ENTREPRENEUR WATCH

Growing Top Drawer
By Michael McCord
Published:  January 2008

For first-time retail entrepreneurs Deborah Robb and Deanna Tinios, success has come in the form of a proper fit — as in a proper fitting bra, which is no small matter for women for whom improper fitting is an annoying and constant reality.

Managing growth at Simply Green
By Michael McCord
Published:  December 2007

Andrew Kellar, the founder of the biofuels company Simply Green in Stratham, is experiencing an entrepreneurial moment of bliss. It happens to those who have made the right calculations about their product fitting into the right market. And then comes the next hurdle and "managing growth" is the biggest challenge, Kellar said.

She might be the missing link
By Michael McCord
Published:  November 2007

Much to her surprise, Deirdre Kurland, a former rising corporate star in the insurance industry, has become acquainted with scores of masons, carpenters, electricians, builders, floor furnishers, and general contractors.

Roger Elkus and the Me & Ollie's way
By Michael McCord
Published:  October 2007

Roger Elkus certainly didn't ask for it, but a near-death experience from severe pancreatitis that came out of nowhere has given him a remarkable new perspective on life and how a business can evolve to sustain itself in times of turmoil and stress. Elkus, the founder and owner of the Me & Ollie's bakery and cafes, told Ventures "it's a tribute to the team we have" that he could be gone for an extended period and the business didn't miss a beat.

Refining IT outsourcing at PCG
By Michael McCord
Published:  September 2007

Founded in 1996 by David Hodgdon, Portsmouth Computer Group has survived economic turmoil during the dot.com bust earlier this decade and a highly competitive marketplace for IT management services.

Nature's way
By Michael McCord
Published:  August 2007

As more and more attention is paid to the growth of the biotech industry in the Greater Boston region and the larger debate about the direction of health care in the country, Dr. James L. D'Adamo has proven that he definitely marches to the beat of a different entrepreneurial drum. For more than 50 years, the 70-something D'Adamo has carved out a highly innovative and profitable niche as a leader in the growing field of serious alternative medicine at the D'Adamo Institute for the Advancement of Natural Therapies.

Navigating the shoals of rapid growth
By Michael McCord
Published:  July 2007

Talk about a quick ascent. In fewer than three years, Mark Galvin, the founder of Whaleback Systems, has seen his company grow from three employees and his home location in Rye to 43 workers and a prime location at Pease International Tradeport.

Taking it to the next stage at Ecora
By Michael McCord
Published:  June 2007

When veteran high-tech and software executive Joe Fiorentino arrived to take over the reins of Ecora Software in May 2006, he found a company in what he called "stealth mode," one poised for a restart.

Completing the staircase
By Michael McCord
Published:  May 2007

Steve Pettit and his entrepreneurial co-conspirators are happy to be "located far away from corporate America," in a high-tech development center just off of Route 33 in Greenland. Which doesn't mean that Pettit, the president and co-founder of Great Bay Software, doesn't want to serve corporate America with breakthrough networking solutions.

Mad*Pow works on keeping the user satisfied
By Michael McCord
Published:  April 2007

Will Powley studied to be a painter as an undergraduate at Boston College and the Princeton, N.J., native figures some day he will get back to his first love. But he's plenty busy now and quite happy with his current career as co-founder and chief creative officer at Mad*Pow Media Solutions in Portsmouth.

Living locally, designing locally
By Michael McCord
Published:  March 2007

It isn't often that an architect has the chance to work on a number of major projects in the very neighborhood where she was born. But Lisa DeStefano, who was born and spent her early childhood in Portsmouth's North End, has taken advantage of an extraordinary confluence of time and opportunity to become the major designer of the city's Northern Tier renaissance.

The PixelMEDIA paradigm
By Michael McCord
Published:  February 2007

If you ask Thomas Obrey, co-founder and chief operating officer of PixelMEDIA, about the biggest hurdles that keep small- and medium-sized companies from using Web sites as active business tools, he said a change of attitude helps.

Turning a new page
By Michael McCord
Published:  January 2007

After working elbow-to-elbow for the past six months in the playroom and on the dining room table of Traci Bisson's Barrington house, the growing employee cadre at the literary-focused public relations firm Bisson Barcelona can finally stretch out, courtesy of a new office along Route 125 -- which happens to be close to the school bus stop for her older son.

