Entrepreneur magazine is scouring the country for innovative, fast-growing small businesses for its Entrepreneur of 2013 contest.
The magazine hosts an annual competition to find the top entrepreneurs in three categories — an overall winner, an emerging business and a college entrepreneur — to feature in its January 2014 magazine issue.
The magazine is looking for owners of small businesses who are “revolutionizing their industries, inspiring their employees and making a difference in their communities,” according to the magazine’s announcement.
Last year’s Entrepreneur of 2012 was Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries, an electronics hobbyist company with 25 employees and $4.5 million in sales in 2011. The magazine’s profile praised her as one of the “dominant forces” behind a movement that encourages people to create new gadgets by tweaking everyday technology. The magazine also praised her company’s slick operations and the fact that Fried promotes education initiatives that get kids to tinker with electronic circuitry and robotics.
As for the other categories, the “emerging entrepreneur” contest is for business owners with 12 or fewer employees and at least $350,000 in gross revenue sales in 2012, while the college entrepreneur is for undergraduate or graduate students between the ages of 18 and 25 with a promising business plan. Last year’s emerging entrepreneur was the founder of OrigAudio, a maker of portable speakers; the college winner was Duke University student Bryan Silverman, founder of Star Toilet Paper, which makes readable toilet paper. All three entrepreneurs submitted entries that stood out among thousands for their focus, creativity, profitability and what Entrepreneur dubbed the “cool” factor.
According to the Small Business Administration, more than 99 percent of all businesses in the United States are considered small firms, and these firms employ half of all private-sector employees. However, half of all small business don’t survive their first five years, and only a third make it to their 10-year anniversary.
Small-business owners and entrepreneurs who win the annual competition can see their business grow exponentially. Fried credits winning the Entrepreneur of 2012 competition with opening up new opportunities for the company. The competition generated positive press for Adafruit, according to the press release, which led to business expansion and hiring more employees, as well as new attention for the industry as a whole.
The three categories are judged separately, and entries for this year will be accepted until June 17. Winners receive prizes in addition to their magazine profiles.
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