Startup Prophets

Startup Prophets

ENTREPRENEURS by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

It was a dark vision that struck Rich Sloan like a brick to the head. Sloan, a college student, had just imagined life after school, filling his time in a cubicle working a passionless job. Yuck.

So Sloan ducked the day-job route in favor of starting and investing in companies with his old brother and business partner, Jeff Sloan. And now, with a string of successful companies to their names, the two brothers have embarked on a new business venture: bringing their startup business advice to the masses.

With a constantly evolving Web site (www.startupnation.com) and e-newsletter, a book under the same name and a nationally syndicated radio show on 50 stations, the Sloan brothers' StartupNation has grown quickly the past three-plus years. Last year, the brothers received the Michigan and Midwest Region Small Business Journalists of the Year award from the Small Business Administration. And the pair are frequently sought out by cable TV channels such as CNN, MSNBC and FOX for their insight into starting and building businesses.

"What they built online is an amazing resource for entrepreneurs to share strategies for success," says Anand Pallegar, founder of Sarasota-based advertising agency atLarge Inc. and a well-known entrepreneur in Sarasota technology circles. "They're really good at crafting the stories of how other entrepreneurs have succeed."

The brothers are bringing their road show to Sarasota late next month; The duo is scheduled as the keynote speakers August 31 for the inaugural 2006 Sarasota/Manatee Technology Conference: Integration at the Crossroads. Pallegar, who helped organize the conference in his role as chair of the Young Technology Alliance, worked with the Sloans when he lived in Detroit.

The Sloans message to entrepreneurs is simple: Be smart, plan ahead and be positive.

"Rich and I believe today is the golden age of entrepreneurship," Jeff Sloan says. "We live in a time like no other when starting and growing a business has amazing resources available to it. New technologies are needed. New ancillary opportunities [are] created by big technology breakthroughs."

Living the life

Jeff Sloan, 45, and Rich Sloan, 38, say their advice is more meaningful for potential business owners because they still live in that entrepreneurial world.

"We are of the material we speak about, and we live it every day," Jeff Sloan says. "It's our life. We've never held a job where we got a W2 from a company that we didn't create."

Investments the brothers are involved with now include Smartcollector.com, which provides users a way to gather collectables research on e-commerce sites, and Frostingfashions.com, a women's accessory fashion site. The Sloans also have introduced an Arabian horse venture called Aria Arabians LLC, which offers investments in their stable of horses. The latter operation stems from a family horse farm business.

An integral point for running a successful business, the brothers say, is to never lose that small business entrepreneurial spirit.

"It's interesting, because success can bring this on even more than [the initial business] challenge," Rich Sloan says. "It creates complacency. That big company culture. The best companies keep that entrepreneurial culture all the way through its growth. Southwest Airlines is a good example of that."

With an investment focus on technology, the two brothers know how to tailor their advice to that unique group.

"If you want to start a technology business that is making a device or creating software, than you immediately put yourself into a much more capital intensive business plan," Rich Sloan says. "There are particular dynamics associated with that, positioning yourself to be effective in bringing in the angel and venture capital. You have to move very quickly in the technology game in order to stay relevant."

The Sloan brothers didn't have many of today's technology advantages when they first entered entrepreneurship more than 20 years ago. The brothers' trace back much of their interest in entrepreneurship to their mother, who suggested that it would be a great achievement to get a patent someday. In their first moneymaking venture, the Sloans, still teenagers, purchased, renovated and then sold off HUD houses.

In 1982, their parents, Bernie and Deena Sloan, created Talaria Farms in Metamora, Mich., an Arabian horse farm, which the two brothers helped run. Later, the brothers started and eventually sold off More Balls than Most, a company that sold U.K-made juggling balls to national retail chains.

In the late 80's, Jeff Sloan got it in his head that he could solve the problem of dying car batteries. The results were three patents for the Battery Buddy, which the brothers eventually licensed to a manufacturer for more than $1 million.

The brothers took some money from that venture and in 1995, they turned it into Sloan Ventures, a company that develops and finds financing for technology companies. Since then, Sloan Ventures has raised and invested more than $60 million into those companies.

Information

Integration at

the Crossroads

Date: August 31

Time: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Location: Hyatt Sarasota, 1000 Blvd. Of The Arts, Sarasota

Cost: $125

To register, visit www.Sarasotatechconference.com