2009 Startups To Watch

Founded 2007  City Provo  Employees 12  

Industry Toy  Web site www.zoobies.com  Founders JC Smoot, 26; Reid Smoot, 30

What It Is A creator of patent-pending stuffed animals that turn into pillows and blankets. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy Zoobies isn’t just toyin’ around — the popular stuffed animals have unequivocally impressed consumers, big-box retailers and industry insiders alike. Plus, the company scored the much-coveted Disney license to produce a cousin to the Zoobie, called Disney Pals, which can be found in major retail chains. 

What’s Hard “Effectively demonstrating the product in the store. When it’s on a shelf with 35 other stuffed animals, we need to make it obvious that they turn into pillows and blankets.”

What’s Easy “Getting press. It’s nice to know we’re something worth writing about.”

The Milestone Moment “Becoming a million-dollar company in our first year. That was big.”

In 2012 “Zoobies will become a trend, and the trend will keep going long after 2012. There will always be a market for stuffed animals, and so we have a lot of room to grow.”

Founded 2006  City Pleasant Grove  Employees 6  Industry Ecommerce  

Web site www.KSmarketinginc.com  

Founder Kory A. Boyd, 31

What It Is A seller of retail and wholesale products primarily in the scrapbook and craft industries. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy With its management team sporting more than 20 years experience, KS Marketing has grown phenomenally in a short amount of time. The company has prosperous partnerships, grew 417 percent in revenue from 2007 to 2008, and ships and distributes to all 50 states and more than 40 countries.  

What’s Hard “The legal and financial responsibilities associated with rapid growth of the business. It was stressful to make sure we had the correct legal paperwork and government documentation.”

What’s Easy “Along with everyone else, I have watched the dire news reports showing decreases in consumer demand across most sectors of the economy. I’ve been pleasantly surprised we’ve been able to maintain our sales and continue to build our customer base.” 

What’s Surprising “Our company growth. We have relatively few employees, but we are very efficient with our time and resources. We are hard working and conservative and have surpassed our goals thus far.”

The Milestone Moment “When we moved into an office-warehouse and had our first $1 million revenue month.”

In 2012 “I see us as a very healthy company. We will continue to be a power-player in our industry and will be well-known by many average Utahns as well.”

Founded 2008 City Provo  Employees 7  Industry Technology  Web site www.Avantar.us  Founders Adrian Ochoa, 54; Michael Taylor Alvarez, 37

What It Is A developer and marketer of mobile and Web applications, particularly with Apple products. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy Avantar may be young, but it’s off to an impressive start. The company’s products have more than 1 million downloads collectively thus far, and its apps have landed on many a “most downloaded” list.  

What’s Hard “Staying focused. There are so many great opportunities that entertaining too many of them can turn into major distractions.”

What’s Easy “Nothing Really. Murphy’s Law is in full effect with entrepreneurship.”

What’s Surprising “How important good ratings are, the viral interactivity between users and the importance of good PR in maintaining a high level of communication with users.”

The Milestone Moment “In the past, both our Showtimes and Yellow Pages apps have reached the Top 25 list of most downloaded apps in the iTunes App Store.”

In 2012 “Isn’t 2012, according to the Mayan Calendar, the end of time? 🙂 Well, if the Mayans were wrong, by then we will have integrated our products and services into several mobile platforms, have several media companies licensing our applications, and created a more robust national advertising system and network that better meet the needs of local businesses to be found and the wireless mobile users trying to find them.”

Founded 2008  City Provo  Employees 15  Industry Human Resources  Web site www.enticelabs.com  Founder Ryan Caldwell, 32

What It Is A provider of online HR/talent sourcing software and services. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy With an experienced management team at the helm, EnticeLabs has already made key deals with JavaWorld, TheServerSide.com and Slashdot.org and has accrued high-profile customers like Novell, Omniture, Ancestry.com, Move Networks and Overstock.com.  

What’s Hard “I am a big believer in people — their drive and ability to improve. So the hardest thing was reevaluating the team and deciding that some members were not skilled enough or simply not up to the challenges that lay ahead … and we had to let them go. Even though it was in the best interest of the company, it was tough.”

What’s Easy “The sacrifices. Don’t get me wrong — they have been tough. But with the right team and idea, nearly impossible sacrifices have become amazingly easy.”

What’s Surprising “How much having the right team matters. I always knew it was important, but the difference it has made as we’ve grown has been astounding.”

The Milestone Moment “Once we redesigned a major flaw in the original system, watching the stats come back better than we had originally hoped for was a milestone moment.”

In 2012 “We will be a company that has revolutionized the almost $100-billion industry of employee recruitment to a larger degree than when the billion-dollar online job boards revolutionized classified job ads in newspapers.”

Founded 2007  City American Fork  

Employees 10  Industry Technology  Web site www.advoyant.com Founder Darren Rosenlund, 32; Mitch Weight, 33

What It Is A company that connects businesses with consumers in the marketing arena. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy With nearly 10 years of Internet marketing experience under his belt, founder Darren Rosenlund is taking his company to market with a unique and effective technology called DataInsight. In just two short years, the company has grown to 10 employees.

What’s Hard “Finding enough time to spend with family.”

What’s Easy “Decorating the office.”

