ZINO Invests

A Well Managed and Governed Company is a Good Investment

2012-02-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Kate's note: my colleague Chuck Roxin, Managing Director of ZINO Business Development Services is guest blogging on my site for a few posts.

"A well managed and governed company is a good investment."

That is the motto of ZINO Business Development Services. Everyone knows that most start ups are in fact not successful; there may be a debate about the exact percentage, but not the reality. The issue of how to improve the odds of success is critical. To this end investors devote considerable effort to screening, performing due diligence, coaching and mentoring start ups. These activities do in fact improve the odds.

We’d like to improve the odds even further. ZBDS picks up the story when companies begin to experience traction. By providing continuing assistance with management and operations the company’s growth can be propelled with greater confidence. Strengthening governance processes and decision making will do the same.

ZINO Society, as appropriate for an angel investment organization, focuses on what happens with a company shortly after creation. At ZBDS we’re looking at the entire life cycle, from creation through profitable growth or exit. Join us in this effort, and follow ZBDS blogs to learn more about what we do, how we do it, and why it’s important.

UW's Fluke Hall Incubator is Open for Business!

2012-02-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

UW C4C's Linden Rhoads cuts the ribbon on Fluke Hall

Yesterday UW's Fluke Hall, the new incubator that will be run by the Center for Commercialization officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The opening of UW's incubator has been in the works at least since April, when UW's Center for Commercialization took possession and began a remodel. I'm incredibly interested in this undertaking, both as a C4C alumnus and current angel group representative. When I was working in technology project management at C4C, there was an excited buzz about Fluke Hall and all the possibilities. C4C's New Ventures group began lining up fledgling UW companies for wet lab, dry lab and office space months before the opening. I hope the companies with whom I used to work will find an inspired home at Fluke.

In my current role as Dealflow Manager at ZINO, my interest now lies in the impact UW's incubator will have on the companies ZINO funds. I believe our investors will be exposed to even higher quality deals due to the activity at Fluke. The staff at C4C is dedicated to technology commercialization, and clearly UW's President Young expects to see companies spin out of UW in record numbers. Through the support of C4C and President Young, I believe ZINO and other Seattle angel groups will begin to see some outstanding investment opportunities coming straight from UW. I am looking forward to connecting UW companies seeking funding with ZINO's investor group.

Congratulations to my friends at C4C, the UW community and Seattle investors! Fluke Hall is a huge win for all.

Building a Pipeline

2011-12-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Under these rocks I will find the deals I need!

People often ask me where I find the companies who present at ZINO investment forums, and I liken the search to turning over rocks on the beach looking for little crabs. Every rock in my path will be pried up and flipped in my search for fledgling companies. No place is too odd or unlikely to find startups in need of investment capital, key connections and mentoring. We offer these opportunities and connections and more at ZINO, and thus my search is unending.

Some entrepreneurs find me through LinkedIn, ZINO's website or referrals from our members. I am always pleased to hear from interested entrepreneurs who have happened upon ZINO and want more information. Since I consider myself a proactive person (who, in the interest of total honesty, can't leave well enough alone) I often go out hunting for startups seeking funding. I try everything. I attend events of the other major angel groups around Seattle to get my name and face out there. Northwest Entrepreneur Network, which works with early-stage companies has adopted me and won't let their presenting companies leave an event without meeting me first. I go to coffee shops around town and look for people crowded around laptops and surreptitiously listen in on conversations. I stay in touch with my network of researchers, professors and students at UW, with whom I worked closely during my years at UW's Center for Commercialization. When I go to parties, I ask people about their lines of work and if anything sounds even slightly related to investing or entrepreneurial, I get a business card and follow up the next day. I post to LinkedIn and Facebook and respond to all comments, even if they are off topic (any comments are better than no comments!). At educational and networking seminars I will wait for ages to corner a panelist or keynote speaker in an attempt to tap into their knowledge of where the startups are. Connecting with people is my specialty--you could call me a professional networker; it's what I do, and I love it.

The search for startups is challenging and fun. Working the chain of connections to build my pipeline of entrepreneurs is exciting, and I meet many interesting people along the way. We offer many wonderful services and opportunities to entrepreneurs who join ZINO, either as a presenter or just to check us out--from our acclaimed coaching board, to our fun networking events with accredited investors we take wonderful care of our entrepreneurs. In 2012 we will be holding many of our investment forums and social events in the Columbia Tower Club, high above the city. Perhaps from the 75th floor I will be able to spot many new deals to keep my startup pipeline full to bursting!

