Got ID?

Robert Tuchman used to dream about turning his love of sports into a plum sports anchor job. But after college he couldn't break into TV, so he took a position selling advertising for a sports publication. "I was selling advertising, [but] what the client really wanted was these value-added programs and packages," says Tuchman. When he pitched the idea to his company, they weren't interested.

A story in Entrepreneur magazine about a woman who started a sports-related business gave him the urge to set out on his own, and in 1997, he started New York City-based TSE Sports and Entertainment. Self-funded without so much as a computer, and unable to use old contacts because of a two-year noncompete agreement he'd signed with his previous employer, Tuchman began cold-calling companies. "The two years helped me learn patience," says Tuchman. Today, TSE's clients include IBM, Nabisco, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble.

TSE offers travel arrangements and other packages for companies that want to take their clients to major sporting and entertainment events, even bringing in athletes to meet with the groups. The strategy has helped the company reach $10 million this year. And with plans to expand into consumer sweepstakes, sponsorship sales and celebrity and athlete marketing services, Tuchman shows no sign of taking his eye off the ball.

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This article was originally published in the November 2002 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Got ID?.