Maple Street, Inc.
Introduction
Achieving success in small business demands perseverance, innovation, and strategic support. For Maple Street, Inc., founded in 2003 by Michael Crofts and later joined by Teresa Crofts as CEO, the journey, and its challenges and rewards along the way, epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit and strategic growth. With the support and resources of the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF), Maple Street not only thrived but successfully transitioned to new ownership, cementing its legacy as a leader in vendor management services.
Vision and Differentiation
“When we started the business,” Mike Crofts reflects, “we were able to identify a way to do vendor management that not only helped our clients meet certain regulatory requirements they had but could also significantly reduce their expenses and help them measure and improve vendor performance, two things no one else in the industry was doing or is even talking about today. It led us to be significantly different in a way that provided value to our clients.”
“We looked at the business and noticed there were already a lot of software companies pushing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions,” Mike continued. “We decided to do something very different there too and focused on being a service company that had software instead of being a software company with a little bit of service.”
Choosing the Right CEO and Strategic Growth
As the company grew, Mike discovered the need for additional leadership capacity and expertise. “At the time, Teresa was not part of the company, but was helping from the sidelines. There was a lot of things to do and I was trying to do it all. When we did finally start working with the FSBDC, one of the first people that helped us was our FSBDC consultant. He talked to us and convinced me that it was time to start hiring people to start managing other people and help with managing and growing the business.”
“It was then that I made the brilliant move to hire my partner here, have her take a huge pay cut and work much longer hours by joining me in the company. That advice from the FSBDC made a huge difference because as soon as that happened, things got better. Teresa got things organized; she made it much more efficient. I focused on sales and the growth and the revenue numbers. We can go back to our financial statements and see that when Teresa joined the company and we split up duties and we took the advice of the FSBDC, the revenue line started to grow.”
Crofts further described, “At that time, we were doing about $1 million a year in revenues. Over the next 10 years of our 20-year history, we grew to over $20 million a year in revenue. We went from a few employees to the time when we sold the business when we had a team of 40. And we were continuing to grow year-over-year as well. That initial kick in the backside that we got from the FSBDC made a huge difference right at the start and then we took advantage of all the other services they made available to us.”
Utilizing FSBDC Services
Over their 20-year journey, Maple Street tapped into multiple FSBDC services in addition to its tailored, no-cost consulting, including business education and training and specialized programs for growth-oriented companies.
“Not really having extensive experience running a business (I’m an attorney by trade), I found the FSBDC’s business training interesting and started attending workshops on a regular basis and learned a tremendous amount,” explains Mike. “Essentially it was a business administration degree on the fly and those courses were instrumental.”
From there, the Crofts and Maple Street participated in the FSBDC’s award-winning Advisory Board Council (ABC), led by program manager Jill Kaufman. The ABC is a customized, no-cost board of experts providing advice to help businesses grow. The FSBDC acts as a matchmaker between established local businesses like Maple Street and area professionals who volunteer their expertise and are purposefully selected to address the specific needs of the FSBDC client.
“We had a voluntary board of advisors, much like a Board of Directors, over several years”, Teresa remembers, “and they were instrumental in helping us at an inflection point in our company where we were starting to grow more. The Board taught us to be very disciplined about setting goals and cascading them throughout the company,” says Teresa today. “They fed our thirst for some way to get organized and put some structure around the company and that was incredibly helpful.”
The Crofts also participated in the FSBDC’s CEO XChange, an executive roundtable program serving progressive chief executives and business owners in Central Florida. Facilitated by FSBDC consultant Hal Thayer, it offers a confidential setting for top executives to discuss vital business issues, opportunities, and trends with a group of peers and provides opportunities to broaden their business perspectives and gain new knowledge by engaging in collaborative thinking and problem-solving.
“I was fortunate enough to get into the CEO XChange group early on when it was first starting,” recalls Mike Crofts. “I found it incredibly rewarding on a number of levels. It was a great opportunity to learn. Just being in a room with other CEOs that were facing the same problems and challenges that I did every day was great because there was a lot of discussion about how to deal with those problems and the solutions that people had. The meetings also had a way of just getting you thinking creatively about the business. Instead of working in it, you could work on it.”
Strategic Sale and Future Outlook
Reminiscing on the sale of the company, Mike notes, “When we started on the journey, we were thinking it would take us about a year but it actually took about 3 -4 years until we finally sold the business.” He added, “We kissed a few frogs along the way and went down a few different roads, all that we found to be learning experiences in and of themselves. From all of that, we finally did find a new buyer.”. The sale closed in March 2024, Mike and Teresa have been rewarded for all their hard work, and they believe that Maple Street, its customers, and its employees are in good hands.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
When considering their experience with the FSBDC, Teresa confirms, “My advice to an entrepreneur or business owner considering working with the FSBDC would be: Do It! You’ve got nothing but upside by having access to the expertise, to the support, to the help putting a foundation in place, especially if you’re someone who’s never done it before.”
“I would echo what Teresa has said,” affirms Mike. “If you have an opportunity to work with the FSBDC, get on it. Don’t wait. Just dive in. Take advantage of everything you can. It does make a big difference. It also forces you to take the opportunities to think about working on your business instead of working in your business, especially when you’re first starting. The FSBDC helped us understand that and that made a huge difference for us in terms of growing our business over the long term.”
Conclusion
In closing, as Teresa Crofts and Mike Crofts start the next chapter of their lives with the sale of Maple Street successfully and profitably completed and a bright new future ahead of them, Teresa captured the enormity of what they have accomplished, some of it with the help of the FSBDC. All credit goes to the Crofts for taking an idea from start-up to $20 million in annual revenues in a short 20 years. It is no surprise that they were named the 2023 Florida SBDC at UCF Small Business Excellence Award Entrepreneurs of the Year, the FSBDC’s most prestigious and significant annual recognition.
Generously, Teresa also acknowledges how hard Maple Street’s success and their achievements are to do alone, although it was the Crofts’ wisdom and good sense that led them to leverage the services, support, and programs of the FSBDC. “There are a lot of disciplines in business and no one can do everything,” she summarized. “The FSBDC can give you some marketing expertise; they can give you some human resources expertise; they can give you some finance expertise; and, while you might have great ideas as an entrepreneur, there’s a lot of things that need to come together to take that idea and build it into a business. With the FSBDC, you have counsel right there that’s willing and able to help you.”
