POSITION CEO
COMPANY Big Fish Presentations
WHAT THEY DO Presentation design and training, video production
REVENUE Around $250,000
NEXT GOAL Writing our book on presentations
Kenny Nguyen loves presentations—at least good ones. In January 2010, enrolled at LSU, he looked forward to attending a student real estate association function. “I was psyched, they had a Fortune 500 speaker,” Nguyen says. The talk fizzled. “With boring presentations, they’re probably missing out on the next big idea,” he says. Yet the boredom inspired Nguyen, then 20, to start his own company a month later. “People really need presentations,” Nguyen says. “We can help them make money, and we make money.”
“We didn’t do any research,” he says. “I came in there cold turkey.” Despite the lack of focus groups and market studies at the start, Nguyen and Big Fish Presentations have embraced learning and improving. “We’re always investing our time into bettering our services,” he says. “We’re really got at this because we’re young.” He says he’s gone through five business partners, but raves about friend and current partner Gus Murillo. Nguyen also credits the entire staff, now 10. “The people make a great organization,” he says. “It’s not just one person.”
Shortly after starting his business, Nguyen’s first catch was Raising Cane’s. “I didn’t tell them my age,” he says, but he persistently went after the company and told Cane’s, “No one will be hungrier than I am.” His first account led to other big names, like Celtic Media and L’Auberge Casino. Nguyen also set his sights early on Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, and he wanted to make sure he stood out with the CEO. “I tweeted Mike Wright,” he says, while he served as president of an entrepreneur club at LSU. “He tweeted me back.” Landing the Blue Cross and other accounts forced Nguyen into choosing between business and his studies. “Dude, what am I doing man?” Nguyen says he asked himself. “I left school; it’s honestly the best decision I have made.”
“People remember the presenter more than the presentation.”