ZINO Roundtable Forums: Connecting Ideas with Investors

2011-12-07T12:32:00.001-08:00

Clay Young of Inovus Solar
wants to help us skip the power
bill by investing in solar power.

Seattle Sensor Systems,
represented by Tom Skillman has
created food safety testing kits.

We held ZINO's final Roundtable investment forum of 2011 at the impressive Russell Investments Center in its new(ish) Downtown Seattle home, overlooking Puget Sound. ZINO's investor and sponsor members watched pitches from five excellent companies, Inovus Solar, Browsium, G.R. Silicate Nano-Fiber and Carbonate, Lacuna Systems, and Seattle Sensor Systems Corp. I was lucky in that a few of the presenters contacted me after hearing good things about ZINO's angel investments. Another company came from my relationship with my former employer, UW's Center for Commercialization and I picked up another at Tacoma Angel Network's most recent investment meeting. A large part of my role as Dealflow Manager involves scouting out companies to showcase for ZINO's investors, and I'm always pleased to put up high quality deals as I did yesterday.

Gary Schare's Browsium is
software that improves security
management of browsers and
LOB web apps.

Lacuna Systems is web
performance management
technologies for critical websites,
as presented by Tom Spoonemore.

ZINO's Roundtable Forums showcase three to five companies working in any space. The meetings are typically held over lunch and allow for a ten-minute pitch from each company. Roundtables are an outstanding way for entrepreneurs to network with accredited investors and get exposure for their companies. It's a convivial atmosphere with entrepreneurs and investors sharing lunch, ideas and connections. At ZINO we strive to create a fun, relaxed atmosphere that facilitates conversation and new partnerships between our membership groups.

Dr. Vijay Mathur explains G.R. Silicate
Nano-Fiber and Carbonate's economic,
environmental and energy solutions
using patented silicate nano-fibers
and carbon dioxide capture
technology.

We've just finalized ZINO's 2012 investment forum calendar. Our
next Roundtable meeting will be Tuesday, January 24th at the Columbia Tower Club. I would love for you to join us!

And the ZINO Marketplace $50K Fund Finalists Are...

2011-11-17T15:43:00.001-08:00

(L to R) Dean Lester of Vizua, Robin Elenga of Revel Body, Dave Owen of Proz, Inc. & John Baker of Thos. Baker

I am thrilled and proud to announce the four ZINO Marketplace company finalists for the 2011 ZINO Annual Angel Investment Fund Forums $50K fund: Vizua, Revel Body, Proz, Inc. and Thos. Baker. Each company presented a five-minute pitch at Tuesday night's ZINO Marketplace showcase of consumer products and services investment forum, along with nine others. We were lucky enough to secure Bellevue City Hall Council Chambers; an intimate and lovely space for ZINO Marketplace. The venue features a concourse with an exquisitely beautiful floor inlay that evokes a flowing river--could not take my eyes off it (awkward!). Each entrepreneur had an exhibition table on which to display their wares. The concourse was abuzz with conversation and connection as company teams shared their ideas and products with accredited investors, other entrepreneurs and ZINO sponsor members.

And what a motley crew of companies we watched pitch! We saw a new kitchen gadget from CookBright that will eliminate the need for cookbooks. A throwback "low-tech" sports gaming product was presented by Ballpark Classics, Inc. Her Interactive has created Nancy Drew-themed computer games to inspire girl gamers. Childhood obesity will be fought using FoodNMe's cool phone apps that help kids make healthier food choices. CommutePays wants to pay you for getting stuck in traffic with its predictive route guidance and rewards. We'll all have a "concierge in our pocket" with EZgoer's hotel and services phone app. Burro will empower low income families to do more in their lives. Truffles and trees will live in beautiful symbiosis through Symbios' product leveraging. Global Index Group builds financial indexes for use in Exchange Traded Funds. Checking out each company's display and hearing their pitch made me realize what a wide world consumer products and services truly is, and what magnificent ideas are out there in development.

