Eureka Instruments – Water Quality Instrumentation

Austin is an environmentally conscious city which gives substantial attention to water quality in the area due to assets such as the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs.

I met Stuart Garner earlier this week at an Entrepreneur training CTAN holds at the MCC building. (The training gives entrepreneurs some insight into how angels fund deals and the session also covers the Emerging Technology Fund program.) Stuart runs a successful startup making water quality testing instruments, called Eureka Instruments. Eureka designs and markets water-quality instruments called multiprobes. Multiprobes measure such parameters as temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and water level. Biologists use the devices to measure the quality of water impacted by the effects of urbanization or a contaminant spill.

The water quality market has been growing steadily for 30 years at about a 15% per annum rate and is about a $60M market place. It’s great to see innovation applied to protecting the environment.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Minggl—Social Networking of Social Networking Sites

If you’re an avid social networking user you know the drill. Login to Facebook and review your profile. Login to MySpace and check your favorites. And so on and so forth. Each social networking site has its own login and password requirements. But what if you could login just once and all your sites are now accessible? That’s what Minggl does for you.

It can update photos and videos from anywhere across the web and consolidate friends lists and organize them better.

The entrepreneur behind the scenes is Dewey Gaedcke who according to his LinkedIn profile holds the survival record (5 days without water) in Kilauea Volcano national park in Hawaii. Dewey talks about how Minggl gives the user the ability to bring all of one’s content, whether if by YouTube, Flickr, MySpace or any other site, and consolidate it into a package that can be placed by the user in a position on the web and even change the access priority on the content so the user controls what others can see.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Springwise – Source of Innovative Ideas

Are you looking for that innovative idea that will inspire your next startup? I found a source called Springwise that captures new ideas from around the world. In the current edition, I found “Mobile Marketing at Music Festivals” an interesting idea. Instead of holding up a lighter during a concert to register your affirmation of a song, how about holding up a mobile phone with a lighter glowing on the display? How about applets you can download to help you find others in the crowd?

How about parties for foodies? In these events, you need only get a group of people together. Consultants bring the food to the meeting for you to sample. It’s a direct sales technique but for a free meal of new and interesting cuisine it sounds like a lot of fun.

Then there’s “Ridesharing with a Twist” which utilizes social networking sites to help people find carpool rides that are more interesting. Finally, there’s the “Scoring for Simpler Shopping Comparison” in which a web site gives a single number score (1-100) for a product. Most sites provide data covering several screens making comparisons difficult.

In each of the examples above, Springwise highlights a startup in that space so you can dig into the idea and see how they are executing it. I recommend you check it out as it may spur some ideas for your own startup.

Best regards,
Hall T.

David Altounian’s iTaggit—Keeping Track of Your Personal Stuff

I had my morning coffee at Uno’s today with David Altounian who now runs iTaggit which is an internet site that lets users organize and inventory their personal assets such as jewelry, artwork, etc. They generate revenue from advertisements, and referrals to service providers.

David has an interesting history going back to Dell where he ran Dell Labs for several years before moving on to startup Motion Computing the maker of tablet PCs. Along the way he picked up an MBA at Chicago’s Kellogg school of Management. According to David, his post-career goal is teaching Marketing Strategy in a university. I asked how he came up with the idea for iTaggit. While in university he saw numerous services that managed people’s financial assets but nothing that managed their physical assets. From that observation he concluded that people needed better tools to keep track of their stuff for insurance purposes, and other reasons.

David went on to talk about iTaggit’s growth. They just released an eBay Auction function on iTaggit’s site. It lets the user tag one of his items to sell on eBay and an eBay pop-up let’s the user customize the HTML for presentation of the item and brings all the relevant information from iTaggit’s database into the eBay posting. He recently upgraded the user interface and found a nice increase in business. In one case, the simple change of a background color made a big difference.

David talked about the benefit of taking less money in a startup rather than more. It teaches you how to spend more carefully. Motion only raised $6M but could have reached for $30M or more. He also spoke about finding the right fit between the entrepreneur and the investor. Sometimes the money is available but the funding source needs to fit well with the startup.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Phurnace Software – Made Java Applications Easier to Manage

Most people in town know Phurnace Software because they’ve made quite a splash in the past year. For those who don’t know, Phurnace makes software that accelerates the deployment of Java applications. Founded by Daniel Nelson while at UT, Phurnace now resides in the Austin Technology Incubator.

Larry Warnock recently took over as CEO of the startup. Larry has quite a history with startups. He developed a startup in the Bay area which was acquired by Siebel. He came to Austin to join AV Labs and then moved on to Zilliant and Vignette before landing at Phurnace.

I met with Larry recently and learned more about Phurnace’ offering. Java applications require a great deal of customization on the enterprise software environment. There are literally hundreds of parameters that must be set and adjusted for the web services layer in the network – of which there are three main standards. Phurnace builds scripts into its Java application development environment and manages these parameters for the user.

Although Larry wouldn’t divulge revenue or sales stats, he did say they are seeing traction in the marketplace. Phurnace is a great example of startups coming out of UT. In the case of Phurnace they won the UT Moot Corp competition last year.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Armida Technologies – Wireless Video Surveillance

Having worked in the wireless space for some time now, I can tell you that wireline replacement is a real motivator for customers to switch to wireless systems as soon as they are “good enough.” The cost to wire an industrial location ranges from $2/ft up to $2000/ft, which makes wireless a no-brainer if a solution is available.

Armida Technologies brings wireless to the video surveillance market. Their value-add is their software which encrypts the signal before sending it. In case of interference, they can still recover enough of the transmission to give the user a clean image.

