December, 2006

Reprinted by permission from the January 2007 issue of Down East magazine.
Copyright 2006 by Down East Enterprise, Inc., Camden, Maine. All rights reserved.

Rumors of its demise to the contrary, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Maine. The Pine Tree State doesn't have a reputation as a hotbed of hot start-ups, but every year new businesses discover profitable niches for themselves here, as evidenced by the following fifteen companies.

This first-ever Down East Hot 15 list is not meant to be an unconditional endorsement of these businesses. Instead, consider it as a sort of survey of contemporary commerce in Maine, with a focus on the more innovative ideas now being put to work. If you're interested in who has a plan to make money in Maine, these are some companies that bear watching.

So what makes a business hot? Profitability is an obvious measure, but we don't think it's the only one. Some of the following companies have distinguished themselves by exploiting previously unseen opportunities and changing ideas about what a Maine business can be. Others are trailblazers in their respective industries. Collectively, they all have something interesting to tell us about the state of entrepreneurship in the Pine Tree State.

Hodgdon Yachts
Location: East Boothbay.
What they do: Boatbuilder.

Why they're hot: Hodgdon Yachts launched its first ship in 1816, a forty-two-foot wooden schooner named Superb. Five generations later, Tim Hodgdon and his eighty employees are working on Hull #407, a composite-based advanced prototype of a "medium-range, high-speed, insertion craft" for use by navy SEAL teams and other special-forces units. "It's a technical demonstration for the Office of Naval Research and the Special Operations Command," notes Hodgdon. The eighty-foot boat is being developed in partnership with the University of Maine's Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Laboratory.

In recent years Hodgdon Yachts has been best known for the extraordinary quality (and expense) of its high-end mega-yachts, and Hodgdon says this latest project does not mean the yard is shifting its focus. "It's all about diversification strategies," he explains. The company has also received a grant to do research into a high-speed, composite-hull ferry. "You have to change with the times," Hodgdon advises. "This is one way we're looking at the future.