Bellevue firm Papugai wins Microsoft contest

A down economy finds victims in every area of daily life – and small businesses are often the most wounded.

To help smaller companies keep their spirits as well as their bottom lines up, Microsoft recently held a contest aptly titled “Bump the Slump.”

The contest was created to help arm local businesses that have minimal resources with tricks of the trade sent in from other local businesses. The entries were voted on by readers of Microsoft blogs and Web sites.

The top 10 entries were sent to a panel of small-business experts and judges who “chose three winners based upon clarity, widespread applicability and potential business impact,” according to Bill Rielly, Microsoft Small and Mid-size Business Solutions Marketing Director.

A tip from Bellevue software and e-commerce firm Papugai won the contest. Papugai’s owner, Matt Lewis, and co-owner Chris Ray, encouraged small-business owners to make use of free blog space and third party Web sites like Wordpress.com and Gmail.

“It is pretty basic. We wrote our tip with the idea of a new company with very small to no budget,” Lewis said. “Free blog software is a good place to start. Keep an ongoing blog about your products, your company, have an RSS feed and a way for people to subscribe to them.”

Papugai is a 19-year-old company that counts Dilettante Chocolates and a number of businesses around the world among its clientele. The business began in Seattle’s Queen Anne area. It started out offering marketing and software design, went on to branding and dabbled in Web site purchased software.

Now it ventures in e-commerce techniques and provides clients with “upscale, pull-of-the-shelf” software, or software that can be immediately installed right after purchase.

Papugai’s method of selling ready-built software is in direct competition with big name companies doing the same for millions of dollars.

“We are providing the same services those big companies are for $50,000 to $80, 000,” Lewis said.

Papugai (pronounced Pop-oo-guy), is the Russian word for parrot; for years Lewis brought his pet into the office daily. These days the parrot stays home flying about in the atrium Lewis constructed in his backyard.

“Our company became known as “the firm with the parrot,” Lewis explained. “My wife is Russian and I am fluent in Russian, so I think the name was a reflection of us, as well. Plus it is easy to remember and fun to say.”

The top tip winner and runners-up of “Bump the Slump” each received a $25,000 Shell Gas Card and entry to the Small Business Summit at Microsoft’s Redmond campus last month.

Runners-up were Pamela Viveiros and Clay Johanson. Johanson, an employee in the legal department of William Ives Consulting, recommended “virtualizing” a company to make better use of free space on a hard drive. “Virtualizing” a company would put all information and products online as opposed to the traditional methods of paper documents – replacing faxes, letters and face to face interaction with electronic communication.

“It has been a lot of fun and we are so grateful to have been a part of the contest and look forward to making use of the gas cards,” Lewis said.

Asli Omur is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.

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