4/12/2012 - Dakota County Tribune Business Weekly

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Laura Adelmann T.w. Budig Jessica harper

Farmington developer to pay assessment 2A Bill allows zoo to stay open during shutdowns 5A Cedar Grove retail plan advances 6A

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date ##, April 12, 2009 2012

Volume 33, 30, NUMBER Number 7 # VOLUME

Dakota County Tribune Since 1884

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Matthew Ames’ awesome adventure

inside biz forum

Paintball-business owner named Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Dakota County Tribune and Sun Thisweek newspapers settle in at their new Apple Valley Shops on Galaxie home. larry 4A werner

by John Gessner

DAkota County Tribune

Matthew D. Ames reached $1 million in sales last year with MN Pro Paintball, the Burnsville-based company he founded and owns. That’s a sum dismissed as “not cool” in the Hollywood screen version of the rise of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. But $1 million was cool enough for the U.S. Small Business Administration, which this month announced Ames as its Minnesota Young Entrepreneur of the Year. And it was a milestone for Ames, who cobbled together his business with bank loans and had to virtually start over after a robbery wiped him out in July 2004. But $1 million isn’t where he wants to stay. The 28-year-old exudes a Zuckerberg-like vibe as he discusses the prospects for MN Pro Paintball, which he runs from a small Burnsville office with an energy-drink cooler next to his desk. “Seriously, we’re just getting started,” said the 2002 graduate of Lakeville High School. “There’s a ton of potential there. Competition is getting fierce in this market, which is good. … That’s what they tell you in entrepreneurial school — If you’re the only person trying to do something, it’s probably not that awesome.” Ames spent several of his formative years in the business — a 188-acre paintball park in Lakeville and retail stores in Burnsville and Minnetonka — also attending Minnesota State University, Mankato, and later finishing his degree at the University of St. Thomas’ Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. MN Pro Paintball’s key demographic is males ages 14 to 32, said Ames, who was right in that wheelhouse when he fell in love with the game — a fantasy survival contest in which the vanquished are marked by splotches of water-soluble dye fired from enemy guns. “I was born with all these heart

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INSIDE BIZ

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PHIL KRINKIE BUSINESS

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Superintendents across Minnesota agree that the state’s per pupil education funding formula needs to be f ixed. don 4A heinzman capitol commerce

Gov. Mark Dayton vetoes Rep. Pat Garofalo’s bill that would have paid back money to school districts. pat 5A garofalo dakota arts Illustration by Dustin Uran

Submitted photo

Matthew Ames, in full paintball Armed and ambitious: gear, was pictured on a the cover Matthew Ames is pictured in of a book about the game. his Burnsville office. on his physicals. defects,” explained Ames, who owns He tried motocross, which led to a home in Bloomington. “I essen- a couple of concussions that scared tially am missing a chamber. There’s his mom, and paintball. one major artery that takes blood “So paintball stuck it out,” said away from your heart, and there’s Ames, who was fitted with a paceone that brings blood back to it. maker at 18 after suffering a heart Mine are flipped around. And the flutter in math class. “For a couple heart has four chambers. I’m miss- of years there I really got into it. I ing one.” started a team, started doing tourna Ames played hockey as a kid, but ments and traveling. Paintball was by the time he’d reached bantams, my life.” his doctor would no longer sign off Ames comes from an entrePhoto by John Gessner

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preneurial family. His grandfather, Richard Ames of Jordan, founded Ames Construction in Burnsville in 1960. It’s now one of the leading civil and industrial contractors in America, with offices in several Western and Midwestern states. Matthew’s father, Al, also had the entrepreneurial itch. Instead of continuing to work for his father, Al started Eureka Construction in Lakeville 15 years ago. The progression was similar for the next generation, as Matthew left his father’s employ and decided to make his way in paintball. In 2001, while still in high school, he set his sights on six vacant acres along Cedar Avenue owned by See Ames, Page 8A

Violin virtuoso and former Stats: 0 Lakeville MAG: 1.00resident BWA: 0.0020 Chad Hoopes to Symbol Width: 1.4690 Symbol Height: 1.0200 perform at the Flexo Width: 0.0000 Lakeville Area Arts Center. Chad 28A hoopes this week news

Code Type: UPC Version A Customer: 3242-ECM Publishers Order #: P34915-017 P.O. #: Ordered By: Polarity: Positive Up Date Run: 05/29/2002

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