David Kutcher
David Kutcher: 32
Owner and President, Confluent Forms LLC
When David Kutcher started his first business enterprise, a graphic-arts and Web-design firm, he looked at the strengths of two friends for inspiration.
“A confluence is when three or more rivers come together to form one stronger river,” he told BusinessWest about the inspiration for Confluent Forms. “The idea originally was that we were offering three services: usability and strategic consulting, design branding and graphic-design services, and custom software-development services.”
Since 2002, that company has taken off, and now counts everything from small nonprofit organizations to Fortune 100 firms as clients. But Kutcher is most pleased these days with the success of a Web site he created that’s certainly turning some heads.
After becoming involved in the Northampton Arts Council, he realized the importance of civic involvement. And like any good businessman, he saw an opportunity. The result is the RFP Database, where organizations post their requests for proposals. Interested parties join at little to no cost, and as a result, the site has upwards of 60,000 members, announcing more than 1,400 new RFPs every month, with a total value ranging anywhere from $600 million to $1 billion.
“Being able to push those business opportunities is really a rewarding thing to do,” he said. “And I do hope more people in Western Mass. take advantage of it. With the economy being what it is here, to be able to grab projects from other states and do them here, it’s great.”
Investment in his community is something that has always been important to Kutcher. And as he and his wife, Nicole, expect their first child (besides their dog, Rita) at the end of this month, that means he’ll be more invested than ever. “People used to tell me all the time that, when you have a kid you’re a bigger part of the community,” he said. “It’s exciting to be expecting our firstborn, but also to be more involved than I already am.” —Dan Chase
