Profile of Sam Tadesse
Aug 19, 2009, 11:37am PDT
What it does: Parking management services for BART, SoMa Grand condos, Oakland Airport and many other public and private groups.
Headquarters: San Francisco
2008 revenue: $9.1 million
Employees: 120
Source of startup capital: Personal funds
Background: Originally from Ethiopia. Came to the United States in 1987. Worked his way up to general manager of Car Park, which was sold to Central Parking Systems.
Age: 47
Residence: Oakland
Web site: pacificparkonline.com
Big Picture
Reason for starting business: I successfully ran another parking company. I helped build it for someone else so I had the desire and confidence to do it for myself and my partner. The parking industry was ready for a real push.
Most difficult part of decision: The confidence was there. There wasn’t anything that was holding us back.
Biggest plus of ownership: We’ve built something that will last a long time.
Biggest drawback: I’m a small business owner, it’s all on me.
Biggest business strength: It’s understanding the business. Both myself and my partner have worked for several years for other companies. We understand customers and employees.
Biggest business weakness: Most of our competitors are national companies that have been in the business 50-plus years.
Biggest risk: The biggest risk we have here is our business is concentrated in a small number of clients. Losing a client can be a disaster. And the financial pain of our clients can affect us.
Biggest mistake: Concentrating our business in one sector for several years. (At one time), our largest clients were public agencies. Now we’re more in the private market.
Smartest move: Surrounding ourselves with talented people, consultants, CPAs and those relationships.
Biggest worry: That we’ll lose a contract. It requires a lot of effort to win and and retain them. To replace them is very hard.
Daily Routine
Most challenging task: To delegate things to others. I don’t always have the confidence to delegate, but you have to do it and move on to a higher level of business.
Favorite task: Building and analyzing spreadsheets. Numbers don’t lie.
Least favorite task: Presentations and public speaking. You don’t know how things will turn out.
Source of support in a business crisis: Internally we have a strong team. I’ve been working with my partner for many years. Together we’ve had a lot of ups and downs.
Dreams
Key goal yet to achieve: Winning the (SFO) airport contract.
First move with capital windfall: Hiring more people.
Five-year plan: We would like to expand in key areas, including airports, and expand our company geographically.
Inducement to sell: When the company is as large and successful as I am capable of building it to be and when I have reached our team’s limits. At that point, a sale for myself and the company may be in both our best interests.