Fox Valley Entrepreneur Believes in SBDC “Magic”
When unexpected and costly building renovations threatened to delay or possibly end Ray Reinders’ dream of launching his own IT business, he turned to the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW Oshkosh. SBDC director, Colleen Merrill, was instrumental in connecting Link Computing with financial resources that supported the start of the business in October 2013.
“A friend of mine said, ‘go to Colleen Merrill. She makes magic happen,’” Reindeers says. “Colleen understood what I was trying to accomplish. She worked up numbers and business concepts, and told us what we should expect. She cut every piece of red tape imaginable. Within a month I had a $90,000 loan to complete the project. I can’t imagine doing all that on my own.”
Once financing was secure, Reinders was able to put his focus on business development. Merrill help him implement processes and procedures that were scalable, efficient, and transferable. By developing these tools, the company was in a position to grow at a pace they determined, hire additional employees, and feel comfortable knowing a plan was laid out. (more…)