Match Up

Match Up

Entrepreneurs by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

Bill Jula never thought of himself as a matchmaker.

Maybe a sports tycoon, what with his background in coaching community college basketball, his Masters degree in sports marketing from the University of Kentucky and his grueling, educational experience selling tickets for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Another dream could have been to run a college; at 31 years old he did just that, running the new Venice campus of the University of South Florida.

Jula, 34, never thought his business calling would be using the Internet and technology as a way of connecting the right businesses with each other - a sort of a behind-the-scenes matchmaker. Jula prefers the term "networking evangelist."

Still, there's Jula, telling a recent visitor to his Sarasota office that his startup operation is "all about creating something that allows you to be found."

The twist: Jula isn't setting up a romantic rendezvous or double dates for lovelorn souls. Instead, he's trying to pioneer the art of setting up small businesses and entrepreneurs with other like-minded business folks. His avenue is www.fastpitchnetworking.com, an offshoot of his Fast Pitch! in-person networking business he founded in 2003.

The latter, a speed dating-like event held at swanky places like Morton's Steakhouse, where attendees get a few minutes to market their businesses on a one-on-one basis, was where the business was initially headed. Jula would travel nationwide, setting up and running the events.

And even though the national exposure with the in-person events was helpful in terms of marketing Fast Pitch!, Jula says the Internet side of the business is where his company's future is. There are two units of the Internet site, a Web cast that serves as a virtual networking event without a brick-and-mortar location and the matchmaking phase. "There's nobody out there doing it like this," says Jula. "What we've created allows [businesses] greater exposure to the outside world."

While Jula can speak in big-picture terms about how lofty his business niche and goals are, he realizes he's at bottom looking up. Fast Pitch! has yet to turn a profit, although he says that could come as soon as early 2007. So far, he's funded the venture with his own money.

Perfect harmony

The Fast Pitch! Web site matching system works similar to a dating Web site. A user can log on and see a bevy of other businesses, from the standards like public relations consulting and mortgage financing to the quirky, such as an organic tea retailer or a firm the sells tree and plant bundling.

The site is free to navigate and any business can create a profile, with information such as what the company does and where it's located. A few other aspects are free, such as searching all the other profiles and receiving a list of recommended business leads.

There's a monthly $14.95 fee to access the entire site's features, such as communicating directly with other businesses, making video and audio displays and receiving a specific Google ad. Jula declines to say how many total paying users he has signed up, although it has doubled each month since June and he adds there's been about 1.5 million business introductions over the past two years.

Jula doesn't shy away from dating-site comparisons, but he also points out that Fast Pitch's site is about connecting the businesses, not necessarily the people behind them. Jula does that, he says, by what he calls "intelligent networking" where the site's suggestive technology takes information on the profiles and pairs it up with what others have said they are looking for. "You tell us what types of businesses you typically sell into or partner with and we'll match you up," Jula says.

The Web cast side of Fast Pitch! also seeks to match businesses with other businesses. At a cost of $10 or $15 per session, a company can reserve a spot for the Internet event that usually runs for an hour. Each company signing up has a chance to pitch their product or services to the other companies; there's normally a maximum amount of participants per event, and Jula and his staff monitor the sessions.

The Web cast part of Fast Pitch has been popular over the past year, too, Jula says, in the same way that the in-person version was popular, albeit not profitable, in 2004 and 2005. He says it wasn't designed to replace face-to-face networking events, but instead as a more efficient and less costly option.

Organizations that have offered networking Web casts through Fast Pitch! recently include the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the University of Florida Alumni Association.

Selling the Rays

Before he started setting up other businesses with each other, Jula was an up-and-comer himself in the business world. Born in New Jersey, he was named to the Review's 40 under 40 list of top young professionals in 2004 for his work with Fast Pitch! and other accomplishments.

In addition to Fast Pitch! Jula was hired by the University of South Florida to launch its new Venice campus in 2003. In that role, Jula was basically given the building and assigned everything else: Recruit and hire faculty; work with the administration in developing courses and a curriculum; and market the school to prospective students.

Jula also worked for Backsoft Corp., a Sarasota-based software firm, and he served as a regional sales representative for the Devil Rays in 2000. That experience, selling tickets for the fledging and not always popular baseball team , Jula says, was like "selling broken copy machines."

Fast Pitch! is his best job, he says, and not only because he's his own boss. Jula relishes creating something that allows other businesses and entrepreneurs to improve their own operations. "This is targeted for serious people," he says. "It's not for someone who sits around and blogs all day."