Ryan Wuerch

During a church service, he saw his pastor take out his Palm Pilot to look up a Bible passage. He noticed dozens of others in the congregation doing the same. The answer to Ryan Wuerch’s quest of starting something himself had at last appeared.

Wuerch took all his own money in 2001 and invested it in his new company Motricity, which allows cell phone users to customize how they interact with the internet in a way that fits their lifestyles.

Turning a vision into reality was nothing new for Wuerch.

As the senior vice president of ShapeRite, a nutritional supplement company, Wuerch expanded the business from 5 percent annual growth to the 44th fastest growing company in the country. Then, as the president of Learning 2000, which sold educational software, he had the idea to partner with Gateway Computers for distribution, which made Learning 2000 the top-selling product of 1998 next to Microsoft Windows.

So why not take Motricity just as far? He sold his interest in Learning 2000 and began self-funding the company—attracting investors along the way, including billionaire Carl Icahn. He saw the risks as opportunities and took pride in finding solutions.

More recently, Motricity bought InfoSpace Mobile for $135 million in 2007 and moved from Durham, N.C., to Bellevue the following year. The company filed to go public in January and plans on using the funds from the IPO for acquisitions and investments.

Finalists:

Mike Pickett

President and CEO, Onvia (Seattle)

In 1980, Mike Pickett took over the entrepreneurial business practice at Haskins & Sells (now part of Deloitte) and doubled its profits. He later assisted struggling startups, and then became vice president and CFO at Softsel Computer Products Inc., where he was named president after three years and took the company public. Pickett then engineered the acquisition of Microamerica in 1990, gave it a new name (Merisel Inc.) and made the company one of the world’s largest wholesalers of computer components.

He then took over as CEO of Hardware.com and managed its acquisition by Onvia, a tech company that aggregates, analyzes and packages more data on government spending than any other organization in the country. As a board member, Pickett requested he become president of Onvia just as the dot-com bubble burst. Once president, he changed course quickly. He saw the future in providing businesses with intelligence on government spending and leads for contracts. The move helped Onvia become profitable, and kept it from becoming another casualty of the bust.

Nelson Ludlow

CEO, Intellicheck Mobilisa (Port Townsend)

When Nelson Ludlow wanted to start Mobilisa in 1994, banks would not lend him any money. So to bankroll it, he and his wife sold their house and emptied their 401(k) accounts. Still short, they borrowed from friends and family, promising them stakes in the company.

Mobilisa makes wireless technology that allows the government, the military and businesses to implement security systems, such as electronic ID verification systems. The same technology can also provide an easy way for stores to check a customer’s credit quickly. When L.L. Bean purchased the software and reader kiosks for its stores, within a two-week period, more customers applied for store credit cards than the previous year. Ludlow bought Intellicheck in 2007, and was able to turn it around in seven months and integrate it into the larger firm.

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