I worked with each company from applying to ZINO Society to the day of the event and I am incredibly impressed with the improvements they all made over the course of a few short weeks. I have our outstanding coaching board to thank for that. ZINO has a group of 50 coach members who generously volunteer their time and expertise to mentor ZINO entrepreneurs through the pitching process. They are a phenomenal group of individuals who help companies tighten their pitches and make them more attractive to angel investors, as well as boost their self-confidence. One of my favorite parts of being Dealflow Manager at ZINO is being the conduit between coaches and companies. I love helping people connect with one another.

As for our fund finalists, they will go through the due diligence process with our fund investors and one company will be chosen to receive the $50K investment. Our fund investors will have to find a way to choose between Revel Body's high performance vibration motors that will revolutionize the sex toy industry, the eBay for private instruction Proz Inc. has developed, Thos. Baker's extensive online and catalog collection of premium furniture, or Vizua's 3-D scan reconstruction service that helps non-medical professionals understand their scan images. Who would you choose?

South Sound Road Trip: ZINO Partners with Tacoma Angel Network

2011-11-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Downtown Tacoma, Washington

ZINO Society is honored to have been chosen by Tacoma Angel Network to form a new kind of angel investment group partnership. Effective February 2012, ZINO will be providing its high-quality dealflow to TAN. Think "Tacoma Angel Network, dealflow powered by ZINO Society". Early this fall, TAN Chair Brian Haynes approached ZINO Founder & CEO Cathi Hatch with a proposition: join forces in the interest of creating a robust dealflow in the South Sound region while expanding opportunities for companies in Seattle.

I attended a TAN meeting last month along with Cathi and ZINO's Chief Marketing Officer, Mary Holmes to learn more about the group, their members' interests and dealflow process. It was a nicely done lunchtime gathering at Pacific Grill Event Center in Downtown Tacoma. The food, company and conversation were outstanding, and the ZINO team left the meeting with the feeling that the two angel groups will benefit greatly from this partnership. TAN's staff and board is clearly a committed group of individuals, all of whom volunteer their time to the organization.

John Rodenberg heads TAN's membership committee and he, Brian and I participated in an interview with the Tacoma News Tribune in which we discussed the emerging plan. The three of us discussed the ways in which the relationship between the two angel groups will be of benefit to the Greater Puget Sound investment and entrepreneurial communities. Dealflow powered by ZINO means TAN staff can focus on building membership and continuing to produce high quality forums. Access to TAN's eight yearly investment forums means more exposure for ZINO's entrepreneur members, who will be eligible to present to TAN investor members. TAN investor members will be invited to participate in ZINO's annual fund, which invests in companies at ZINO's six yearly targeted investment forums. Certainly both groups will have the opportunity to learn from each others strengths and processes.

I am looking forward to next week's TAN investment meeting. I hope to meet and connect with more of their investor members and get a sense of what kinds of deals they are interested in seeing come through their organization. I am excited to meet Tacoma-based startups and learn more about what kind of innovation is happening in the South Sound. I had better get busy finding some great deals for my partners to the south!

Melt This: Prosperity Organics

2011-10-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Meg Carlson, President & CEO of Prosperity Organics

I don't know about you, but I try to be as health-conscious as possible and limit the amount of saturated fat I eat. Which, sadly, means almost never using butter. But thanks to Meg Carlson and Prosperity Organics, I can now use Melt, a butter substitute made of healthy fats and oils on everything!

According to Meg, Prosperity Organics "was born from an authentic need...after debilitating digestive disorders meant giving up butter and other favorite foods." Melt features "virgin coconut oil and flaxseed oil" and is already being carried in a grocery store near you. Seattle folks, look for it at QFC.

Prosperity Organics presented at ZINO Society's 2011 ZINO Zillionaire forum in September was chosen as one of six finalist companies for a $75K fund. To be expected from a company whose culture is "passion" and differs from the competition in that "consumers trust [Prosperity Organics] because they believe the employees are real people with similar needs..." Meg has big goals, should she receive funding: "we would accelerate the investment in field sales force and consumer marketing initiatives to more rapidly gain awareness and trial, build loyalty with our consumers, more rapidly commercialize our R&D pipeline and build a national brand sooner than our current plans project." I'm sure this "small, aggressive, innovative company" can achieve that tall order.

