“Without the help of Charlie Askanas, my SCORE mentor, I
never would have gotten my business plan in shape to go after
the additional funding that I needed for my business,” says
Cheri Haganey, founder and CEO of BridgeWorks, Inc. BridgeWorks
is a leading – edge software company providing applications that
improve sales, profitability and customer service of V Twin
motorcycle bike shops and aftermarket product suppliers. Haganey
has used the help of Silicon Valley SCORE counselors since 2004
to develop and refine the business plan for her company
Haganey has been in the financial and forensic accounting
arena for 25 years. After serving as controller of several Bay
Area corporations, she founded Business Support Creations in
1997. In this role she works with small businesses as a
QuickBooks Professional Advisor and independent contractor. Many
of her clients are small
V Twin motorcycle shops that customize Harley Davidson
motorcycles. “I’ve been a motorcycle enthusiast for over ten
years and have worked with many bike shops to implement new
business systems during that time,” explains Haganey. “One of
the biggest inefficiencies and impediments to customer service
in a bike shop is the antiquated system of unwieldy parts
catalogs that almost all bike shop owners have had to use,” she
adds.
In 2003 Haganey formed BridgeWorks, Inc. to develop an
electronic catalog that would consolidate parts information from
all aftermarket vendors in one easy to use source. She
envisioned making this e-catalog available on a subscription
basis as a CD that would be updated quarterly or as a real time
document on line. “I spent all of 2003 doing market research,”
Haganey says. “I hired a software developer who had experience
in e-catalogs and we put together concept demos and packages to
show to parts distributors.”
In early 2004 Haganey felt that she needed some
validation that she was on the right track with BridgeWorks. She
met with Silicon Valley SCORE counselors, Carol Harrington and
Jack Davey, who reviewed what she had done and encouraged her to
continue with her market development efforts. Between 2004 and
early 2006 BridgeWorks continued to develop and demonstrate its
first product, Bike Shop – 1st Edition. Haganey was
able to convince Drag Distributors, the largest distributor in
the aftermarket bike parts industry, to endorse the BridgeWorks
e-catalog. Other major distributors including MC Advantages,
Biker’s Choice and Midwest Motorcycle Supply also signed on and
agreed to promote the product. In order to finance all of this
missionary work Haganey obtained a mortgage line of credit on
her house and used profits from her ongoing Business Support
Creations business.
“By early 2006 we were really starting to get a lot of
interest in our product,” says Haganey. “Unfortunately, I was
also just about out of money from my credit line,” she adds.
Haganey decided to seek SCORE’s help to prepare a business plan
that she could use to raise additional capital. She especially
wanted to work with a counselor who had experience in raising
venture funding. Silicon Valley SCORE counselor, Charlie
Askanas, fit the bill. “My initial attempt at
writing a business plan was a hundred page document that Charlie
told me just wasn’t going to fly,” she says. “Charlie and I met
about once per week over the next few months. He guided me
through the business planning process and reviewed my progress,”
she explains and adds “he didn’t pull any punches, but always
gave me constructive feedback.”
By using the focused plan that she developed and pursuing
various contacts, Haganey was selected into the highly
prestigious program sponsored by the Women’s Technology Cluster
(WTC) of Silicon Valley.
Her business model is particularly attractive to
potential investors because it can be generalized to any spare
parts type of business. As part of the WTC program she was able
to pitch her plan to prominent venture capitalists and angel
investors in the Valley. Ultimately, she used the plan to raise
additional funding from multiple sources including clients of
her Business Support Creations business and other private
investors. Moreover, she was able to retain full control of
BridgeWorks.
Haganey sees significant synergy between BridgeWorks and
her Business Support Creations business. “There’s been a major
surge in automation in the bike shop business in the last couple
of years,” she says. “Shops are really clamoring to implement
point of sale QuickBooks systems along with our e-catalogs.
We’ve decided to go completely to the on line version, Bike Shop
Full Throttle™. It all fits together.” Haganey anticipates that
BridgeWorks will break even by the third quarter of 2007. In the
meantime, she has seen a tripling of revenues for Business
Support Creations since the beginning of 2007. “Business is
really taking off,” says Haganey. “I’m going to need a lot of
marketing and business development advice as well as help in
building the infrastructure of the business. I’m hoping for
additional support from SCORE in these areas,” she concludes.
