Entrepreneurs who were bruised by the recession but emerged stronger were honored Wednesday at the Business Journal’s ninth annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards in Irvine.
Glenn Stearns, chief executive of Santa Ana-based mortgage lender Stearns Cos., was the event’s keynote speaker.
He also was an award winner in 2007, when he questioned accepting the award, given that the real estate and mortgage markets were unraveling before his eyes, he said.
Stearns detailed how, after 2007, he navigated a maelstrom of creditors, class action lawsuits, revenue that fell from $140 million to $14 million and other problems to grow his company 4000% by 2009, topping out at more than $500 million of deals per month.
Stearns also talked about how he fought to overcome an impoverished childhood, where he was raised by alcoholic parents, failed the fourth grade and had a child of his own while he was only in eighth grade.
The 2010 winners:
Jonathan Ord, chief executive and cofounder of San Clemente-based DealerSocket, which makes customer management software for auto dealers.
Ord has managed to grow his company despite the auto industry seeing the worst downturn since the 1970s last year.
David Kim, managing partner of Irvine-based Bascom Group, a private equity real estate group that has purchased 199 apartment complexes since 1996 and has done more than $6 billion in transactions.
Kim came up with the idea for the company from a project he completed in college.
Shawn McGuan, founder and chief executive of LifeModeler Inc., which makes software that allows companies, such as shoe makers, golf equipment makers and hospitals, to test various designs on virtual human beings.
McGuan joked that he got the idea for the company when he got “bored” at work and wanted to figure out a way to get into neat places such as Nike Inc. and meet interesting people, such as astronauts.
Dean Quinn, president and creative director of Huntington Beach-based O’Quinn Clothing, which makes surfwear.
Former professional surfer Quinn left a high-paying job at Hurly International LLC in Costa Mesa in 2007 to grow O’Quinn Clothing to a company with more than 150 accounts and an estimated $7 million in sales.
Quinn thanked his wife at the ceremony, who supported him while he left his lucrative position at Hurley to open up shop in his garage.
Joshua Hong, chief executive and cofounder of K2 Network Inc. in Irvine.
Hong and his business partner introduced to the U.S. the “free-to-play” video game model, which they brought over from Asia. The model is based off of free video games that make money when players buy virtual items, such as special powers, as they play.
Hong talked about how he once was offered a lucrative deal to sell his company, but decided to grow his company into something that will survive longer than he will, in the vein of IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
