Crains New York - July 16, 2012 - (Page 15)

REPORT TIME IS MONEY: Paul Cuthbertson, COO of MindsInSync, says his professional employee organization costs more but saves him from hassles so the company can focus on designing and making home and pet products. SMALL BUSINESS THE LIST Largest Management Consultants PAGE 17 SPOTLIGHT Bain & Co. hasn’t changed much from the days of Mitt Romney. It’s loose, informal---and still rocking PAGE 17 Boutique companies team up, go global Partnerships enable even tiny bagel stores to sell their products abroad BY EILENE ZIMMERMAN Like many growth-minded entrepreneurs, Samantha DiGennaro, chief executive of DiGennaro Communications, sees plentiful opportunity overseas, despite turmoil in Europe. “There’s a lot of potential for global business, especially in this age of digital advertising, because that transcends borders,” said Ms. DiGennaro, whose boutique public TOTAL VALUE of relations firm, merchandise based in shipments from Manhattan, the New York area has 35 emin 2010 ployees and more than $4.5 million in annual revenue. Enter Adrian Brady, head of Eulogy, a similar-size boutique firm in London. A mutual client of both firms suggested that they join forces, and in January, DiGennaro and Eulogy formalized a partnership. Last month, Ms. DiGennaro and Mr. Brady met to devise a strategy for moving forward. That may involve going after global business together or looking for another small business partner in Asia or Latin America. Meanwhile, they have been able to partner on multinational service and introduce each other to clients who need the other’s help. For instance, Eulogy recently paved the way for DiGennaro to work with its existing client, G2, an operating unit of international advertising and marketing services company WPP. Their arrangements have reduced the need for each company to travel to serve overseas clients. “Working this way is so much more efficient,” said Ms. DiGennaro. And Mr. Brady appreciates the new ease of doing business in the U.S. “For years, we couldn’t offer clients a seamless support in a key market,” he said in an email. DiGennaro Communications $85.1B buck ennis How to get big-firm perks A guide to one-stop shops that offer health insurance, HR and back-office help BY CARA S. TRAGER A serial entrepreneur with three startups under his belt, Jeffrey Wald owes his success, in part, to what he doesn’t do: getting involved in humanresource issues. Each time Mr. Wald has launched a company, he has contracted with a professional employer organization, or PEO, designating it as his workers’ “employer of record” and then sending it checks to administer and cover a range of employee-related matters, including payroll, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation and health insurance premiums. “A PEO is rather standard practice in the startup world and gets us off the ground with a world-class humanresource infrastructure for a relatively inexpensive cost,” said Mr. Wald, whose latest venture, a 40-employee firm called Work Market Inc., in BIG BILLS Average annual employersponsored health insurance premiums (family) Employer contribution Worker contribution $15,073 $10,944 $7,056 $5,269 $4,129 $1,787 2001 2011 Source: Kaiser/Health Research & Educational Trust survey Manhattan, provides software for companies to manage contract workers. Mr. Wald is the company’s cofounder and chief operating officer. Throughout the city, fledgling and existing small companies are turning to PEOs—and not just to free themselves of the headaches and overhead of handling HR issues so they can concentrate on growing and managing their operations. In the face of rising health insurance costs, PEOs, also known as employee leasing companies, are gaining traction as a way to access more reasonably priced health See PERKS on Page 16 See SMALL FIRMS on Page 16 July 16, 2012 | Crain’s New York Business | 15

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - July 16, 2012

Crains New York - July 16, 2012
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Business Peopl
From Around the City
Opinion
Greg David
Real Estate Deals
Report: Small Business
For the Record
Classifieds
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - July 16, 2012