2006 Competition Winners

The top-prize winner in the 2006 Business Plan Competition was Nimble Arts Trapeze and Circus School.

Based at Cotton Mill Hill, Nimble Arts was founded in 2003 by twin sisters Serenity Smith Forchion and Elsie Smith. They teach acrobatics, trapeze, and juggling to adults and children as young as 18 months.

“Winning the competition had an invigorating effect on my sister and me," says Serenity. "We felt spurred into moving forward with many plans and dreams we had for our business, and certainly the influx of cash helped us move ahead with those goals."

“Another great benefit of the Business Plan Competition was the exposure we got in the community,” adds Elsie Smith. “It has been wonderful to be stopped by various people in the community who know about our work from the publicity derived from the competition. This, we hope, will help us in our next phase of expansion when we move to our downtown location and begin more official collaborations with other local businesses like the New England Youth Theater, the Brattleboro Music Center, and the Brattleboro School of Dance. It has been great to become a recognized part of the community.”

According to Serenity, “Business is going very well. Our performing company is booking triple the events we did last year, our equipment sales have doubled, and our workshops and classes have also grown at the rate planned.”

Against the Grain, a food manufacturing business located at BDCC’s Book Press Business Park that is owned by Tom and Nancy Cain. They bake and freeze gluten-free bread for commercial and wholesale distribution.

The Business Plan Competition "is one of the most creative ways to encourage new business development that I have heard of," says Nancy Cain, co-owner with her husband Tom of Against The Grain Gourmet. "We were a start-up business at the time of last year's competition. Since then, we have built a 5,000-square-foot, dedicated gluten-free baking facility [in the old Book Press building in Brattleboro]. We began shipping to our distributor in late December 2006. Our gluten-free bread products have been received extremely well, and it appears that we are on target to double our first-year expectations for number of units sold." (Their website can be found at www.againstthegraingourmet.com.)

Children’s Music Hall of Fame, a website business dedicated to quality children’s music, developed by musician and educator Bill Shontz of Putney.

According to Bill, participating in the competition was very helpful. “Lots of people came up to me to say they heard I was a finalist, to ask me about the competition, and to congratulate me,” says Shontz. “The experience was interesting in that it forced me to once again look at my business proposal to make sure that I was organized. I already knew about the available resources, like the SBDC, and have worked with them. But other new small businesses may not realize what’s available. They provide you with the ability to look at your business not just from the inspirational, creative, or artistic view, but from the nuts-and-bolts view of how will this business be viable.”

Ironwood Brand, a West Brattleboro sawmill business owned and operated by Eli Gould, offering advanced design work using native lumber.

"It was fun how the format [of the Business Plan Competition] added deadlines and friendly competition to what could otherwise be a much more solitary process," says Eli. "It really got me to sit down and focus. It was a lot of work in a short time. It's nice to look back on that work, now, though."

OK Tools, a Saxtons River company founded by Fred Bullock and Robert Morris to sell and service tools and radius grinders for the machine tool industry.

Solinglass, a glass-blowing studio owned by nationally recognized artist Randi Solin and located at BDCC’s Cotton Mill.

Reflecting back on her participation in the first annual Business Plan Competition, Randi says, “The impact was pretty huge, I must say. Because of my proposal, I have been brought into other projects and I am currently in negotians with the New England Youth Theatre to proceed with my business plan idea of maybe buying a building in town and seeing my business model come to fruition.”

Vermont Woods Studio, a furniture making company that uses sustainable solid hardwoods and certified smartwoods. Ken and Peggy Farabaugh of Vernon own and operate the company.

According to Peggy Farabaugh of Vermont Woods Studios, a year-old cooperative of local woodworkers, "Our new business wouldn't even have materialized beyond ideas in my head if not for the Business Plan Competition. It motivated me." Not only did it motivate Peggy, it encouraged her to raise the bar and think more broadly. Peggy's husband Ken is a woodworker and they thought it would be nice to create a business to sell some of his work. "BDCC challenged us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs," she said. "They encouraged us to craft the business for the community of woodworkers around us. I would never have thought of structuring the business for this wider scope. It has meant all the difference in the world."

Vermont Woods Studios has grown over its first year to include nearly 20 local woodworkers as members. The collaborative recently launched what they call, "the nation's first online furniture gallery for fine exclusive, elegant, handcrafted, museum quality, luxury eco furniture." The website can be found at http://www.vermontwoods.com/. "It was eye-opening" to participate in the Business Plan Competition, says Farabaugh. "BDCC added a lot more realism to our plan. I didn't have the depth of expertise for financial planning. They offer expertise you'd have to pay a lot of money for usually. And they don't laugh at your idea to start a new business. They are supportive and encouraging. I couldn't have done it without them."