Fuquay Varina, N.C. Citing his company’s 20% top line sales growth last year over 2006, Dave Morris, the CEO of InCon of Fuquay, noted how his company had bucked the negative trends in the housing industry. “We had solid growth last year,” said Morris, speaking to a group of interested investors and entrepreneurs at the monthly RTP Innovation Angel Capital Event at the BNC in Cary, N. C.
Morris detailed how his company has crafted an agreement with one of the nation’s largest distributors of manufactured housing. WESCO Distribution had sought InCon’s communication wiring system and parts and indicated that they had received specific requests from manufactured housing plants around the country for InCon's products.
Morris said the new WESCO contract was a classic case of growth consuming cash. “We must have capital to continue to grow and innovate, and the amount we need is so small that it does not attract the attention of the local private capital investment community.”
Morris said that after his presentation that he stayed for an extra hour talking to interested investors about his company.
The RTP Innovation Angel Capital event is one of 4 business development networking groups currently operating in the RTP to spur product innovation and business growth of small companies. At the day’s earlier event for the RTP Innovation Business Network, Jim Passe, a local intellectual property attorney, presented a lunch time continuing education seminar on how early stage idea companies can protect their ideas from being expropriated.
Passe is the leader of the RTP Inventors Guild.
Speaking about the value of the business networking groups, George King, the CEO of Triangle MicroSystems, another small manufacturing company undergoing a growth spurt said, “I have found 3 new vendors a potential marketing partner and last night (at the angel event), a potentially good, off shore, source for our electronic SM boards and a potential source for literature development.”
About the RTP Innovation Angel Event: This is an informal business networking event for innovative companies and startups who are seeking capital. Each month, there will be 30 minutes of social networking in the BNC Wine Bar, followed by 4 power point presentations by the companies seeking capital.
After all of the presentations have ended, the BNC Wine Bar will be open for more extended conversations. Contact Tom Vass, 919 975 4856 for more information about making a presentation.
About the RTP Innovation Business Development Network. This group is connected to other innovation groups based in the RTP of North Carolina, all of whom share a professional interest in the topic of how successful innovation promotes business development. Our network of groups follows the logical sequence of events regarding technology commercializaton. Generally, the 4 topics covered are Deal mapping, which is how you come up with new ideas for innovation, Deal creation, Deal funding and Deal exits.
