America's Most Promising Startups, just a few

BUSINESS WEEK

*By Nick Leiber (posted on Apr. 28, 2009)
Bid on Cleaning Services

Raymond Aker, OBrian Woods, Gavin Stone, Candice Stone

When Raymond Aker ran a cleaning business in San Diego, he was frustrated by how hard it was to find customers. Akers solution became his next business: BidMyCleaning.com, a Web site designed to connect clients with cleaners in a transaction as smooth as buying books on Amazon (AMZN). Users select what type of cleaning they need, punch in their Zip Code, and BidMyCleaning spits out price quotes from vetted providers. Customers schedule online and pay through the site after service is provided. BidMyCleaning takes a cut of 20% to 30% on each bookingthe average sale is $130. Aker, 36, says he and three thirtysomething co-founders built the site in about six months with $100,000 raised from friends, family, and angels. The company, which now has four employees besides the founders, was profitable nine months after launching in April 2008, with $390,000 in revenue in the first year. Based in San Diego with a second team in Houston, BidMyCleaning is now seeking investors to expand to other services like lawn care or repairs.

*By Chi-an Chang (posted on June 6, 2008)
Turning Contest Winnings Into Cancer Research

SanoGene Therapeutics
Dr. Cara-lynn V. Nowinski and Chirag V. Patel

Many biotech startups get their money from venture capitalists or by hitting up friends and family. SanoGene Therapeutics has found another source of cash: winning contests for the best startup business plan. The Chicago company has scored $139,500 from 10 national and international competitions over the past two years.

It has been nip and tuck, however. SanoGene was launched in early 2006 by two former MBA classmates at the University of Illinois at Chicago—Dr. Cara-lynn V. Nowinski and Chirag V. Patel—to research a gene therapy that might work in fighting cancer. By that fall, the company was almost out of money. Just in time, Nowinski won a $50,000 grant from the Illinois Commerce & Economic Opportunity Dept. in the annual Midwest Venture Summit competition.

SanoGene is using the money to fund research by Jasti S. Rao. The head of cancer biology and pharmacology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, Rao developed a process to turn off a genetic switch that makes a cell cancerous. Co-founder Patel, 26, left SanoGene in 2007. For now, acting-CEO Nowinski, 29, is keeping her day job as an associate at ARCH Development Partners.

*By Nick Leiber (posted on June 30, 2009)
A Parenting Guru Rebrands

Joy Berry Enterprises
John Bellaud, Joy Berry, Kay Koplovitz, and John White

First there was Joy Berry the children's book author. Now there's Joy Berry the brand. Over the past 30 years, the former Northern California public school teacher and day-care center operator has written over 250 books for Scholastic (SCHL), Random House, Penguin, Grolier, and Childrens Press, with titles such as Do-It-Yourself Potty Training and Help Me Be Good About Being Rude. Though Berry, 64, has sold over 85 million books that brought in some $450 million in revenue, she felt her work had become lost among her various publishers and distributors. Instead of renewing her licenses, she let them lapse with the goal of republishing under her own name. She hired John Bellaud, 35, and John White, 31, as branding consultants, in 2006. In turn, they brought on Kay Koplovitz, 64, the founder of USA Network (GE), as a consultant (and later as an equity partner.) Now Berry, who holds a masters degree in human development, is selling her lifes work through startup publishing house Joy Berry Enterprises. With $2 million in personal funds and a $1.6 million investment from Brock Capital, JBE hired Morty Mint, the former president of Pearson's (PSO) Penguin Putnam U.S. and Canada unit as a brand consultant; contracted with a 40-person national sales team through Continental Sales; and signed a long-term contract with distributor Quebecor World. Launched in April, JBE has released 80 of her titles, which retail for between $8 and $13 each, and plans to produce 175 more titles over the next 18 months. White projects $2.1 million in revenue in 2009 and more than double that in 2010.

*By Stacy Perman (posted on February 3, 2009)
Caffeinated Candies


Vroom Foods
Jason Kensey

While pulling an all-nighter studying for his MBA at Babson College, Jason Kensey (an avowed non-coffee drinker) went to purchase his usual jolt—a highly caffeinated, high-sugar soda—only to find the vending machine broken. Kensey, now 39, got something else: an idea for a business making bite-size candies packed with caffeine. Until 2000, Kensey back-burnered the idea while he worked at Kellogg for two years. Over the subsequent three and half years, Kensey invested $150,000 of his own savings and hired a confection and flavor company to formulate a product. He even mixed up a few batches in his own kitchen. His Vroom Foods launched online in 2004, selling Foosh Energy Mints, Buzz Bites Chocolate, and Mint Energy Chews for $3.99 a tin. The Costa Mesa (Calif.) company has grown to three employees, and its "seriously caffeinated candies" are now sold in stores and gumball-like machines in 4,000 locations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Sales last year jumped to $1.3 million, and Kensey says Vroom is profitable. The chief executive likes his candy kick: He pops four a day, starting at 5:30 a.m.