John Elliot
John Elliott decided to grow his business at the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship because, “he wanted to do everything the right way.”
Mr. Elliott and his business JE Communications and Construction received a small business loan through the Tenant Loan Program (TLP), a partnership between Piedmont Business Capital (PBC) and the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship (NCFE).
“JE Communications and Construction is a promising business. Sometimes small businesses need a little bit of help or additional resources,” says Wilson Lester, Executive Director of Piedmont Business Capital. “Piedmont Business Capital is happy to fill the gap.”
“We are really excited about our new loan program to assist the entrepreneurs in the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship,” adds Sam Funchess, President/CEO of the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. “This is our first step in making capital available to local businesses.”
The Tenant Loan Program is designed to support new and existing Associates of NCFE with access to capital. Both Piedmont Business Capital and NCFE recognize that local businesses need start-up and development capital in order to grow. Through this new and innovative program, our agencies address the need with a simple solution.
Mr. Elliott’s business JE Communications and Construction has over 22 years of experience in communications installation and maintenance. Mr. Elliot chose the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship for its holistic approach to small business, “If someone has an idea and they have a fear of starting, the Nussbaum Center reduces that fear by 50%.”
Ryan Pratt
Sometimes, you need a little push in the right direction to find your path.
It helps to have the right people by your side, doing the pushing. That’s what happened to Nussbaum Center Associate Ryan Pratt, the founder and CEO of Guerrilla RF. His business, which designs and sells microchips for wireless infrastructure, has raised just shy of $14 million in private investment and rolled out 50 products.
The Greensboro native and Dudley High School graduate went to NC State to study engineering. He found he had a passion for semi-conductors. His skills earned him a spot at RF MicroDevices, a business co-founded by his father, Bill Pratt.
After eight years, Ryan moved to Skyworks Solutions. He helped the Massachusetts-based semi-conductor company launch a design center in Greensboro, the third largest market for semi-conductors in the world. “The idea was to tap into a very good local talent pool,” Ryan says. He helped build the center up to a 50-employee operation charged with creating new products.
But a change in company leadership lead to an unexpected lay off. “There wasn’t anyone who wanted to hire me to do what I wanted to do. My father said, ‘Start a company, do what you want.’” Ryan knew it wouldn’t be easy.
“The big thing for me was talking myself into the idea I could be successful,” Ryan says. He started working with Sam Funchess, CEO of the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, who mentored him and helped him successfully pitch his company to the Launch Greensboro’s Capital Connects program and NC IDEA. It’s how Guerrilla RF met its first major investors. “That was very helpful in terms of the money and the credibility it gave us with investors,” Ryan says.
Guerrilla RF now has 29 full-time employees. It has focused on niche markets that larger companies have neglected. It’s a strategy that has played out well. It takes a long time to get a new semi-conductor product on the market. Ryan became profitable in 2019. “Being an entreprenuer….is very much a roller coast ride. The highs are very high and the lows are very low. You have to try to moderate it and keep in that functional zone where you are getting stuff done, despite the roller coaster ride,” Ryan says.
Kate Padgett
Kate Padgett founder of Fusion3, a 3D printer manufacturer, first got in touch with Sam Funchess President/CEO at the Nussbaum Center while home to celebrate Thanksgiving in 2012. “Fusion3 was just an idea,” Kate says, “Sam helped me build the mental framework to pose, work through, and answer some of the basic questions about my goals and helped me decide if I actually wanted to take the leap into the unknown.”
One of the things Kate found most surprising about working with Sam was how freeform he could be. “He didn’t have a set program he forces people through; he meets you where you are and helps you with what you need help with.”
As Fusion3 scaled and grew, they were faced with a few big trends and challenges including defining culture; building processes to hire the right people; and continued product evolution in a technology-driven market.
To help overcome these challenges, Kate joined the Nussbaum Center’s MasterMind group. MasterMind is a group of business owners facing similar problems who meet bi-weekly to keep each other focused on the right things, “we share struggles, successes, tips, and help each other out.”
Kate credits Fusion3’s success to their continued ability to deliver a class-leading 3D printer. Now her challenge is to hold onto that market leadership. “Every meeting with Sam is like a Socratic sparring. It’s invaluable because he forces you to question your assumptions and defend your positions and beliefs with rational fact-based arguments.”
Fusion3’s outlook is positive. They were named a Triad Business Journal Fast 50 Company in 2018. They are on a growth trajectory that they’ve sustained for the past 4 years and Kate says she sees no reason why that will change in the near future. “The plan is to keep executing on those things that work.”