Glenn Oliver served on the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners in the late 1990s, helping approve contracts for the utility. He always thought there was a better way to bring down projects costs through more competition.
"I thought there were potentially more bidders who were interested in seeing our projects," says Oliver, president & CEO of
H2bid.com.
The advent of the Internet inspired Oliver to start H2bid.com, an Internet start-up that provides e-procurement services for water utilities. Today the Midtown-based firm has helped solicit more than 40,000 bids for water utility projects around the world in its first five years.
"It makes sense to have a central place on the Internet where all the utilities can post their projects," Oliver says. "There are 50,000 water utilities in the U.S. alone."
H2bid.com has been working to maximize its search engine optimization in recent years, allowing that to help it spur growth. The 5-year-old firm has hired three people over the last year, expanding its five employees and 20 independent contractors. Oliver plans to hire a few sales people and administrative workers over the next year.
"We'll be looking to expand and grow as our business grows," Oliver says. "We expect to grow quickly over the next 3-6 months."
Source: Glenn Oliver, president & CEO of H2bid.com
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at
SEMichiganStartup.com.
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