News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Small Business

02/22/2010

Recovery loans dissatisfy small-business owners, lenders, even a federal official

DAVID WOO/DMN

Paperwork has overwhelmed Jimmie Hughes, who received an $8,100 American Recovery Capital loan for his Richardson-based telemarketing firm, Grand America.

After six months and mounds of paperwork, Jimmie Hughes got only $8,100 of the $35,000 he'd sought from the American Recovery Capital program, part of the federal government's stimulus plan to help small businesses. The program has been fraught with problems from the get-go.
Link: ARC Loan Program
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02/23/2010

Free workshop set for firms seeking 2011 Super Bowl business
The 2011 Super Bowl in Arlington is a year away, but the National Football League will start doling out contracts to local businesses well before that.

02/15/2010

Frisco business incubator's makeover includes new name, clean-energy start-up

STEWART F. HOUSE/Special to DMN

Senior systems engineer Kevin Amundsen, 52, of Farmersville, works on wiring for a sensor at a lab in the NTEC building in Frisco.

InfiniRel is developing an early warning system for solar and wind power converter failures. So why did the start-up move into the North Texas Enterprise Center for Medical Technology in Frisco? It's part of the 7-year-old business incubator's goal to become a one-stop shop for regional entrepreneurs.
Link: InfiniRel

02/14/2010

Dallas-Fort Worth entrepreneurs find alternative lenders

Carlo Capua is the co-owner of Z’s Cafe in Fort Worth.

KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH/Special Contributor

Carlo Capua (center) is the co-owner of Z’s Cafe in Fort Worth. Southwest Bank found a federal economic development loan and a grant for the start-up.

Some Dallas-Fort Worth entrepreneurs are surviving by finding alternative sources of financing. They've used credit cards, found money online, pledged their accounts receivables as loan collateral, tapped their home equity and secured private investments.

02/12/2010

Phytel raises $14.2 million in fifth round of private financing
Local health care companies continue to attract investors in a tough financing time.

02/07/2010

Thinking big, being part of a team pay off for entrepreneur Alexander Muse

KYE R. LEE/DMN

Alexander Muse has created a fun place to work at the Dallas Infomart office space he shares.

Muse helped start a half-dozen technology companies in Dallas since the late 1990s. Now, he finds partners to incubate ideas at Architel, focusing on that company and the cellphone app ShopSavvy.
Link: Texas Startup Blog
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02/05/2010

Irving's DG FastChannel rushes Super Bowl ads to the end zone

Kia

In Kia’s Super Bowl commercial, children’s toys, including a teddy bear and a sock monkey, go joyriding. They go bowling, get a tattoo and party in Las Vegas.

DG FastChannel Inc. is the clearinghouse for most of the multimillion-dollar ads that will be shown on CBS during Sunday’s game. Advertisers shoot their spots and send them to DG, which digitally transmits them to broadcasters.
This year's ads go goofy and frugal
More on Super Bowl ads
Link: DG FastChannel

Dallas entrepreneur Terri Quinton among 8 to receive Quest for Success awards
Terri Quinton of Dallas is one of eight Dallas-Fort Worth entrepreneurs who today will receive Quest for Success awards from the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce based on their business and community achievements.

02/04/2010

Carrollton firm's Magnifying Medi-Grip Bottle Cap Remover named one of best new home products for 2010
Jokari's $3.99 bottle opener won "Best in Category" in the national Housewares Design Awards — dubbed the "Oscars of home design."

Links: About the product | About the awards

02/03/2010

Small Dallas-area firms skeptical of Obama plan to spur hiring
Kevin Winters went ahead and hired a fifth employee two weeks ago for his 1-year-old Dallas company, even after President Barack Obama's pledge to offer tax credits to small businesses that add workers.

02/01/2010

Report: Minority-owned firms have tougher time raising capital
The nation's 4 million minority-owned firms face large disparities in accessing capital, making it even more difficult to weather the recession, according to a new report by the U.S. Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency.

01/28/2010

Venture capital to keep shrinking, expert says at SMU forum
The good news is "the industry is open for business," industry data guru John Taylor said Thursday at Southern Methodist University’s Southwest Venture Forum.

01/24/2010

Texas A&M researcher studies effects of new ventures huddling in one region
As a young girl, Brett Anitra Gilbert wanted to be a doctor. Her dream came true, in a way: She earned a doctorate in entrepreneurship.

01/22/2010

Dallas-Fort Worth energy companies draw 85% of area's venture capital
Energy was a good place to be for Dallas-Fort Worth companies seeking venture capital last year, making it the star of an otherwise dismal year for the private money industry.

01/18/2010

Knight Security wins $12M contract to install video cams in state schools for disabled
Dallas-based Knight Security Systems has won a $12 million contract to install a network of about 3,200 high-definition video surveillance camera systems at 12 state schools for the disabled.

01/17/2010

Two Dallas area items - a multi-tasking slow cooker and a medicine bottle opener - are finalists in national Housewares Design Awards
What do a slow cooker and a bottle opener have in common?

01/13/2010

Turnaround pro prescribes firing even family, squeezing vendors
George Cloutier aspires to be the Vince Lombardi of small business. The 63-year-old turnaround expert is happy to be creating a buzz and drawing some heat with his audacious book, Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing.

01/12/2010

Texas venture capital funds felt same pain as national firms in '09
Texas saw a dismal 2009 for venture capital fundraising, with only one firm attracting new capital, according to data released Monday by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters.

01/11/2010

Private equity fundraising last year hit lowest since '03
Local and national private equity fundraising last year slipped to its lowest level since 2003 as investors remained wary about the economy.

01/10/2010

Sumo Cookies looking to make more dough with new products
Sumo Cookies is still looking for its sweet spot.

12/30/2009

Dallas start-ups' goals are both economic, charitable

SONYA N. HEBERT/DMN

Jewelry designer Elizabeth Carlock, with her dog Lucy, gives 15 percent of her trunk show sales and all sales of her “charity collection” to nonprofit groups.

More and more Dallas-area entrepreneurs are serving a broader social mission while developing a business. And they’re passionate about both. Experts who follow entrepreneurs and philanthropy say they’ve noticed an increase in social entrepreneurship.

12/26/2009

Slight rise in venture capital investing foreseen for 2010
Venture capitalists expect a modest increase in investments and exit options next year, but they also foresee fewer firms and smaller funds, according to a recent report from the National Venture Capital Association.