3 companies win entrepreneur awards
Apr 21, 2007

PASADENA - Three companies that offer legal, Internet and neonatal help received recognition for their efforts.

Prolacta Bioscience, LegalZoom, and Snap.com were named winners of the Entretech PricewaterhouseCoopers Entrepreneurship Award at a banquet Thursday in Pasadena.

The award honors growing, cutting-edge companies that symbolize the best in entrepreneurial spirit and skills. Winners must look at the addressable market where their products will sell most effectively, Stephanie Yanchinski, executive director of Entretech, said Friday.

"The winners all showed a strong understanding of what their addressable market would be," she said. "They also demonstrated an excellent ability to execute a business plan that delivered sales to that market."

The award selection committee also weighs management teams' ability to grow the company, she said.

The award, in its fourth year, was divided into three categories based on annual revenue.

Snap.com, which won in category 2 (companies with annual revenues of between $1 million and $5 million) provides a search engine featuring a visual preview of Web sites rather than just text information.

Participating in the awards process

has already reaped benefits, with the company receiving calls from potential investors, said Snap.com Chief Operating Officer Fred Walti.
"An award like this spurs interest in people who like to invest," Walti said.

The company recently introduced Snap Shots, which can be found on more than one million Web sites and is used about 10 million times per day, Walti said.

When a Web visitor rolls a mouse over a hyperlink on a Web site using Snap Shots, that rollover provides a visual preview of the link.

Prolacta Bioscience won in category 1, for companies with less than $1 million in annual revenue. The Monrovia-based company provides pharmaceutical-grade human breast milk for underweight babies.

LegalZoom won in category 3, for companies with $5 million or more in annual revenue.

The company provides online self-help legal document services.

Every year about 50 million households need legal help, but only one-third use the legal system, said John Suh, CEO of LegalZoom.

"We want to make the law easier and more affordable, to give everyone access to the full protection the law can provide," he said.

LegalZoom can help an entrepreneur incorporate a company, trademark a logo, patent an invention or copyright their work, Suh said.

The company also offers help with estate planning, power of attorney and other documents, he said.

Entretech is a force among Southern California entrepreneurs, and two-thirds of LegalZoom's revenue comes from entrepreneurs.