Melt and Prosperity Organics will be successful because the company is "nimble and responsive to changes in market conditions...on trend with latest consumer preferences...addressing concerns about adult and childhood obesity...good stewards of cash..." Check out Melt's website and watch for Meg's products, designed with your health in mind on your local grocery shelves.

Now Playing: Von Piglet Productions, LLC

2011-10-20T16:13:00.000-07:00


Sue Corcoran, CEO of Von Piglet Productions, LLC

A Christmas Story finally has some competition in Von Piglet Productions' Ira Finkelstein's Christmas--an hilarious and touching family film about a young Jewish kid who is obsessed with Christmas and his wild quest to experience the holiday.

CEO Sue Corcoran blew the ZINO investor audience away with Von Piglet's trailer of Ira Finkelstein at ZINO's 2011 Zillionaire Investment Forum. Her pitch had our rapt attention during the screening and coaching process, due to the beautifully scored and presented preview. From the two minute snippet the film looks so good that literally any time Sue is in the room, we ask her if we can watch it again. I'm personally excited for the release, as I agree this movie could be an evergreen holiday classic; outstanding work by a company that describes its competitive edge as "high production value on a low budget".

Sue tells us Von Piglet LLC is "run by women who are creative and savvy in business" and that the idea for Ira Finkelstein "grew from personal experience". We're incredibly proud of Sue for being selected by ZINO fund investors as one of the six finalists for a $75K ZINO Zillionaire Investment.

Von Piglet will be successful because of its "year of production experience and storytelling that makes films accessible and available in a competitive market", according to Sue. We hope to see Sue reach her goals of "developing additional movie properties and shoot[ing] another family feature film". I know I will be adding Ira Finkelstein's Christmas to my queue of holiday classics!

Impressive "First Look" at Northwest Startup Companies

2011-10-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended Northwest Entrepreneur Network's Fall 2011 First Look Forum at the Arctic Club Hotel. The event showcased twelve early-stage Pacific Northwest startups working in a wide swath of spaces. The Dome Room provided an intimate and lovely setting for the forum with its stained glass domed ceiling and intricately scroll-worked walls. NWEN did a magnificent job with the program, setting their presenting entrepreneurs up for success and building in time for networking and connecting.

I spoke with many of the presenters about their experience of going through NWEN's process. They overwhelmingly reported positive experiences with the coaches and "pitch doctors" who mentored them through the process. Several of the presenters were new to pitching, and many were seasoned from previous ventures. Watching the presentations, I could tell each entrepreneur had worked hard to refine and improve their pitch to attract investors. It's clear the resources provided by NWEN made a difference for the showcased startups. I was especially impressed with the guts displayed by the very early-stage companies. Standing up and articulating ones rapidly-developing budding vision isn't easy to do, and yet it's extremely important for early-stage companies to receive feedback and exposure. In my view, one of the keys to a successful pitch is practice, and not just in front of the mirror at home. It's about getting up in front of a live audience and getting your work out there in a crisp, organized manner, and addressing the points that interest investors within the allotted time. You must learn to be comfortable doing this over and over.

At ZINO Society, we recognize the importance of supporting, mentoring and connecting our entrepreneurs. With our group of dedicated investor screeners and coaches, we offer entrepreneurs the chance to meet with a panel prior to presenting at our forums in order to receive individualized feedback and mentoring.We understand how important it is to facilitate connections between entrepreneurs and investors, hence our focus on social and networking events in addition to our eleven annual investment forums. ZINO is committed to helping entrepreneurs present the best pitch possible. Going through our acclaimed screening and coaching process is an invaluable experience.

I'm grateful to Dan Rossi and Caitlin Goetze for inviting me to NWEN's First Look and to Dan for introducing me to his twelve finalist companies. Special congratulations to Scott Elliot and Mountain Logic who took last night's Grand Prize. Be sure to check out this extraordinary group--they are truly up-and-coming. I certainly hope they all decide to become ZINO members!

BAM Testing, What's your athletic potential.
FanZappy, "Social-to-Store" service attracts social fans to local businesses and further converts fans to repeat in-store customer via our mobile app.
Glacier Peak, Nature does nothing uselessly.
Green Simian, Renewable Mobile Power.
Grid Mobility, Connecting Power to People.
Lacuna Systems, Expert Web Performance Management.
MotoVolta, Inc., High Performance Electric Motorcycles.
Mountain Logic, Halves heating and cooling costs for 100 million homeowners with central forced air by only conditioning occupied rooms.
Phytelligence, Smarter plants.
ProtoSec, Creating the next wave of Internet and Web vulnerability detection giving enterprise customers novel and low-cost vulnerability information about their applications, helping them meet compliance and security requirements.
Radiate, The Future of Internet Radio.
Relaborate, Blogging Made Easy.