What’s Surprising “How quickly things have grown.”

The Milestone Moment “Launching our 300 million record database platform.”

In 2012 “We’ll be helping local police forces identify and locate potential criminals before they commit a crime.”

Founded 2009  City Lindon  Employees 8  Industry Technology  Web site www.centralpointe.com  Founder Michael Proper, 33

What It Is An integrated IT management platform for small and distributed environments — it simplifies the deployment and management of the Network & Server layer for companies and homes around the world. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy CentralPointe may be a new venture, but its management team is made up of old pros (founder Michael Proper founded DirectPointe — the No. 1 IT Managed Service Provider). And the company is off to a running start — CentralPointe has more than 1,500 new Network & Server registrations every month.

What’s Hard “Saying goodbye to my previous teammates, and completing two acquisitions at the same time.” 

What’s Easy “Rounding up a world-class team and watching the world organically adopt the platform.”

What’s Surprising “The difficulties getting out of the gate.”

The Milestone Moment “Still waiting for it to come …”

In 2012 “Achieving global adoption of partners around the world that manage more than 500,000 Networks & Servers in more than 30 languages.”

Founded 2007  City Lehi  Employees 10  

Industry Healthcare Training  Web site www.infusemed.com  Founders Jordan Erickson, 34; Brook Harker, 34; James Norton, 35; 

Steve Deverall, 30

What It Is A developer of training and marketing programs specifically for medical device manufacturers. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy The company has shown off its youthful good looks with top notch clients (University of Chicago, Amedica, Sonic Innovations) and three impressive awards within its own industry (from the Healthcare Communication & Marketing Association).

What’s Hard “Prioritizing budgets and time involved for new initiatives and ideas.”

What’s Easy “General growth came much faster than anticipated, but managing that growth was a bit tricky.”

What’s Surprising “As partners we haven’t had any disagreements that weren’t healthy disagreements. Also, we’ve had great clients from the first few days in business and it has never slowed down. That’s been a relief.”

The Milestone Moment “Winning three industry leading awards in our first year of business and working with some of the largest international companies in our field.”

In 2012 “A 50-plus employee agency with a solid eLearning product line and innovative offerings to our clients.”

Founded 2008 City Lindon  Employees 10  Industry Restaurant  Web site www.marleys.com, www.timpharley.com Founder Dave Tuomisto, 44

What It Is A gourmet slider joint inside the newly-built Timpanogos Harley-Davidson resort. 

Why It’s Watch-Worthy Founder Dave Tuomisto knows his way around a restaurant. Tuomisto founded Bajio Mexican Grill in 2002, and he took it from one store to a franchising dream before selling the company to Subway. There’s little doubt his new restaurant will slide to similar success. 

What’s Hard “Starting a business is like surfing on jagged glass. It’s a contact sport, and you gotta wear a helmet. But the hardest part of this particular business is being next to Geneva Road. People don’t think it’s a dining option to eat by the slag pile.”

What’s Easy “Eating the leftover fries.”

What’s Surprising “How fun it’s been.”

The Milestone Moment “We participated in the Ride 4 Fallen 08, a big charity ride for the 105 officers that had been killed in the line of duty. It was so great to be a part of that.”

In 2012 “We’ll have five corporate stores and 30 franchises.”

Founded 2008  City Provo  Employees 7  

Industry Graphic Design  Web site www.getlimed.com  Founders Shawn Saunders, 24; 

Wes Chapman, 28

What It Is A full-service design firm.

Why It’s Watch-Worthy In just one year of business, the graphic design agency has garnered seven employees and clients in Utah, Hawaii, California, Canada, England and Peru — among others. Fun to note: LIME has done design work for Dog the Bounty Hunter. 

What’s Hard “Office space! We have always tried to grow smart and not overextend. In doing so, we leased spaces we assumed would house us for at least our first year. Boy were we wrong! We have finally upgraded to a downtown loft style office space.”

What’s Easy “Ninety percent of our clients are word-of-mouth. We have been blessed in finding new projects.”

What’s Surprising “The economy. Not in the sense that we didn’t see it coming, but in the outpouring of professionals that truly understand how important marketing is in a down economy.”

The Milestone Moment “A steady paycheck!”

In 2012 “If you had asked me that in 1999, I would have said flying around on hovering desks and teleporting into work each morning. It is crazy to think we are talking about 2012! Our goals are simple: continue to grow; continue to create new, unique projects; and have our consulting division, including our seminar circuit, in full swing.”

Founded 2007  City Provo  Employees 21  

Industry Commercial Construction  Web site www.hawsmechanical.com  Founder 

Deloy Haws, 64

What It Is A commercial mechanical contractor.

Why It’s Watch-Worthy With an experienced leader at the helm (Haws is the former senior VP of FranklinCovey), Haws Mechanical has come out swinging by securing $6.6 million in business in the company’s first 18 months. 

What’s Hard “This isn’t like being a senior vice president at Franklin Covey, because the industry is so different.”

What’s Easy “Finding incredible people to work with me.”

What’s Surprising “The strength of the commercial construction industry in Utah during these hard times.”

The Milestone Moment “Finishing our first year being very profitable.”

In 2012 “We’ll have a serious impact on mechanical contracting in the state of Utah.”