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Corporate Buyers Guide latest business growing at CAN BE incubator

January 9, 2007
For more information contact Precision Design, 570-455-3533

WEST HAZLETON -

Companies looking to expand their manufacturing capabilities typically have to make an investment in new industrial equipment. However, finding the right mix of equipment and staying on budget can require hours of personal research and talking to salespeople from every manufacturer.  

But not anymore, thanks to Corporate Buyers Guide, a new business in the CAN BE business incubator.

Corporate Buyers Guide provides capital equipment purchasers with a resource to find detailed information on thousands of pieces of industrial equipment from numerous manufacturers. The start-up company has developed a web-based subscription service business that provides buyers with the information needed to make better-informed purchases, saving companies significant time and money.

“It’s sort of an online Consumer Reports for industrial clients,” said Gerhard Grenzberg, the company’s founder. “Corporate Buyer’s Guide goes much further, though, in that it provides customized results based upon a client’s specifications. Our service can cut equipment research time from dozens of hours to just a few minutes.”

Corporate Buyers Guide provides the service through a proprietaryn innovative software program they have developed. The software incorporates product information and makes it available through their website, www.corporatebuyersguide.com.

The information is then correlated and offered to subscribers, enabling them to drastically reduce their research time and, in turn, speed the purchasing process.“We collected information from a number of sources to build the database, including company websites, manufacturing catalogs and personal conversations with sales representatives and spokespersons,” Grenzberg said. “Our goal was to be incredibly thorough in our research so we could be sure we are offering the most accurate and unbiased data possible. By pulling all of this information together on one website, purchasers now only have to go to our site to find all of the information they’ll need.”

The website is designed to allow purchasers to input their specific application criteria and receive information from different manufacturers whose products match their needs. This would include important data such as the equipment’s performance, capabilities, durability and cost.

Grenzberg started Corporate Buyers Guide in response to a problem he noticed in the process buyers must go through in order to purchase capital equipment. In an industrial setting, an engineer is typically asked to set the parameters on equipment needs. The engineer is then asked to research equipment that meets those needs, collect the various data and make recommendations to the purchasing personnel. Corporate Buyers Guide streamlines this process by gathering information on one website so that purchasers – and not engineers – can research the products.

“I’ve heard from a number of people who work in the industry about how difficult and time consuming it is to find information to make a purchase; researching products, sales calls to manufacturers, more research. It takes a lot of their time and can get very frustrating and stressful,” Grenzberg said. “I started to think if there was a better way to make this information available, and that’s when I began to develop Corporate Buyers Guide.”

That’s also when Grenzberg looked to the CAN BE business incubator to help launch his business. CAN BE is a nonprofit, wholly owned subsidiary of CAN DO, Inc., Greater Hazleton’s economic development organization. It was created to help local entrepreneurs turn their ideas into ventures that will become successful firms able to function on their own, establishing new business and industry for the area.

CAN BE operates the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center, which is located in the Valmont Industrial Park in West Hazleton. The business incubator is located in a state-approved Keystone Innovation Zone, or KIZ, meaning that businesses locating in the CAN BE incubator will be eligible for preferential treatment for some state programs and may also be awarded resellable tax credits.

“I was introduced to the CAN BE incubator program as a possible place to start my business. I didn’t know much about the program, but after doing some research and talking to (CAN BE Executive Director) Jack St. Pierre, I discovered that the incubator was the perfect place for me because it allowed me to keep my overhead expenses low,” Grenzberg said.

By participating in the incubator program, Corporate Buyers Guide was able to take advantage of a number of cost-saving benefits, including affordable lease rates, shared business and office equipment, and managerial assistance, that typically hamper a start-up’s development.

Grenzberg was also able to get assistance in formulating his business plan and securing investors through Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. CAN BE is funded in part by grants from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania and PPL Electric Utilities.

Assistance also came from CAN BE educational partner Penn State Hazleton.

“I was linked with Penn State Hazleton, and they were was able to provide three interns to help do the necessary research, gather data and test the software internally. It was a lot of work, but together we were able to get it accomplished,” Grenzberg said.

Corporate Buyers Guide is in the final stages of developing their website.

“We have been beta-testing the site with four different companies. While the beta site is not fully functional, it gives the user a very good idea of what we will offer once it goes live,” Grenzberg said. “The feedback I have received on the website has been very positive. In addition, a lot of other companies I’ve talked to have said that they are very interested in using the site once it goes live…and that’s without even showing them the beta site.”

Grenzberg expects the site to go live in the very near future.

To learn more about Corporate Buyers Guide, call Gerhard Grenzberg at 459-5068.

If you have an idea for a new business or would like to know more about the incubator program, contact CAN BE at 455-8334 or visit them online at canbe.biz.