You can see Armida and other wireless companies in the upcoming Wireless Seed Stage Forum held by the Austin Technology Incubator on October 17, 2007.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Stormchaser Technologies – Automated Trading Systems

Stormchaser Technologies offers an automated trading system that uses algorithms to make day trades. The user loads in a select basket of stocks, and the software determines what trades to make. If the user wishes, there’s an automation features that takes complete control of the trading process. Robin Abraham, the CEO, calls it the “black box” technique in which the software does everything. There’s also the “grey box” mode in which the software offers trading advice, but the user determines what trades to make and enters them manually.

Robin spent several years consulting for IBM and even dabbled in real estate for awhile. He found dissatisfaction with trading systems because they couldn’t be automated nor could you use different platforms. He started in 2000 and came out with the first version that was a simple trading system. Over time he grew the tool into an automated trading system.

His philosophy on trading is that everyone has their own philosophy and that’s what makes a market – everyone has their own view. He wants to cater to those with unique ideas about trading. His trading system pulls from several different philosophies on money management, trading schemes, and portfolio management.

Robin indicated that one advantage of automated trading is that it forces discipline on taking exits and stops. The emotion factor in manual trading sometimes overtakes one’s better judgment. Automated trading helps with that. His other philosophy is the user should be able to develop once and implement many times. So the user could develop a trading strategy and then implement it on numerous platforms without the cost of redevelopment.

Stormchaser is targeted at the active trader with special tools for the swing trader. You can go to the Stormchaser web site to download a seven day free trial.

For next steps, Robin is developing new trading systems that leverage 3rd party developers into the process such as the Aurora and STXtreme systems.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Video Leverage – Professional Video Generation

I work at a large company in Austin and for many years our sales team would video tape sales conference presentations so others could check out the tapes and review the materials. Essentially, one of the salesmen would setup a camcorder on a tripod in the back of the room (about 100 feet from the presenter) and hit “record.” He later transferred it to a VHS tape. The image of the speaker was almost imperceptible, the voice inaudible, and in general the quality low.

An administrator kept track of the tapes for checkout and had a bookshelf full of them, all carefully labeled and archived for several years. One day, in passing, I asked, “So how many tapes have been checked out?” She replied, “Oh, no one’s ever checked out a tape. “ From that experience it became clear that viewing a video tape of a presenting person is a different experience from viewing a live presentation. The video viewer can check out of the session by simply hitting a button. Five minutes of viewing a video is equivalent to an hour of viewing a live presentation, which is why just taping a presentation and then transferring the raw footage onto a tape does not translate well.

I met with Andy Choquette from Video Leverage in Austin to plan a video shoot to be shown at the upcoming Open4Business conference event. Andy brought up several of the production quality issues one needs to keep in mind for shooting, producing, and displaying video footage. With video coming to the internet, the need for quality video grows dramatically. As Director for the Central Texas Angel Network I’m seeing more and more emails with links to a video pitch from the entrepreneur. I also find some entrepreneurs communicate their business proposition better in a pitch than in writing. Since it’s much easier for an investor to watch a ten minute video pitch than to read a lengthy business plan, it won’t be long before this is the standard in the industry.

Best regards,
Hall T.

PlanHeaven – Entrepreneur Pitches coming to the Web

Dylan Peterson is an Austinite now working out of Seattle. When I first met Dylan four years ago he was pitching a Charter Bus reservation company called Coppertop which is now called Charter Bus America. The venue was Opal Divine’s on 6th street which I thought was an odd location for pitching to a group of angels. Even odder was the fact that we were all gathered on the balcony overlooking 6th street. Just as he stood up to pitch, the musicians on the deck below started up a new set and Dylan had give his pitch over the SxSW concert going on downstairs. He kept his cool and gave the pitch without a hitch.

Dylan is now back in Austin with a new startup called PlanHeaven. The company runs a website which streams videos of entrepreneurs pitching their business plan to potential investors. As the director of an angel network, I can look up deals that meet my groups requirements which for the Central Texas Angels are

1) Based in Texas
2) Seeking $2M or less in funding
3) Have a complete or near-complete product/service

As video comes to the web in ever greater volume, it’s a natural tool for the entrepreneur to use to communicate the value of his/her business. Many investors would rather watch a ten-minute video to get the basic idea rather than read a business plan or even an executive summary. Check out the website.

Best regards,
Hall T.

Displaypoints – Digital Advertising comes to the Restaurant Table

Last spring, the Central Texas Angel Network sponsored a funding event in conjunction with the Acton Angel Network. Five entrepreneurs from Acton’s faculty/alumni/student body presented their business plans. One of the top presenters was Greg Fitzgerald of Displaypoints which is a digital advertising company that uses a 7-inch digital display (similar to a tablet) to bring advertisements to the customer. Compared to billboard advertising, the table top display can be customized to the target audience with greater frequency and relevancy.

Greg and his team are targeting the fast-casual and casual dining restaurant chains first, throughout the state of Texas. You can see their displays at Iron Cactus, Bennigan's, Austin's Pizza, Cane & Abel's, and Mangia Pizza.

Interest in advertising on the Displaypoints system appears to be strong. The US Army is going to start advertising through Displaypoints’ system for recruiting. The Displaypoint system allows them to target their demographic with laser-like precision. Now that the Army signs up then the other US military forces will soon follow. MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving) will run a ad campaign showing the effects of excessive drinking. In tests at Bennigan’s, Greg talked about how their point of sale advertising can measurably change the buying habits of the customers.

The biggest surprise is how restaurants are challenged with high turnover and how much time and cost they invest into training their staff. The Displaypoints system can help offload the wait staff by handling the specials the restaurant offers each day.

Best regards,
Hall T.