Negocios Now

www.negociosnow.com Diciembre 2013 NegociosNow NegociosNow www.negociosnow.com Marzo 2017 17 NegociosNow NegociosNow Foto Brian Morowczynski A Matchmaking session at USHCC National Convention in Dallas, in 2010. Michele Ruiz, owner of Ruiz Strategies, was awarded a con- tract after attending My Busi- ness Matchmaking session, at USHCC Summit last year. Foto Cortesía Jeff Vigil, founder of My Business Matches, at his office in San Antonio By Tara García Mathewson T he story of My Business Mat- ches starts back in 2008. Jeff Vigil, CEO and founder, saw a business matchmaking event orga- nized by the Small Business Admi- nistration. There were a lot of Excel spreadsheets. Vigil thought the concept was a good one – speed dating, but for businesses. He knew technology could make the whole process a lot smoother, though. By 2009 Vigil, who had his own web development company at the time, had an application. He did a test-run during a matchmaking event hosted by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Vigil says the recipe wasn't quite right, but the concept was solid. He used the feedback from event managers, suppliers and buyers and kept tinkering. Now, My Business Matches has 1.2 million users in more than 100 different countries. It officially launched from San Antonio in 2012 and has continued to improve its platform, leveraging technology to help businesses make the best pos- sible matches and close deals. In just a few years, My Business Matches has facilitated more than $15 billion in contracts. A two-day event in Paraguay secured $256 million in contracts alone. Vigil, a Navy veteran, says the hardest thing about matching is not actually connecting a buyer and a supplier, but getting a procu- rement-ready supplier in front of the right buyer. One of My Business Matches' unique features is compa- tibility scoring. Each supplier gets a compatibility score for a particular contract with a given company. "If I'm a supplier and I get a score of 48, I'm going to want to know why," Vigil said. "That ques- tion is something they've never had answered." Vigil's system automatica- lly analyzes information from a supplier with the buyer's specifica- tions, offering a rundown of unmet requirements – for example, that the buyer was looking for a woman- owned company or one with a cer- tain threshold of revenues. With that information, companies have actionable data. They can partner with a larger business or one that is woman-owned, for example, and go after a deal together. Another favorite design feature is the ability to host matchmaking events virtually. AT&T is one com- pany that skips physical events and meets potential suppliers online. They do it monthly. My Business Matches also recently brought together buyers and suppliers from across Korea and Latin America virtually. Despi- BUSINESS MATCHMAKING PLATFORM HAS HELPED CLOSE $15 BILLION IN CONTRACTS SINCE 2012 The San Antonio-based company connects suppliers and buyers virtually and in person te the time difference and language barriers, Vigil's platform connec- ted people, opening new doors to businesses on opposite sides of the world. A new effort, Puerto Rico Open for Business, will capitalize on a similar economic development opportunity. Vigil, who is half Puer- to Rican and half Italian, expects to open up global opportunities to Puerto Rican businesses. On a small island, many of these busi- nesses have marketable products and services, but limited access to corporations that need them. Vigil's portal will create the access. Vigil sees the virtual matches as a way for companies to save time and money, but it doesn't take out the human-to-human connection. That's something he wants to keep at the center of the platform. Indi- viduals will always be able to reach out to others, talk to them and inte- ract with them. "This company is about humans coming together to do business," Vigil said. So far the My Business Mat- ches platform has been available for free. Vigil plans to institute a subscription-based model in 2017, starting packages at $100 per year. And he is full of ideas for next steps. Already clients come back to him after making deals through My Business Matches looking for recommendations for getting a line of credit or building out their staffs. Vigil's platform hasn't yet bran- ched out into those other areas for potential matchmaking, but it will one day, if everything goes as planned. Looking back, Vigil recognizes that it was encouragement and support from mentors, friends and family that has brought him to where he is today. Plus he has a team that lives and breathes his mission. But it wasn't always easy. He laughs thinking back to that first matchmaking event with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "There's no instruction booklet," he says of making a successful company. "You have to tinker, you have to fail, you have to freak out. But you do it and it grows." That has certainly been the case with My Business Matches, anyway. SAN ANTONIO LATINOS IN TECHNOLOGY NegociosNow NegociosNow El Especial

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