Your New Dealflow Manager

2011-10-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm Kate DesRosier, the new Operations & Dealflow Manager at ZINO Society. I've taken over for the lovely Kristie Lanum who has moved on to IndieFlix. We wish her the very best of luck in her new role.

I came to ZINO from UW's Center for Commercialization where I worked with startup teams and helped manage the University's intellectual property assets. A few years into the job I discovered a passion for working with entrepreneurs and the creative energy around a new venture. Observing the university innovation process from reporting a new invention to product commercialization was fascinating and made me realize the large number of resources needed to get a company and its product off the ground. This is what led me to ZINO Society--I wanted to facilitate connections between entrepreneurs and investors that would lead to fruitful deals and enrich our economy and community.

I invite you to check in for stories about featured ZINO entrepreneurs, our investor members and events. I'm looking forward to introducing you to our members and letting you in on the interesting deals we're seeing as well as inviting you into our community.

Keep in touch! I would love to hear from you: k.desrosier@zinosociety.com.

37 Entrepreneurs so Far and Counting . . .

2010-09-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

Our ZINO Society Executive Vice President, Kristie Lanum, has been hard at work explaining our new entrepreneur presentation format for this year's ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum coming up on September 15th at Bell Harbor Conference Center to dozens of prospective presenters.

With two weeks to go following our screening process and now into individual coaching, we have confirmed selection of 20 5-minute ZINOpreneur presenters, 14 2-minute Back-of-the-Napkin entrepreneur presenters and 3 Spiels & Suds tabletop demo entrepreneurs for a combined total of 37 entrepreneurs so far. We expect to have over 40 entrepreneurs presenting by the time the big date rolls around. Which investment opportunities do you like the best so far?

Here are the links to the websites for our 20 5-minute entrepreneur presenters:
Banshee Bungee
BedRock Hotels
BuiltBurger
Cloudpak
Daddy-O Productions, Inc.
Emergent Detection
Enroute Systems Corporation
FiatLux Imaging, Inc.
Flux Drive, Inc.
Harbor Wing Technologies
Hydrovolts
IMOS
Indie Vinos, Inc.
Mobile On Services
Moprise, Inc.
NanoICE, Inc.
Open Mobile Solutions, Inc.
Orbiter LLC
Vioguard LLC
Wine Valet, Inc. (coming soon)

Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Jai Jaisimha

2010-08-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

One of our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneurs this week is Jai Jaisimha, CEO of Open Mobile Solutions, Inc. Jai will be one of the 5 minute presenters at the upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum (ZZIF) on September 15th at Bell Harbor Conference Center. We asked him to share the answers to a few questions about his company.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . .  OMS provides a web-based business-to-business marketplace that helps decision makers (App Creators) find qualified resources (App Builders) to develop, test, port, and distribute mobile applications for smartphones and other mobile phones.

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . . I ran the AOL Open Mobile Platform (OMP) open source initiative while a VP at AOL. My experiences interacting with partner companies, publishers and other ecosystem providers while at AOL, made me realize that a big missing piece in the fragmented mobile ecosystem was a marketplace and guided experience that connected qualified service providers (sellers) with app creators (buyers).

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Scrappy

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? . . . In contrast to word of mouth or crowd sourcing sites, OMS’ matchmaking service connects qualified, vetted and analytically targeted recommendations of mobile service providers to app creators.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . .  Growing the average deal size for the company.

How much money have you raised to date? . . .  Self-funded/bootstrapped - $60K

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . . Accelerate the development and launch of app distribution, lifecycle management and financial clearing services.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . That our launch event was sponsored by mobile industry giant Qualcomm.

What is one thing missing from your business? . . .  Ways to continuously Improve the site visitor to project delivery ratio.

