unleashing
national impact
igniting local
transformation
Liyu Nalven was born in a small village in China with few career prospects. For much of her childhood, Nalven and her family did not have enough food to eat, but her hardworking parents instilled in her the value of a strong work ethic. Despite her humble beginnings, Nalven earned degrees in accounting and international trade and immigrated to the U.S. But when her husband, Gary, lost his job in 2012, the pair decided to start their own business focused on products Gary built using his industrial engineering background. They kickstarted the business on personal savings and crowdfunding and worked overtime for several years before realizing they needed to make a change if they wanted the business to be sustainable.
First, they niched their product offerings to ensure LinorTek was the best provider for their specific systems, focusing on easy-to-use, reliable ethernet I/O controllers for industrial automation. “We don’t have the resources to compete with Honeywell or another big company,” Nalven said. “So that’s why we focused on the niche market, like the school bell.” They developed a wireless bell system that could be used in schools and manufacturing plants to signal breaks and shift changes. But they would need additional funding if they were to continue developing their products and expand into international markets.
"The SBTDC has connected me with important resources and trained me to have the ability to export. Those are the two biggest things that they've helped me with. In the beginning, when I worked with SBTDC, it was like counselor and client, and now it feels more like friends that I can talk to whenever I need resources. I don't have to make an appointment to talk to him, I just pick the phone up and speak to my counselor."
Over the course of several meetings with the SBTDC from 2012-2017, Gary and Liyu Nalven worked to refine their seventy-six-page business plan–specifically their value proposition. They pitched their business to investors at two Investor-Ready Entrepreneur events, created and run by the SBTDC, and worked to better identify their target market.
By 2018, LinorTek was making a healthy profit with their first products and was looking to export goods to Canada. Nalven felt Canada would be an easy target because of their common language. In preparation, she attended SBTDC’s Export Bootcamp, a program started by the International Business team, to improve her understanding of the world of exporting. Following that event, LinorTek was able to access the Canadian market and begin their journey selling their products abroad. But the export compliance documents were long and confusing, and Nalven continued to experience issues with the process. SBTDC counselors helped her to work out the Canadian Import Tax requirements, improving customer satisfaction and creating a seamless end-to-end process from sale to delivery. “The SBTDC has connected me with important resources and trained me to have the ability to export,” Nalven said.
From there, LinorTek’s exports grew. Nalven wanted to expand into markets in developing nations where there was less competition for their technologically advanced products. To assist with that goal, the SBTDC identified trade shows for LinorTek to attend and even translated for Nalven at a trade show in Mexico.
For the last five years, LinorTek has grown by 30% year over year. They have numerous Fortune 500 customers, including Boeing, Ford, L3Harris Technologies, and others. They now support twelve full time employees and several part time assembly workers. In 2024, LinorTek was honored with the SBA’s NC Small Business Exporter of the Year award. Since their first foray into international business in 2018, they now export to dozens of countries, with exports making up 20% of their total sales.
Nalven counts her SBTDC counselor among her team, calling him up whenever she has export compliance questions or needs advice on LinorTek’s next move in international markets. “If you want to scale your business,” Nalven said, “you have to work on the business. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned.”
In 2007, Dan Whisnant and Mike Gilbert began formulating a plan. Mike had just lost his son, Tommy, during his service in the Marine Corps. Dan had been Tommy’s commanding officer. These men understood the struggles active military members and veterans go through to obtain adequate care, and they envisioned a solution for improved veteran care with less red-tape and quicker response times.
By 2016, their vision began to take shape. Dan’s son, Tyler, joined the company as Chief Operating Officer to help steer their new small business. Working with Mike’s connections, SDV Office Systems planned to supply furniture and medical devices to VA hospitals to ensure the comfort of veteran patients and their families. But while the company had connections with suppliers, they struggled when it came to the government contracting procurement process and applying for government certifications. They needed help winning contracts, complying with government requirements, and building their business around a procurement strategy. “I knew enough to be dangerous,” Dan said, “but had never gone through the process. We needed someone to help shepherd us through.”
They also knew that to provide quality services, they’d need to build a cohesive and effective team at a rapid rate. They already had strong core values. But they needed local connections.
"I knew enough to be dangerous but had never gone through the [procurement] process. We needed someone to help shepherd us through."
The father-son duo initially reached out to the Government Contracting Assistance Program (GCAP) at the SBTDC. GCAP counselors walked them through the process of applying for several certifications, including HubZone, VA CVE, and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.
“I wanted to get the inside scoop on how to navigate the process to make sure we pass muster and that we do it the right way,” Dan Whisnant said, referring to the procurement process. Their counselor “helped navigate the submission process and got us approved and certified.”
