Chris Denny, The Engine is Red, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Chris Denny, 27, and his partner Dan Sartin, 26, planned to start their event-marketing and production company while they were both working full-time corporate jobs last year. But, the day before the launch, Denny was laid off.
"We decided it was a sign to move forward faster," Denny said. But it was Sept. ‘08, the height of the recession, when the financial industry tanked, and the corporate event business followed suit. By Thanksgiving, his savings was gone and “the company was within a month of running out of money." Did this stop them? Negative.
"We called a time-out and realized very quickly, if we have a pity party, we will fail," Denny said.
They gave themselves 10 days to come up with a new business plan, and re-launched. Today? They're on track to complete their first year with $250,000 in revenues.
"Today we celebrate every step along the way. A new file management system? Let's bake a cake," Denny said. "Everything is challenging, but it's about moving forward.”