Entrepreneurship & Small Business

See award-winning local entrepreneurs tell the story of their journey

By BizTimes Staff

Dec 11, 2023 3:30 pm

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7Rivers CodeBaby Geno.Me PartsBadger Britt Gottschalk Norrie Daroga Paul Stillmank Roy Dietsch

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BizTimes Media recently recognized some of southeastern Wisconsin’s top entrepreneurs and most innovative companies at its annual Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum. Awards were presented to four individuals for excellence in entrepreneurship, to four companies for excellence in innovation, a Regional Spirit Award was presented to Water Council president and CEO Dean Amhaus

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[gallery size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="581452,581451,581449,581450"] BizTimes Media recently recognized some of southeastern Wisconsin’s top entrepreneurs and most innovative companies at its annual Innovation + Entrepreneurship Forum. Awards were presented to four individuals for excellence in entrepreneurship, to four companies for excellence in innovation, a Regional Spirit Award was presented to Water Council president and CEO Dean Amhaus for going above and beyond to promote Milwaukee as a great place to do business, and an award for Lifetime Achievement in entrepreneurship was presented to Jerry Jendusa, owner of BreakthrU Coaching, chairman of Muskego-based Xiogenix and co-founder of EMTEQ. This year’s Entrepreneurship Award winners shared insights on how they overcame challenges to build their businesses. See below for videos of their remarks (introductions by BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Ashley Smart):

Norrie Daroga, president of CodeBaby

“The journey is one where you stick to it. Even though we went into receivership, we started all over again. Tenacity is probably one of the traits of an entrepreneur that’s really important. You can’t afford to give up. You put everything you’ve got into it, and you have to keep going. Those are some of the things I’ve learned. The other thing is don’t lose your day job – you need to have a source of income. The third thing is the reason you’re an entrepreneur is you really don’t like to work for anybody else.”

Roy Dietsch, chief executive officer of PartsBadger

“When I think back to the story of PartsBadger, I see a story about belief. I have a mom that’s always believed in me, and my father loaned me $500 to start my first business selling whirligigs at a flea market. I’ve also had educators go above and beyond not only to help me forge a positive path, but to allow me to see a vision I couldn’t really see for myself at the time. I’ve had the support of family, friends and early business partners that decided to jump in with me and most importantly the employees and staff who bought into the vision of what we can create together.”

Britt Gottschalk, founder and chief executive officer of Geno.Me

“I started my (first) company in the midst of a pandemic, which was a consulting firm, and being forever the optimist, I was like, ‘What could go wrong?’ About a year in I wasn’t doing so hot, and I decided to view that setback as a challenge. You have to when you’re an entrepreneur. I viewed it as a challenge to try again with a bigger idea. A better business model and a focus on creating a more meaningful impact. When I made the pivot from that consulting firm into a biohealth startup at the end of 2021, I had the knowledge of what not to do for my first business and incorporated the ideas of what could work into a plan that’s now the Geno.Me platform.”

Paul Stillmank, founder and executive chairman of 7Rivers

“I’m very excited that Milwaukee can sit here and build these kinds of things because it’s leveled the playing field with the rest of the country. Don’t go to Silicon Valley. I’m not going. We can do it all right here. I’m grateful, but I also feel we all have a responsibility to think about what we’re doing for our talent base and the companies right here as a showcase for the rest of the country. We all as tech leaders need to put money back in (our communities.)” Click here to see videos from the Innovation Award winners.