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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 21 N OV E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 panelist Paula Lundgren, president of Brainstorm Businesses Services of Biddeford. " ey [the presenters] are looking for advice to enhance their mar- keting or go to international markets." ere are other organizations that help entrepreneurs, including SCORE, which off ers up mentors on various industries, and Women Standing Together, where everyone knows one another and typically responds to a single presentation. Good advice, for free e two presenting companies get coached before the meeting, includ- ing help from the HOG steering committee on how to ask the best question and how to best show their company's product or service. "I appreciated the coaching session with Ann Marie and Gigi [Guyton, southern regional manager and micro- business specialist for New Ventures Maine] a few days before the HOG presentation," says presenter Fagela, founder of Buko Chips, a coconut snack chip that is a product of Cornerstone Food Co. of Falmouth. She was one of the two presenters Oct. 18. " ey spent some time with me to go through my presentation and make sure that I pin- pointed and was specifi c with my ques- tion to ask." Buko means coconut in her native Tagalog language. Fagela, who has a business back- ground and hails from the Philippines, has lived in Maine for three years. She launched four fl avors of her chips in January 2016, and has self-funded the company in a rented commercial kitchen in Falmouth. She sells in 15 stores in Maine, including Bow Street Market in Freeport and Lois' Natural Marketplace in Scarborough. Her question about the company she and her husband run was how to expand throughout New England and the United States. Many of the panel- ists told her not to expand right now. "One panelist said to keep putting the product out in Maine and New England and keep reaching out to contacts," Fagela says. "I had a lot of takeaway from HOG. I'm refi ning my business plan so I can keep changing to meet my goals." Ongoing connections Besides suggestions, connections are a big part of HOG. " ey continue to think about my ask [question] day-to-day," Fagela says. " ey're sending me referrals. I'll have a follow-up with Nicola [Chin of Up With Community]." Chin, a transplant from Chicago, has a consultancy in Lewiston that helps companies with strategic plans and visions. She is among the panelists who advised Fagela to stay focused on Maine, at least for now. "I don't think she's saturated the Maine market and tested it enough to scale her processes to the regional level," Chin says. "As a leader you need to know what you're good at — what you do as a founder and what to delegate. She likes building a business and she has a passion for food." At some point Chin and other panelists say that in order to grow, Fagela will have to hand over some of the cooking to someone else who may not be as good as Fagela, but who nonetheless can make a marketable product while Chin focuses on mar- keting and growing the business. "She may want to penetrate Maine fi rst and make a name here," says Rahul Bhattacharyya, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Auto-ID Labs, a Maine resident who com- mutes to Cambridge, Mass., three times a week. "I can see maple chips and 'Made in Maine,' but not coco- nut in California. Why is 'Made in Maine' cool?" he asks. Bhattacharyya added that he was impressed by how well people are con- nected in Maine's entrepreneurial com- munity. " ey recommended resources I didn't know about," he says. Targeting customers For Deep Blue Design LLC of Scarborough, which makes the Pakpod tripod with adjustable pitons at the tip of its legs, the question was how to use their current assets to eff ectively drive sales through the rest of this year. e young company, which had a successful $124,000 Kickstarter cam- paign starting in October and received a $24,400 seed grant from the Maine Technology Institute with an equal match to develop a second-generation Pakpod Pro model of aluminum alloy and stainless steel, nonetheless ran into a wall in the summer, when sales slumped. e company had sold 2,000 units of its $99 plastic Pakpod, which video and camera enthusiasts use underwa- ter and for time-lapse photography, but then ran into the typical July lull in the retail cycle. At the same time, says founder Steve Underwood, the company had gotten an inventory of 2,500 tripods from its Chinese manu- facturer, which it needed to sell, fast. While it has distributors in the United States and several other coun- tries, the HOG panelists suggested bet- ter identifying its target customers and using existing enthusiasts and bloggers to get the word out about the product. Underwood, an underwater videog- rapher, discovered the panelists didn't fully understand the product's distinc- tions, so he changed his website to show the tripod in use. "We weren't communicating the diff erence between our product and the others on the market," he says. " e panelists compiled notes and sent them back. It's like getting feed- back from a potential customer." L V , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r, c a n b e r e a c h e d a t @ . a n d @ L V Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is Anonymity is key to ensure all feedback is accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. accepted by the presenters on an equal basis. The best feedback often comes from people with no connection to the entrepreneur's industry. — Ann Marie Swenson, People's United Bank P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Deep Blue Design LLC founder Steve Underwood launched a tripod company with a $124,000 Kickstarter campaign. He and COO Hanna Sanders demonstrate the versatile tripod, the Pakpod, in Scarborough.

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