Why will your company be successful? . . . OMS will succeed because a) we’re purely focused on the mobile app lifecycle and have a proprietary methodology for selecting and recommending service providers that deliver quality ; b) have unique and deep relationships with key mobile industry stakeholders that will enable us to accelerate the growth of our business; c) we’re capturing, analyzing and acting on data about the entire app lifecycle using our proprietary and patent-pending algorithms to deliver optimal results to our customers and partners.

Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Brian Maggio

2010-08-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

One of our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneurs this week is Brian Maggio, Principal of Daddy-O Productions, Inc. Brian will be one of the 5 minute presenters at the upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum (ZZIF) on September 15th at Bell Harbor Conference Center. We asked him to share the answers to a few questions about his company.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . We work in conjunction with the top 40 National Retailers to develop fun products in an efficient, profitable way.

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . .  We got tired of listening to our retailers describe the gap in their vendor base (and watch our manufacturer clients fail to respond in a meaningful way).

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Streetwise.

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? . . . We take customer input seriously, drop the ego, and focus on profit – all fairly unique in our industry.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . .  Demand has outpaced available capital two years in a row – a good problem to have, but frustrating nonetheless.

How much money have you raised to date? . . .  None, formally. We’ve invested $85k personally, and taken short term loans to cover inventory.

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . .  1) Complete the products in our funnel that retailers have requested, 2) Build reserve inventory on the products they already buy, 3) Administrative help, and 4) Building awareness of our brand beyond the current account base.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . .  Our company was built between the hours of 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. – the “second shift”, so to speak. As a result of having a virtual organization, overhead is roughly 3% of sales.

What is one thing missing from your business? . . .  Marketing. Everything we’ve done thus far has been very “quiet” – we could benefit from a bit of shouting from the rooftops.

Why will your company be successful? . . .  We’re hitting close to 20% margins in the first two years, our startup costs will all be cleared by year three, and demand continues to outpace supply.

Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Philip "Chip" Corbin III

2010-08-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

One of our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneurs this week is Philip "Chip" Corbin III, President/CEO of Flux Drive, Inc. Chip will be one of the 5 minute presenters at the upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum (ZZIF) on September 15th at Bell Harbor Conference Center. We asked him to share some of what drives him today.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . Flux Drive designs and sells Adjustable Speed Drives that can dramatically decrease energy expenditures for the $15b motor application market.

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . . After years of working on ships that were converting to electronic propulsion and dealing with variable frequency drives (VFD’s) failing in harsh environments, I saw the need for a speed control device that was simple and rugged. My background in motor theory and love for cutting edge technologies led me to the idea of combining an induction motor with the improved hi-powered Neodymium permanent magnets to create the Flux Drive. A simple speed control device that can operate in harsh conditions.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Experienced

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? . . . Flux Drive has a dramatically simpler design making us more reliable, more efficient, and cheaper than the competition.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . Having the time and resources to build out the business.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . $700k plus investment from Flux Drive’s service business profits (approx. another $750k in past 3 years)

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . .

Build-out the product line to include more designs and sizes up to 1000 hp.
Devote more resources to sales and marketing.
Increase production capacity.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . Although our technology is cutting edge, our collection of engineering books is a treasure trove from the turn of the century covering induction motor theory, heat transfer theory, pumps and blowers and marine engineering.

What is one thing missing from your business? . . . Lack of investment to scale the product to include the needed/larger products that have immediate demand (PO’s)

Why will your company be successful? . . . We are providing a superior, next-generation technology to a large growing market that is poised to grow even faster due to increasing energy costs.

Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Keith McCall

2010-08-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

One of our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneurs this week is Keith McCall, Founder & CEO of Enroute Systems Corporation. Keith, representing Enroute Systems was one of the two big winners at ZZIF last year and will be one of the 5 minute presenters at the upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum on September 15th at Bell Harbor Conference Center. We asked him to share some of what continues to drive him today.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . Enroute helps businesses ship packages more efficiently.

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . . In the mid-1990s, I architected the Atlanta Olympic Games Ticket server, which sold tickets online for the first time, and Net.Commerce, which was IBM’s flagship Internet commerce server that supported sites such as L.L. Bean. One day 12 years later I watched hundreds of UPS trucks roll out of Redmond and FedEx trucks roll out of Issaquah, and was inspired by the opportunity to make 25 million packages shipped every day be shipped more efficiently.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . ShipIt!!!!!!!!!!!

