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Salted Pages was the name Lauren Kutschke gave her digital marketing agency for the same reason you might put the seasoning on caramel.
To bring out the natural flavors of the ingredients, she says.
“I feel that’s what I do in my business,” Kutschke says. “I bring out the best and what’s going to stand out for other entrepreneurs.”
Salted Pages, which specializes in content creation and search engine optimization, aka, SEO, for creative entrepreneurs, has been in business in Fort Worth for three years. Earlier this month, Kutschke made a valuable pitch to earn her burgeoning business some capital.
Lauren Kutschke
Kutschke was the grand prize winner of the Fort Worth Business Plan Competition, an annual event held in part to celebrate the city’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. With it came an award of $10,000, paid in actual U.S. dollars, not some form of crypto.
Salted Pages was one of eight to make the finals, where Kutschke and the others made a three-minute pitch to eight judges, followed by a two-minute question-and-answer round, at the Modern Art Museum.
As part of her winnings, Kutschke will also appear with Mayor Mattie Parker on her podcast, “Go Time,” yet another opportunity to sell her services.
Amber Higgins of Ten Four Films LLC, a small business that specializes in storytelling for small businesses, with a focus on film production, photography, branding, website development and social media marketing, was the runner-up. She won $5,000.
In third was Unbent Inc., a company that assesses and addresses unconscious bias in the hiring and training process through web-based virtual simulations. A total of $3,000 went to company owners Allison Silveus and Yohannis De La Fuente.
Deidra Kindred of Your Healthcare Nurse Advocates won the popular vote from the audience, also known as the Perfect Pitch Prize. Your Healthcare Nurse Advocates is a patient advocacy team that educates and empowers families as they navigate the complexities of the healthcare system.
Kindred won a $500 credit from Printed Threads, the sponsor of the Perfect Pitch Prize.
The event was put on by the city’s Economic Development department and sponsored by Frost Bank. TechFW, HSC Innovates, SCORE Fort Worth, Tarrant County Small Business Development Center, AccelerateDFW Foundation, and the North Texas Entrepreneur Education and Training Center were also involved.
A self-described “nomad,” Kutschke, 25, moved around quite a bit growing up. She went to school at Brigham Young University and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She says she has been working with small business on e-commerce and social media management since her university days.
She and her husband, an airline pilot, moved to Fort Worth as part of his job transfer. They have lived here three years.
“Luckily, we moved to Fort Worth,” she says. “I love it here.”
Salted Pages has been a self-funded venture. “Luckily, the overhead has been low.”
Her winnings will go in to the business, she says, hopefully a springboard to growth. On her to-do list in the not-to-distant future is to hire an account manager to service clients, primarily in the realm of communication.
“I’m not going to DisneyLand with it,” Kutschke jokes about her winnings. “It will be put in to the business. Serve as a cushion.”
The pitch competition was a first for Kutschke, a rookie in doing this kind of stuff. It was a good experience, obviously, but not simply because of the money. She says it was fun to step away from running the business and to delve into some things a little more in depth “that I nornally don’t get to do,” and that the competition requires.
“It was really humbling and exciting and probably a little addicting. I want to do it again. It was so fun.”
She will probably get another chance.