The World According to Katie
By Michael McCord
Published:  December 2006

Few would consider the north country city of Berlin a suitable candidate for expansion for a information-based company. Berlin has dealt with one economic shock after another over the past two decades as its paper mill and lumber-based economy have fallen victim to fierce global competition. And it’s remote location hardly seemed like an ideal draw for talented employees.
But Katie Delahaye Paine, who admits to dancing to a different entrepreneurial drummer, seized on an opportunity to leverage technology and dramatically reduced overhead costs to open a branch office of the marketing research firm KDPaine & Partners she founded in 2002.

What's brewing? — Smuttynose prepares to grow into new production classification
By Michael McCord
Published:  November 2006

When is a microbrewery no longer a microbrewery? In the case of Smuttynose Brewery the question isn’t academic because in December the brewery will pass the important annual benchmark of 15,000 barrels produced.

Lessons of a "serial entrepreneur" - Mark Klein builds on success
By Michael McCord
Published:  October 2006

Mark Klein was a theoretical physicist at the University of New Hampshire in the early 1970s when he became intrigued by computers. Klein, who got his undergraduate degree in English at the University of Pennsylvania, joined another UNH professor to build a computer at the dawn of the microcomputer age. He and his partner sold that first creation - which had at the time an astounding memory - and Klein left academia behind. He launched a career as a "serial entrepreneur" which not so coincidentally matches the explosion of the Information Age.

Ex-IBM exec frees her entrepreneurial spirit
By Michael McCord
Published:  September 2006

While working as a computer development executive for nearly three decades for IBM, one of the most well known and tightly wound corporations in the world, Tina Gleisner always felt the urge to break out. She said she had been a closet, or “intra,” entrepreneur at IBM, and after 28 years of “living on airplanes” and being stationed in places as varied as California (north and south), New York, Tokyo, Atlanta and Hong Kong, Gleisner decided to slow down and set free her inner entrepreneurial spirit.

Banking on a Solar Success
By Michael McCord
Published:  August 2006

Talk a few minutes with Bill Poleatewich Jr., the president and COO of Brentwood-based Dawn Solar Systems, and he can barely contain his enthusiasm for the future of his company. Founded in 2004, Dawn Solar Systems has begun to make a name for itself in the growing sector of solar thermal heating systems. Based on the inventive creations of Dawn Solar co-founder and veteran roofing installer Steve Leighton, the company has developed a technological advance that integrates the thermal systems into more than 20 varieties of roofing materials. The result transforms an entire roof into an active solar system.

Laurie Lynch The Lollipop Tree
By Michael McCord
Published:  July 2006

What began as a home-based business by a mother who wanted to take care of her children at home and help out with the family finances, has evolved into a multi-million dollar tale of entrepreneurial pluck and opportunity seized. “There were no grand plans,” said Laurie Lynch, the co-founder and owner of The Lollipop Tree in Portsmouth which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Known for its motto of “Good Simple Food,” The Lollipop Tree has retained a home and family attitude while becoming a nationally known creator of naturally made, gourmet products.

Parcxmart founder envisions coinless meters
By Michael McCord
Published:  June 2006

Since 2003, a Hampton Falls company has been leading a quiet revolution to transform the common parking meter. Parcxmart specializes in smart card payment plans and it has targeted the coin-consuming parking meter industry — there are as many as 5 million meters in the country that generate an estimated $7 billion annually — as an avenue for consumers to pay not only for parking, but also for meals, coffee and newspapers.

Peter Hamelin says 'it's a love for music'
By Michael McCord
Published:  May 2006

It takes a leap of faith to go from being president of the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce to co-owner of one of the area’s iconic, but rundown music performance venues. But that’s precisely what Peter Hamelin did in August 2004 when he stepped down as chamber president to focus solely on reviving the Stone Church in Newmarket, which for decades has hosted as eclectic a music line-up of talent as anywhere in New England.

Marc Dole has his lens focus on Hollywood
By Michael McCord
Published:  April 2006

Marc Dole founded Hatchling Studios in 1999 and the Portsmouth company's first-rate, computer-generated work has become part of the next generation of Web site design. And that's just the beginning. Dole and his crew have just finished "Toll," a six-and-a-half minute animated feature that the company will use to secure investors for its first full-length feature film.