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? . . . Enroute offers lower-cost SaaS solutions that remains focused on creating a purer market within the parcel shipping industry.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . The sheer volume in the number of shipments and carriers that exist in the market. Each carrier requires integration with our systems, and as we grow, we become more of a global company and have new challenges to overcome.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . $1.6M

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . . We would use $3 million to expand our business into Europe, recruiting carriers and finding customers. With $10 million we would also fund our expansion into Asia.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . We love having chicken wing feasts at Wing Dome in Kirkland. Everyone has to have at least one “hot wing” as part of their initiation.

What is one thing missing from your business? . . . We are always looking to add great people to our team!

Why will your company be successful? . . . Enroute will be successful because we have a team that is committed to growing the company and is not only passionate about the ShipIt! solutions, but is also driven by the ability we have to revolutionize the shipping industry.

Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Kevin Veon

2010-08-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

Kevin Veon, CEO of Banshee Bungee

Our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneur of the week is Kevin Veon, CEO of Banshee Bungee. Kevin presented to ZINO Society earlier this year and will be one of the 5 minute presenters at the upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum on September 15th at Bell Harbor Conference Center. We asked him to share some of what continues to drive him today.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . Banshee Bungee has revolutionized the $1.5 billion board sports market with the patented BoardBungee that launches surfers, skateboarders, and snowboarders over 30 MPH with no hill!

How did you come up with the idea for your company? In a new venture creation class I took during my MBA at Boise State University

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Excitement

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? Banshee has drastically reduced the cost to recreate, it costs several hundred dollars per day to go to the ski hill while a $149 Banshee Bungee will provide a rider with months of high speed fun.

What is the biggest challenge you face? Consumer awareness. The product is physically addictive and self promoting, because kids share it with each other and post video on YouTube, but not enough people know about it yet.

How much money have you raised to date? $1,900,000

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? For a high potential, higher margin acquisition to build out our product lines.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? That we make a product that launches people over 30 MPH

What is one thing missing from your business? A high level of consumer awareness about our products in the market.

Why will your company be successful? Because I am 100% focused on a successful exit. We are building value now for an exit we anticipate 3 years from now and I am confident that this round will do a 10x return in 3 years.

Thank you to our ZZIF Screening and Coaching Board

2010-08-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

This week we have been screening entrepreneurs for our upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum to be held on September 15th. The Screening and Coaching Board has reviewed around 20 companies this week and next week there will be a few more to review. We so appreciate the participation of all of our Screeners and Coaches. We get many comments from our ZINOpreneurs on how valuable and helpful their coaches were in helping them hone their pitches.

Overall, we have been impressed this year with the quality of the screening companies with a few exceptions. Our coaches will do a great job of working one-on-one with each ZINOpreneur to ensure that each is ready to give his or her most compelling presentation at ZZIF.

This year we will once again recognize our coaches and plan to include the "Coaches' Awards" in the Awards Reception at the end of the day on September 15th.

The Sun Shines on Dog Days of Summer

2010-08-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

It didn’t rain cats and dogs after all so we had a blast at the ZINO Society Dog Days of Summer Party at the beautiful Maryatt home in the Highlands this afternoon. The sun shone on all the recently bathed and coiffed dogs who competed for doggie awards The party was sponsored by Flexjet by Bombardier and Citi Private Bank. Thank you Adam Tibbitts and Dave McGinnis!
The official dog judges included:

The Honorable Dave McGinnis, Benevolent Banker of Barkers
The Honorable Adam Tibbitts, Tail Winds & Tail Wags Chief Justice
The Honorable Cathi Hatch, Dog Connoisseur & Chief Clerk
The Honorable David Maryatt, Canine Capitalist Chief Justice
The Honorable Bob Cremin, Cock Pit Bull Special Justice

ZINO Society Wine Professional member, Dolma Maria Halstead of Mistica Wines brought and poured beautiful Argentinean wines which the guests thoroughly enjoyed along with a casual summer barbecue while the dogs enjoyed special fresh-cooked, grain-free dog food courtesy of Darwin's Pet Food.

