THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 z
Page A-11
Perry pitches Texas to Maryland businesses
The Startup Maryland bus moves through the streets of Bethesda.
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DAN GROSS/ THE GAZETTE
Two companies mull move, but neither is from Free State
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Startup Maryland bus rolls through county and state Entrepreneurs compete for money to launch businesses
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BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Zack Kline is no stranger to pitching his business ideas. He started the Bethesda Green incubator business A.I.R. Lawn Care in 2011, aided by $5,000 in winnings from a Salisbury University business plan competition. Last year, he was among the 168 entrepreneurs who pitched their business ideas in a statewide video competition organized by Startup Maryland, the state offshoot of the Startup America Partnership. And last week, Kline was among seven entrepreneurs pitching on the bus that parked in Bethesda in the midst of a 19-day swing across the state in the second “Pitch Across Maryland” campaign run by the entrepreneurial group. Two businesses that enter the video pitch contest will be picked to be entered automatically in the 2014 InvestMaryland Challenge, which will award $400,000 in grants. Entries are uploaded to YouTube and voted upon by the public for fan favorites, while an investors panel will select eight finalists to formally make pitches at a statewide conference in November. From those eight, a winner and runner-up to enter the InvestMaryland competition will be picked. Companies with less than $1 million in annual revenue and fewer than 25 employees can apply themselves for the challenge through Dec. 6. “The pitch went extremely well,” said Kline, whose company uses electric-powered lawn care equipment that is charged with solar panels.
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The business has about doubled in sales each year and received support from people who value the environmentally friendly approach, he said. Loans and lines of credits from banks continue to be a challenge for startups. “They want to see years of financials and bank statements — which can be tough for startups to have — before they will loan money,” Kline said. Startup Maryland’s bus started rolling Sept. 9 in Ocean City and has recorded an average of seven pitches per stop, said Julie Lenzer Kirk, director of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship and cochairwoman of Startup Maryland. The tour was at Land Sea Air Manufacturing in Westminster on Monday and at Westview Corporate Center in Frederick on Tuesday. It will return to Montgomery County Thursday afternoon at CoFoundersLab in Rockville. The campaign ends Friday in Baltimore. Last year, CoFoundersLab won first place in the video pitch competition. The confluence of resources available to startups in Maryland through federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health, defense centers like Fort Meade and world-class academic institutions such as Johns Hopkins University almost lend local startups an “unfair advantage,” said Michael Binko, president and CEO of kloudtrack, a high-tech company with offices in Rockville and Annapolis, and cochairman of Startup Maryland. At each stop, entrepreneurs are given information about such resources and provided coaching from mentors before making their pitches. kshay@gazette.net
Texas Gov. Rick Perry might have succeeded in his trip to Maryland to lure businesses to his home state, but so far, the only businesses that might move aren’t from Maryland. One is based in Virginia, and the other is in Colorado. Perry, a Republican who ran for president in 2012, met with about 50 business and government representatives Sept. 18 at Morton’s in Bethesda in a well-publicized effort to encourage Maryland businesses to leave the state, and its taxes, and head to Texas. “Texas is the fastest growing state in jobs,” Perry said before a substantial group of broadcast and print reporters outside Morton’s, following his closed-door meeting inside. “Our two states are going in opposite directions.” Perry said it was “premature” to announce that any Maryland businesses are moving to Texas. However, Janice Grenadier, founder of My Pillow Pack of Alexandria, Va. — which provides a handy, stylish way to carry pillows like a backpack — said she has tried for three years to obtain funding and support in the Washington, D.C., area without luck. “I’ve already received more support from these Texas officials here today than I have the past three years,” she said. Joe Wagner, sales manager for Aurora, Colo., alternative energy business Zeus Power Systems, said he and others want to start a solar panel firm in Maryland, but the process “hasn’t been easy.” “We are looking into moving,” said Wagner, who attended the Bethesda meeting.
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) speaks to the media outside the Bethesda Hyatt hotel after a lunch meeting with Maryland business representatives at Morton’s, a restaurant inside the hotel. “I’m impressed with Colorado, but it’s even getting tougher to run a business there,” he said. “There are always more taxes and red tape.” Other business executives said they would keep their enterprises in Maryland. Perry and Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who is eyeing a 2016 White House run, have dueled in the past week or so over Maryland’s tax climate and other matters. Perry is running ads on local radio and television stations trying to lure Maryland businesses to Texas. Perry said Sept. 18 that he had “no idea” what he would do in 2016. The governors debated Sept. 18 on CNN’s “Crossfire” program. Perry also toured the Beretta USA gun factory in Accokeek; the company has considered moving from the state. O’Malley disputed Perry’s job-growth claim during the debate and in printed mate-
rial. He said Maryland’s economy is better designed to help raise middle-income workers than Texas, which ranks high in poverty and low in residents with health insurance. O’Malley also said Maryland has fared well in studies such as one by the Anderson Economic Group that showed Maryland businesses had the seventh-lowest local and state tax burden in 2011 — a look at taxes such as corporate income, sales and property — while Texas ranked 17th. Michael Binko, president and CEO of kloudtrack, a high-tech company with offices in Rockville and Annapolis, said taxes should not be the defining issue for where a business is based. “The quality of schools and the work force, as well as venture funding programs, are two other important considerations,” said Binko, co-chair of entrepreneurial advocacy group Startup Maryland. He and others lis-
tened to Perry’s remarks outside Morton’s. While Texas has lured a few businesses from Maryland, aided by a substantial incentive program, Maryland has attracted a good number of out-of-state companies, said Julie Lenzer Kirk, director of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship and cochairwoman of Startup Maryland. “Both states have a lot to offer businesses,” said Kirk, who grew Applied Creative Technologies to multi-millions in revenues before selling the software assets to a business partner. Diana Waterman, Maryland’s Republican Party chairwoman, who also attended the Bethesda meeting, said Perry shined some important light on tax issues in the state. “We’d prefer that businesses stay here and help us elect more Republicans to office,” she said.