10,000 Small Businesses - New York Conference: Michael Bloomberg and Lloyd Blankfein

Program Impact and Success Metrics

• Revenue Growth: 63.7% of program participants reported revenue increases within six months of graduating.
• Job Creation: 44.8% of participants added new jobs within six months of program completion.
• Participant Case Studies:
  • Maya Gorilla (School Food Service): Tripled revenue and added 30 positions (including upper management) after five years of operation; currently expanding regionally.
  • Pete Wendell (Wendel Mechanical Solutions): Achieved 30% growth in 2013 and over 60% growth in the current period versus the previous period.
  • Theresa Lawrence (Delta Personnel): Revenue grew from $2.3 million to $5.5 million; placed nearly 1,000 people in jobs across the Gulf Coast.
  • Rhonda Jackson (Decor Interior Design): Expanded services to include construction/maintenance, securing contracts with the Reagan Library, Army Corps of Engineers, and GSA; increased sales by 122% and staff by 30%; named Minority Champion Small Business of the Year.
  • Columbus Construction (Co-founder): Income surged from $400,000 to over $3 million (700%+ growth); hired full-time employees and 12 subcontractors.
  • Jessica Johnson (Johnson Security Bureau): Scaled from 16 to over 100 employees and increased revenues by over 600% since 2010.
  • Ray Rupp (CounterTech): Revenue grew by 50%; employee base increased by 100%.
  • Kenneth Coates (KenTech Consulting): Opened satellite offices in NYC, Santa Clara, DC, and Chicago; revenue grew 600% and hired 70 new employees.
  • Jason Burns (QCS Logistics): Expanded to three new markets, added 45 jobs, increased revenue by 90%, and was named one of America's fastest-growing companies by Inc. Magazine.
  • Navjot Vajwa (Ocean Mist): Revenue tripled and employee count doubled since 2009 program enrollment.
  • Raj Thakur (Charter School Business Management): Increased revenue from $3.8 million to $5 million (32% growth); added 15 jobs; serves 100 schools managing $500 million in public funds.
  • Elizabeth Colon (Metaphrasis): Increased business by 25% and linguist pool by 40%; opening a second location (language academy) in August.
  • Reece Powell (Red Rabbit): Employee count grew from 10 to 120+; revenue grew 700%; currently raising Series B capital to target a $2 billion national healthy food market.
  • Saudia Davis (Greenhouse EcoCleaning): Revenue increased 60–100% year-over-year; employee base grew by 250%; aims to reach $15 million revenue via software development and capital raising.
  • Amy Voloshin (Printfresh): A new division tripled sales in the last year; hired one new employee.
  • I.M. Tucker (Civil Engineering/Construction): Increased revenues by 28%; hired two new engineers; obtained SBA 8(a) certification.
  • Brian Custer (The Bark Club): Revenue rose from $900,000 to $1.5 million; added 13 positions; integrated retail elements.
  • Mike Brown (Environmental Construction Services): Revenue grew from $1 million to $4 million via two key acquisitions; opened a second sales office and hired 28 employees.

Strategic Insights from Leadership

• Program Design: The initiative functions as a "mini-MBA," focusing on business planning, accounting, ROI measurement, financing application, and peer cohort learning to build participant confidence.
• Economic Role of Small Business:
  • Small businesses are primary drivers of innovation, new inventions, and job creation.
  • They provide employment flexibility for non-traditional candidates who might not pass the screening processes of large corporations.
• Leadership Philosophy:
  • Mike Bloomberg: Emphasizes giving employees authority commensurate with responsibility and fostering a culture where leaders stand behind their team during failures.
  • Lord Blankfein: Advocates for genuine decision-making and avoiding second-guessing based on hindsight; prioritizes employee loyalty by investing in workers even when outcomes are unfavorable.
  • Resilience: Both leaders note that crises reveal true character and that leaders must learn to rely on themselves and their teams during high-stress periods.
• Hiring Strategy: Success in hiring depends less on specific skill sets (which can be taught) and more on drive, communication ability, and cultural "simpatico."

Organizational Evolution and Challenges

• Scale vs. Agility: Large corporations (e.g., Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg) require rigid structures that limit the agility and informality possible in small businesses.
• Innovation Pipeline: Large entities often lack internal innovation due to "channelling" and traditional hiring patterns, necessitating acquisitions of small businesses to access new technologies and ideas.
• Cultural Shifts: As companies grow, the informal, direct communication style of small teams becomes unsustainable; performance reviews become formulaic, and leadership cannot maintain personal knowledge of every employee.
• Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Approximately 40% of US businesses are started by immigrants or have immigrant partners; these founders are often self-selected for higher ambition and work ethic but may lose this intensity in subsequent generations.
• Public Perception: Leaders criticize the political tendency to second-guess executive decisions after the fact, arguing that this creates a hostile environment for taking necessary risks in government and business.

Future Outlook and Expansion

• Program Growth: The 10,000 Small Businesses program has expanded to 23 cities, using a "start small, work up" methodology advised by Warren Buffett.
• Remote Participation: A collective program at Babson College serves participants in cities lacking critical mass or local infrastructure.
• Networking: The program has organically created a robust alumni network where graduates actively transact business and support one another.
• Forward-Looking Statements:
  • Red Rabbit aims to capitalize on a $200 million regional and $2 billion national healthy school food market.
  • Greenhouse EcoCleaning plans to scale to $15 million in revenue through software and capital investment.
  • Columbus Construction plans to leverage relationships with other program participants for future growth.
• Recruitment Challenges: Small business owners identify talent acquisition as a primary bottleneck, often struggling to find candidates who balance technical skills with collaborative soft skills.