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February 11, 2003
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Northern Nevada startups pitch products at venture capital conference
Artical by Bill O'Driscoll, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
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SACRAMENTO -- Their allotted eight minutes raced by, but three northern
Nevada startup companies succeeded Tuesday in pitching their products
before potential investors at the Sacramento Venture Capital Conference.
"I think we got our message out," said Jay Smith, president of E-SOL
International, a tiny Reno company with big plans to make software for
companies seeking more accountability in earnings and other corporate
practices.
Smith emphasized the "crisis of confidence" in the business world in
the past year, led by the financial scandal at former energy giant Enron,
and said his product, still in the research and development stage, will
be a remedy.
"We will know who did what and who signed off on what," he told his
audience. "Our software will alert people. It's not for watchdog purposes,
but to make a company better. Companies will be better companies and
managers will be better managers."
Doug Erwin of Incline Village-based Advanced Fluidix Laboratories said his
company will soon have a low-cost test for couples frustrated by a failure
to conceive.
Advanced Fluidix is working on an over-the-counter home test for male
fertility, and Erwin estimated it's a potential $3.2 billion market alongside
the $15 billion home pregnancy test market for women.
"We're talking about a package with a red light or green light. At the
end of the day, you either fail or you pass," he said of his company's
product.
Reno-based modeMD, maker of software used by physicians in hand-held devices
to keep track of their daily billings, is farther along than Advanced
Fluidix and E-SOL.
Since last fall, modeMD has sold its product to 170 physicians, CEO Roy
Graham told his panel of investors, and is now seeking a second round of
financing in its quest to help physicians avoid paperwork and save
thousands of lost dollars a year.
"It’s a $25 billion market opportunity for us," he said.
By day’s end, the nearly 60 companies from 11 Western states had endured
a tough audience who evaluated each presentation. Today, the top-scoring
companies will get another chance to pitch their products, with the winner
awarded $25,000 in professional services.
Several investors on Smith's and Erwin’s panel expressed doubts that they
would agree to invest in the competing companies, given the depressed
economy and a general reluctance to take chances.
"It’s a tight market, and there’s just not a lot of funding now," Smith
said afterward. "But all it takes is one to believe in our vision."
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modeMD Presents at Major Venture Capital Conference