EO Detroit Accelerator Spotlight: Bob Kuehne, President of Blue-Newt

Meet Bob Kuehne, one of EO Detroit’s Accelerator member and president of Blue-Newt.

When did you join Accelerator?

November 2011

Tell us about your business.

Blue Newt Software was my original business from 2011. We make driving and flight simulators for Mercedes, Ford, L3, the US Army, and others. I recently expanded my business by adding Renaissance Sciences, Night Readiness, and Federal Analytics to my family of companies through a strategic acquisition.

What has been your most beneficial takeaway from the Accelerator program?

Pay attention and make decisions based on data. Check in on yourself and your business early and often. Get help through other means to keep you on track such as accountability through peers, friends, family and conversation with your team.

Have you noticed forward progress in your business? Share about the progress your company has made.

Lots of progress! In addition to feeling a lot more like I know that there are tools and techniques to help with focus and growth, I’ve seen that applying those skills can lead to results. I have grown my business by nearly 50% this year alone, but also structured a strategic acquisition which will double again my business this year and next, in addition to providing further strategic opportunities for our existing products. My team has grown from 3 to 14 in these last two years, and top-line revenue from about $480k to about $1.8M this year.

What were your biggest challenges and/or fears going into the program? How have you overcome those through the opportunities offered by Accelerator?

Fear, that I couldn’t grow my business, that I didn’t know what to do, and that I didn’t know where to go next. Simply staring each of those in the face, building a plan, and making decisions to get from here to there have been the core ways through those fears. Accelerator provides workshops, tools, access, and focus for all of the above, and directly helped me move through my fears. Though I’m ever more aware I don’t have it figured out, I know there are people to talk to, and tried, and true techniques to get to the next level.

What advice do you have for future Accelerators?

First, don’t wait, and join today. Second, when you do join, dive in head-first, engage with your peers in EO and the larger group in EO. Third, dig in deep, make the time to attend every event you can, and pay attention to this opportunity to really focus on your business. That focus is the biggest weapon in your entrepreneurial arsenal.

What has been your favorite part about Accelerator to date?

The same as my favorite parts of Soylent Green: “It’s people.” The people I’ve met through EOA are among the most entrepreneurial, engaged, interesting, and vibrant people I know. I’ve learned a lot about them, their businesses, and me and my business in the process. It’s changed my life, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Contact Information

Company Name: Blue Newt Software, Renaissance Sciences, Night Readiness, Federal Analytics
Website: http://www.blue-newt.com, http://www.rscusa.com, http://www.nightreadiness.com, http://www.federalanalyticsllc.com

Connect on Social Media

Facebook: Facebook.com/bobkuehne
Twitter: Twitter.com/mysticbob

A Call to Detroit’s Entrepreneurs

On Monday night, Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans, Inc., the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Venture Partners and so many other entities, visited with us at the M@dison to share his perspective on Detroit and entrepreneurism.

Opportunity Detroit is thirty seven months in. During this time, Gilbert and his team have acquired 35 buildings, made $1,300,000,000 in investments, created 6,500 new jobs and hired 1,100 interns from 157 colleges and universities.

“The reason I’m talking about these numbers is to show you the other side of the coin,” he said.

Gilbert shared the impact of young people in our city as we continue on a path of opportunity, growth and revitalization.

“Once you get young people into a great American city, they want to have an impact on the outcome, Gilbert said. “When you tell them they will literally be able to see their footprints on the outcome, they’re all in.”

He shared the importance of our participation, as entrepreneurs, in the revitalization of the urban core.

“We can’t grow our economy without entrepreneurs,” he said. “We have to create a culture and environment in our urban core that is conducive to entrepreneurs who can help grow the economy. Then, it will work.”

In entrepreneurship, defining who you are is more important than finding what you do. This statement has proven to be incredibly true to each of us. Gilbert emphasized it when he talked about his companies’ –isms that combine what they are each saying to define who they are as people within the company and the company as a whole.

“Whether you have a company of 2, 20, 200, 2,000 or 20,000, if you can figure out and maintain who you are, it will be much easier to effectively accomplish what you do,” he said. “An effective business is more people making better decisions more often.”

He talked about how the packaging and delivery of who you are as a culture is imperative. It is a discovery process and it is about showing examples.

“You can tell people things, but you have to show them,” he said. “Empower people to fail. If you don’t, they’ll be too scared to try to do anything. As a leader, you can’t ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t do. You have to care, because caring will lead you to greatness.”

As entrepreneurs in our city, we are tasked with the mission to bring opportunity to Detroit, to continue to grow the city and urban core and to share the entrepreneurial spirit on a daily basis. Are you up for the challenge?

Never Forget

Never forget.

These are two simple words that have great meaning. They don’t mean that we would possibly ever forget the tragedy that struck on September 11, 2001. It’s a phrase that has been spoken, written, tweeted, blogged, hashtagged and communicated in a variety of other ways today, and it’s a reminder to us every day.

Those two words are a reminder for us to enjoy life every day, to complain a little less about the trivial things, to realize we don’t have it so bad. They help us to realize that there are people, places and things around us for which we should be thankful for on a daily basis. When we get caught up in the midst of chaos and the busy world that surrounds us all as entrepreneurs and professionals, it’s easy to forget to be grateful. These words help us to remember to cherish our time. They are also serve as a remembrance for the heroes that protect us every day – whether they are our first responders, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, colleagues or perfect strangers. We all stand for hope, and we all stand united.

Twelve years ago, on this very day, the American Spirit was reinvigorated through tragedy. The United States thrives because it is just that – united. United behind the causes of hard work, character, compassion and acceptance. After 9/11, Americans were united behind our first responders and the sacrifices they made and continue to make today. So today, and every day, never forget.

Achieve Greatness

Greatness is an incredibly loaded word.

The definition of the word is simple: the quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent. The meaning it holds, however, is immense. There are so many elements that are integrated into achieving greatness. It’s not something that just happens overnight. Greatness takes hard work, long hours, devotion, commitment, failure, challenges, perseverance, persistence, desire and many other things.

It is a process.

Greatness may not be reachable in one day, but taking a step toward greatness each day is achievable. Are you setting one goal each day to better yourself, your company or someone around you? Failure is inevitable – but when you fall a few steps backward, are you doing what it takes to put one foot in front of the other and take a step or two forward?

Jim Collins’ Good to Great is a book many of us, if not all of us, have read. Take these words from Jim Collins, and apply them each day in your steps to greatness – no matter if one day is a baby step and the other is a leap – they all count. Make the effort to impact and positively change the world around you with your presence.

“When [what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine] come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you’ve had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.”