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"Grow or die" is an old business adage. For the new breed of techs and other small businesses percolating in San Diego, that saying should be "grow fast or die." Born in recognition of that reality is Growth Strategies '98, an event set to debut here Dec. 3, and one that its organizers expect to make an annual happening and also to export to other regions.
"The rapid growth companies have a unique niche," explains Jacqueline Townsend Konstanturos, president of the Townsend Agency, a leading high-tech marketing firm and one of the event's three principal sponsors. "Those of us who service that community know it is just not the same beast as a giant entity or a small company that wants to stay small. These companies want to ride the rocket ship, either through an IPO or an acquisition. They frequently have investors who want a payout. You can’t just say this is a 20-year program. The investors won’t stand for it."
The other two principal sponsors are RCG Management, which offers fledgling companies high-caliber executive talent on a temporary or project basis, and ProFinance Associates Inc., an East Coast investment banking firm that recently moved its headquarters to San Diego.
To keep on the beam, the daylong program is wrapped around four separate three-person panels, each consisting of the kinds of entrepreneurs those attending would be expected to try to emulate. At lunch, the featured speaker is Michael Moritz of Sequoia Partners, an early financial backer of the wildly successful Internet pioneer, Yahoo!
The four panels and their speakers are:
- Managing Fast Growth Companies, featuring Leo Spiegel, chief executive of Sandpiper Networks; Frank Loscavio, president of Project Resources Inc.; and Tom Bernard, executive vice president of Qualcomm.
- Developing a Successful Recurring Revenue Model, featuring Gary Sutton, chief executive of @backup; Tom Marsh, chief operating officer at Co-Mack Technology; and Phillip Trubey, chief executive of NetPartners Internet Solutions.
- Branding and Positioning, featuring Maura Smith, director of marketing communications for Fujitsu-ICL; Jim Hancock, vice president of communications for No Fear; and Jack Cantwell, vice president of marketing for Mail Boxes Etc.
- Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, featuring John Mutch, president of HNC Software Insurance Solutions; Neil Senturia, CEO of Atcom/Info; and Don Levy, senior vice president of business development for CommQuest Technologies Inc.
The cost to attend the event at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla is $425 by Nov. 15; $475 after. Profits benefit the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, SDSU College of Business Administration Entrepreneurial Management Center and UCSD Graduate School of International Business and Pacific Studies. Attendance is expected to hit about 350. The Townsend Agency is taking reservations at (619) 457-4888, Ext. 135. Additional information and registration are available on the Internet at www.growthstrat.offc.com.
Both Konstanturos and Doug Wall, a principal with RCG, had been kicking around the idea of such a conference for a while. It came together when ProFinance appeared on the scene and developed a relationship with RCG and the Townsend Agency by virtue of having some common clients.
Founded in 1985, ProFinance is headed by its president, Michael Jones, who moved the firm's headquarters here from Connecticut this year and established offices in Lusk Boulevard space leased from RCG. "We are an unusual firm in that we specialize in service firms rather than manufacturing businesses," says Jones. "We basically work with companies that are creating recurring revenue streams... . Not too many bankers work with service firms. Our smallest financing was $150,000, our biggest $175 million. We do every level; angel, equity, subordinated debt and senior debt."
Jones says ProFinance is keenly interested in service, Internet, software and telecommunications firms. About the only investment it avoids is biomedical.
"San Diego is really underserved in our opinion," he says. "We are very excited about the market. The kinds of businesses that exist here are the kinds of businesses that we are interested in."
Jones expects this conference and its successors — Orange County and Phoenix are target locations — to be a success.
"The whole idea is this is something that any kind of growth company, whether it is manufacturing or service related, will benefit from. It is geared to issues related to growing a company."
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