2007 Entrepreneurs Of The Year^®

Archie Black
Company: SPS Commerce
Headquarters: Minneapolis
Founded: 1997
Employees: 240
Web Site: www.spscommerce .com
Revenues, 2006: $21.5 million

Background: As CFO of a company that had expenses seven times its revenue in 2001, Black determined that dramatic changes were needed at SPS Commerce, then a provider of software as a service to midsize and large retailers. He was at the brink of resigning his post over management decisions, including employee layoffs that he believed were unnecessary. Instead, Black presented the board of directors with a new business plan that would reduce spending and shift the company’s focus to the small and midsize manufacturers that supply retailers. In March 2001, the board named him CEO. Black replaced the majority of the senior management team, presented his business plan to employees and carried it out. At the end of 2006, SPS had 24 straight quarters of revenue growth and 32 straight months of profitability.

In His Own Words: “When you end up doing the right thing, you always get paid off for it. As long as you stick to what you really believe and say what you really believe, it seems that it always end up paying off.

 

William Jurewicz
Company: Space150
Headquarters: Minneapolis
Employees: 110
Web Site: www.space150.com
Revenues, 2006: $14 million

Background: Jurewicz left his job at a more traditional advertising agency to launch a marketing company focused primarily on the digital platform. Despite the dot-com bust that appeared to be taking down similar companies, Jurewicz, now president, CEO, and creative director, started Space150 with a partner in March 2000. He chose to build the company slowly, with his own funds and an aim of remaining ahead of emerging digital trends. (To demonstrate that commitment, the company upgrades its own business plan, communications materials, and Web site every 150 days.) With clients such as Target, Dairy Queen, and the Discovery Channel, Space150 has also opened offices in Los Angeles and New York.

In His Own Words: “We don’t just build Web sites; we build businesses and use the tools of the trade today to upgrade your brand to the world.”

Michael Lacey
Company: Digineer, Inc.
Headquarters: Plymouth
Founded: 1998
Employees: 100
Web Site: www.digineer.com
Revenues, 2006: $12.2 million

Background: Before founding Digineer in 1998, Lacey had experience working both as a consultant for a large IT firm and on the client side as IT director for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Experience convinced him that many consulting firms didn’t provide the support that clients required. Despite a downturn in the technology industry soon after the launch of Digineer, Lacey, the firm’s CEO, has never had to lay off employees due to a lack of business. Digineer’s gross revenue has grown, on average, 80 percent a year for the past three years.

In His Own Words: “We are going to continue to develop our solutions that we go to market with in a more holistic . . . way, so that they provide even more value for our customers.”

 

Reid MacDonald
Company: Faribault Foods, Inc.
Headquarters: Minneapolis
Founded: 1895
Employees: 600
Web Site: www.faribaultfoods.com
Revenues, 2006: $220 million

Background: Founded as a vegetable-canning company, Faribault Foods had been in MacDonald’s family nearly since the beginning. In the 1970s, while he was in law school in California, it came to light that the company’s CEO had been embezzling large sums of money. MacDonald moved to Minnesota to help his father and others in the family business sort through the difficulties. MacDonald finished law school in Minnesota, became president and CEO of the company in 1980, and has led it through a series of 15 acquisitions to become a $220 million producer of packaged and canned foods.

In His Own Words: “You don’t want to compete head to head with big companies; you want to find a niche that is compatible with your other products.”