By 2018, SDV wanted to expand their offerings to include medical devices. The SBTDC helped them with specific market research to identify NAICS codes, opportunities, and competitors in this new market. SBTDC counselors reviewed contracts and offered feedback for SDV, which gave them the operating room and time to negotiate with the VA. “[Our counselor] Pam helped us narrow the playing field and get to ‘no’ quicker, which is important,” Dan said.
Additionally, the SBTDC introduced the Whisnants to local businesses for new partnership opportunities. This expanded network allowed the business to grow efficiently; they quickly identified highly capable individuals to bring onto their team.
In 2017, their first year of operation, SDV Office Systems acted as a prime contractor and met their goal of nearly $1 million in sales. By 2024, they had increased that number by a multiple of one hundred, reaching $100 million in sales. Today, their team has grown to nineteen full time employees across two locations, and they supply 30-35% of all the VA’s furniture. They have also won numerous awards, including being named a Vet100 company in 2024 and an Inc5000 company in 2023. That same year, Dan was named Asheville Entrepreneur of the Year.
Operating a successful small business relies on strong core values. Most of SDV Office System’s employees are fellow veterans, several of them service-disabled. The Whisnants have built the company culture around improving veterans’ lives, and their close-knit office demonstrates their commitment to supporting their staff. “You’ll see in all of our internal and external values, we want to have fun.” Dan explained. “We make some tough decisions, there’s some tough things we’re going through even right now, but we’re still having fun doing it.”
Ten years ago, Joel Greenberg was a new professor at Duke University working on projects involving X-ray technology. “[I was] asking the question, how can new X-ray measurements, new X-ray algorithms be used to provide better aviation security?” he said. A few years into the project, he recognized the potential for commercialization. Simultaneously, it became clear that the university was not the best environment to foster the product’s development. “There was the need for a different type of institution that would allow us to continue progressing the technology from on-the-bench ideas to real products that address the real problem,” Greenberg said.
So in 2018, Greenberg founded Quadridox, Inc. alongside Michael Gehm, Ph.D., David Coccarelli, Ph.D., Anuj Kapadia, Ph.D., and Amit Ashok, Ph.D. with the goal of developing computational X-ray imaging products to create a safer, healthier world.
The five scientists brought physics and engineering expertise to the nascent company, but none of them had experience running a business. They quickly assembled an all-star team and advisory board to help build their business plan. It wasn’t long before their new CFO, Ruth Proctor, introduced them to the Technology Commercialization team at the NC SBTDC.
"The SBTDC has helped with a number of things. . . . One thing that has been really helpful for me is helping provide perspective for what growth looks like. We know how to do the contracting. We know how to build the technology. But what happens next and what does it look like and how do we get there? And so talking with the SBTDC has been very helpful."
With SBTDC’s help, Quadridox grew rapidly. They participated in the Technology Commercialization internship program two years in a row, utilizing MBA students to advise on their business strategy, perform market research, and analyze the competitive landscape. With their added bandwidth and clear analysis through the internship program, Quadridox identified two primary customer segments for their X-ray products: airport security and cancer pathology.
As the company narrowed its focus, their business shifted away from R&D funding through their numerous SBIR/STTR awards toward a minimum viable product ready for commercialization. They attended SBTDC’s Investor-Ready Entrepreneur event to understand more about venture capital and alternative funding for startups, and they worked directly with an SBTDC Equity Funding Specialist to formulate a commercialization plan for their products. As they begin marketing their products, SBTDC will continue to provide resources and to help steer the company’s overarching business plan toward profitability.
Since they hired their first employee five years ago, Quadridox has increased annual contract revenue by thirty times, added fourteen additional full time employees, and moved into a new 7200 square foot flex space in Hillsborough. Through non-dilutive SBIR/STTR funding and commercial contracts over the last five years, Quadridox has bootstrapped itself to become an internationally recognized leader in X-ray imaging technology, developed several products, and provided internship and mentoring opportunities to over a dozen young scientists. They have established key partnerships and collaborations with numerous companies, universities, and research labs across the world.
Greenberg and his colleagues are frequent guest speakers at industry conferences, and they are happy to share their research with their audience. “We were never in stealth mode as a company,” he said. “We’re not shy about . . . telling people about the technology and what we’re trying to do to improve their lives.”
Greenberg is optimistic about the future of the company and the development of new products. Quadridox has some new projects in the works that he’s excited about. “We are still doing a lot of cool technology development. There’s a couple exciting things that you’ll just have to stay tuned for, that we can’t talk about yet. But we’ve got a lot cooking right now, so I’m excited to tell you to come back for part two in the future.”
