venture capital—funding he got using an aggressive business plan developed by the experts at MasterPlans. Following the growth objectives in his plan, Seth has built Conductor into a 75-person company earning more than $10 million in annual revenue. And it's a cool place to be, too—Conductor was ranked #6 for "Best Places to Work" by Crain's New York for 2010.
Recently breaking ground, MasterPlans business planning client, Ron Cheney, just raised a tremendous amount of capital ($20MM to $250MM total) to start an elder care development in Burleson, Texas. Here's a brief description of the funded enterprise:
"Senior HomeStyle Living© is launching an innovative and easily replicable model for Community Retirement model for Community Retirement Care Homes© designed to overcome many of the problems in today's elderly care industry and to dramatically increase efficiencies and lower costs. Senior HomeStyle© Living's model, which can be repeated and built in communities across the country, provides higher revenue and lower costs, higher ratios of caregivers to residents, superior care and empowered employees resulting in increased long-term profitability compared to existing institutional alternatives. This model is the most efficient in terms of profitable revenue generated per square foot."
Being allergic to many foods herself, Kyra Bussanich started Crave Bake Shop because she wanted to make sweet-tasting treats accessible to everyone, even if they had food allergies that prevented an indulgence of traditional baked goods. Kyra's obsession with ingredients and exciting flavors got rave reviews from the judges of Cupcake Wars (a Food Network program). MasterPlans provided a business plan to help her expand after a network success.
UPDATE: Kyra was on Cupcake Wars for a SECOND time recently. Here's a clip with her amazing victory.
Sean Entin and Chris Ursiti, founders of California-based alternative fuels company GreenHouse, had an uncommon need when they wrote to MasterPlans. They needed a business plan, sure; but it had to pique the interest of a truly niche investor: the eco-conscious celebrity. After working with MasterPlans to pin down the market opportunity and refine the pro forma, they pitched their revolutionary fuel concepts to a very big audience: 7'1" NBA center Shaquille O'Neal. "The Big Diesel" quickly invested $2.5 million into the start-up, and today GreenHouse has sprouted into a diverse environmental products company with revenues from residential, commercial, and government clients.
Carolyn Kepcher got a hearty dose of media attention as a top executive in the Trump Organization. Her ensuing stint as "the Donald's" right-hand woman on the award-winning reality TV series The Apprentice put her in the public spotlight, but it's her inner entrepreneur that's turning heads now. Carolyn came to MasterPlans in 2008 to develop a comprehensive roadmap for her own media company, Carolyn & Co. In 2010, its first holding was launched—WorkHerWay.com, the ultimate online resource for the working woman. With the MasterPlans proposal, Carolyn secured a partnership with the revered web marketing firm Cosmos Communications, and built the Work Her Way contributor base to 150+ national experts. Here's what Carolyn is up to now.
Recently Fast Company magazine published an article on Paul Giles' Moto-Meter. The article has an in-depth spread on the upcoming launch of this innovative and tamper-proof device in March of 2011. Paul has certainly done great things with this technology and MasterPlans was happy to be part of his success. With 20 million motorcycle taxis in Thailand, the potential is quite huge. Check out this YouTube video of the Moto-Meter in action.
When Carlos Nelson contacted MasterPlans, he'd never even seen a business plan. A FedEx mechanic with dreams of starting a full-service aircraft maintenance company in Anchorage, Alaska, Carlos hired MasterPlans to write a bank proposal asking for a $500,000 SBA loan. With his MasterPlans business plan in hand, Carlos received enough funding to grow his Pegasus Aircraft Maintenance into an $11 million company with 90 employees. But he wasn't done. Under Carlos' leadership, Pegasus was named Alaska's Small Business of the Year in 2007, and in 2009—just five years after he retained MasterPlans—Carlos sold his multimillion-dollar Pegasus to the management services firm Akima, a holding of Alaska's $1.3B NANA Corporation.
Ryan Marquis, co-founder of PixelMags saw $1,000,000 from outside investors. "The Company" creates flippable magazine style books for viewing on your iPad or iPhone device with Android versions coming soon. The PixelMags behave like real magazines and give publishers a chance to create specialized advertising specifically for touch-screen devices. Pottery Barn has a catalog currently available as a PixelMag for their product showcase as well as do many other household names. With the inevitability of new iPads, Android and other touch-screen based devices on the horizon it looks like PixelMags will be very busy in the near future.
Skout Trailbars faced a common dilemma: how do you stand out in a crowded market? Founder Jason Pastega of Skout Natural knew he had the recipe for a great tasting organic energy bar, but getting shelf space alongside Clif Bar, Powerbar and the like meant dramatically expanding production and marketing. Jason came to MasterPlans seeking a business plan to get extra capital—without it, Skout couldn't reach that next level. Now successfully funded, the Skout Trailbar—one of few energy bars that can claim to be all-organic, vegan, kosher, nondairy, and soy-free—is not only in more locations than ever before, it's right alongside all the leading brands.
Gary Stowe was a 25-year veteran of the cotton and cattle industries when he called MasterPlans looking for a highly specialized proposal. Trying to modernize the beef industry in Tanzania, he needed to repurpose grazing land for 75,000 head of cattle and launch a full-scale abattoir. But this meant submitting a detailed business plan to the government of the African nation, as well as soliciting private capital from global agricultural investors. MasterPlans worked hands-on with Mr. Stowe and his team to build a business plan that could fulfill both functions. With this document now in finished form, Triple S Beef is today ramping up to export quality beef products throughout central Africa.
Taking advantage of a niche portion of design and architecture, the founders of The AB&Y Group design and manage technology systems throughout the construction process. This work entails all of the technology infrastructure of new construction and includes working with both architects and engineers on any given project.
Since working with MasterPlans they have obtained the necessary capital, completed the first draft of a website and are currently operating with all three partners on payroll.
Heidi Ho Organics are the creators of extremely tasty (we verified), plant-based vegan cheeses. Heidi and Lyssa have taken a business plan from MasterPlans, a well-orchestrated Kickstarter project, a passion for creating delicious vegan foods and turned it into a business with real profits and tremendous growth potential.
Their list of first-year accomplishments is HUGE, and goes from developing key partnerships with local growers, becoming a provider to Whole Foods® (in Oregon, but soon California as well), to winning "best cheese" accolades and receiving attention for the incredibly good taste of their vegan cheeses.
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