Out with the new, in with the old.
That could be the unofficial theme for Utah's 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
A few years ago, the contest was dominated by hot new technology companies. This year, many of the 32 entrepreneurs running the 26 finalist businesses are established, experienced and know what it takes to secure long-term success.
"There are a lot of pitfalls, a lot of difficulties, in growing a business, and experience helps an entrepreneur through the maze," said Todd J. Stevens, managing director of Wasatch Venture Fund and one of the competition's eight judges.
"If it's an entrepreneur who's been through it two or three times before, they tend to know the problems to avoid. They tend to know how to handle situations that come up. . . . I think it's an experience factor that helps them succeed when a lot of other first-time entrepreneurs are at a loss and really have a difficult time."
A handful of this year's finalists, all of whom are profiled inside today's Deseret Morning News Money section, will have that success recognized as they receive EOY category awards during the annual banquet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Getting to that podium has been especially difficult this year, as business owners nationwide struggle with a tenacious economic downturn.
"Going into this year, you couldn't help but wonder what outstanding companies were going to be out there," said fourth-year judge Jack Brittain, dean of the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business. "It's been a pretty tough year on business."
But Andy Raguskus, president and chief executive officer of Sonic Innovations Inc. and a first-year judge, said he noticed that "good companies were able to perform pretty well despite a tough economic environment."
Both Brittain and Raguskus said it is interesting that four nonprofit entries made it on this year's finalist rundown.
"The judges' group really likes to see those kinds of entrants and finalists, because they're nontraditional, they're doing great things and they're very entrepreneurial," Brittain said.
He also was pleased to see an increase in the number of nominations for female entrepreneurs, many of whom had interesting stories about juggling family and work lives.
So what was missing this year? Once again, it was the technology companies.
Stevens, in his fourth year as a judge, said he hopes the Utah and U.S. economies turn around soon, so those tech companies can start growing again.
"I think it's just a reflection of the current capital markets and current public markets that the technology sector is having a difficult time," he said. "The encouraging trend is there's a number of consumer services-type companies that are having outstanding growth in both revenue and employment. That, I think, bodes well for the Utah economy."
It also bodes well for the established entrepreneur, at least in this year's EOY contest. "My normal thought of an entrepreneur is a very young person maybe starting his first or second business, but this field was populated by very experienced businessmen and women," Raguskus said. "Some of them were serial entrepreneurs on their third or fourth or fifth business. Others are with their first business, but they've been with it for 30 or 40 years.
"I was impressed with the maturity of this field of candidates."
Not to mention their work ethic, Brittain said.
"The common thread definitely this year are people who just really worked tremendously hard," Brittain said.
"I think this year we're seeing a real, more traditional entrepreneur, somebody who really has personally worked very hard to build a business, with a lot of hands-on."
First-year judge Ralph Yarro, president and CEO of The Canopy Group, said that hard work benefits not only the entrepreneurs, but also the state and its economy.
"Those that have been identified as winners are people who have really contributed to Utah, besides all of the other great things people are saying about them," Yarro said.
"I like the companies that are employing people in Utah in a big way. Hundreds of Utah jobs are supported by these companies and growing. I thought that was tremendous."
Those are just the kinds of companies the program is meant to honor, according to Scott Peterson, managing partner of Ernst & Young, Salt Lake City.
"The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards program was created to recognize those individuals who have created truly innovative businesses and have inspired others with their visionary leadership and tenacity," Peterson said in a prepared statement.
The judges agreed that Utah seems to provide fertile ground for growing that kind of business visionary.
"I think Utah is a great place to do business. . . . I think it speaks to the quality of the supporting infrastructure and organizations in tax, accounting, legal, etc.," Yarro said. "Utah is where we choose to do business. The companies that are finalists reflect the type of quality we count on."
Utah award recipients will be eligible for the National Entrepreneur of the Year award, which will be presented in November in Palm Springs, Calif.
Other judges for this year's contest were Shelli Gardner of Stampin' Up!, Connie Holbrook of Questar Corp., David Simmons of Simmons Media Group and Greg Warnock of vSpring Capital.
Utah sponsors for the EOY awards are Comcast; Curran & Connors; Deseret Morning News; Digital Bytes; Diversified Insurance; The Layton Cos.; Merrill Lynch; Parsons, Behle & Latimer; Signature Press; The Summit Group Communications; and Utah Business Magazine.
E-MAIL: gkratz@desnews.com