Talented dog trainer, Joey Iverson, brought incredible toys and obstacles for the dogs to play with and noted photographer, Kathryn Barnard took photos of the four-legged beasts along with their two-legged friends. Following the feast for dog and man, prizes were awarded to winning dogs:

Bark is worse than their bite: Cedric Dandie the Dinmont Terrier, David Stenberg
Ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog: Bailey the Catahoula. Sherri Rogalski
High maintenance biatch: Pepper the Papipoo, Patti Payne
Most likely to be found at the spaw: Lightning the West Highland Terrier and Storm the Bichon/Poodle, Carol Wright
Dog with the Bedroom Eyes: Bodhi the Husky, Matt Walters
Most likely to be hunted by Cruella de Ville: Zippy & Dreydel the English Pointers, Lucas & Carla Schenck
Lady and the Tramp award: Leo the Bichon/Shih Tzu, Dave McGinnis AND Dolce the Shiba Inu, Richard Smith
Most “fetching” smile: Buckskin the Yellow Lab, Dianna & Bill Fieldstead
Doggone energetic: Hobbs the Hungarian Vizsla, Allen & Kathleen Shoup
Knows how to have a howlin’ good time: Rufus the Golden Retriever, David & Sally Maryatt
Engelbert Humps-a-lot: Valentine the Pug/Chihuahua/Boston Terrier, Connie Blumenthal (also best dressed)
The Snoopy Award: Barkley the Beagle, Michael Balt
Canine Connoisseur of Culinary Delights: Skagit the Labradoodle, Mary Holmes
Tyra Barks and Cindy Chompford best use of Cosmuttics: Karma the Shih Tzu, Janis Machala
Miss Manners Award: Lilly the Yellow Lab, Kevin Swett
Clara’s Favorite Best with Kids Award – Tony the Alaskan Malamute, Cristina Quinn
GRAND PRIZE- Flexjet’s Jet Set Pet Best in Show Award: tied between Cheddar Cheese and Louie, Champion Golden Retrievers, Sally & Dave Maryatt

Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Greg Heuss

2010-08-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

Our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneur of the week is Greg Heuss, CEO of SmartFind (previously MatchMLS before name/brand change). Greg presented to ZINO Society earlier this year and we asked him to share in a recent interview some of what continues to drive him today.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . We are the Match.com of real estate - we match buyers and sellers together in a way never seen in the industry.

How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . .The founders are real estate agents and after driving buyers around endlessly looking for the right house and frankly always seeming to "settle" in the end with those buyers, they figured there had to be a better way for people to find what they really are looking for - and they thought why not match buyers and sellers together like they do on dating sites - by building a profile for exactly what you are looking for.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Open-minded

In one sentence, how are you different from your competition? . . . We are a site built by and for agents - we are on the side of the agents and brokers helping them find real, substantial leads.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . Market adoption and wading through the clutter of on-line real estate sites and proving we have built a better mouse trap.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . About $150K

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . . It would go into site development, adding staff and marketing to our first launch of four cities on the west coast. As we are "only" looking for $1.5M the extra would go into reserve and assure us of never having to raise money again.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . The founders of the company "found" each other using Match.com and are living "happily ever after". As a side note - I sold my first company to Match.com and our technology and matching algorithms are what is powering Match.com today (so I of course like to take some credit in matching them together) - and now we are working together - it is a very small and connected world!

What is one thing missing from your business? . . . Sufficient funding to take us to the next level.

Why will your company be successful? . . . We are a team that has climbed this mountain before, we have a great idea, and smart folks working with us to execute.

July ZINO Society Roundtable

2010-07-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Last week, the ZINO Society Roundtable was held at Harbor Club Seattle over lunch where over 60 people were in attendance. Pretty impressive for the middle of July on what was actually quite a nice day!

Three entrepreneurs presented information about their companies and needs going forward. See photo above. The three actual presenting entrepreneurs are all on the left and included Andrea Gall-Krasnick of Jetway, Inc., Max Lyon of , FiatLux Imaging, Inc. and Adam Rivas of AV Capture All Inc. Two associates of Adam and AV Capture All Inc. are on the right side of the photo. Also presenting a traction update was Ramu Ramanathan of Mobba, Inc.

In addition to listening to the featured ZINOpreneurs, the attendees were interested in hearing about the upcoming ZINO Society summer events including the ZINO Vino Liquid Assets Forum tomorrow and Dog Days of Summer coming up in early August. We also have several other summer events lined up including educational and training events Lunch and Launch Your Website next week and Get Funded! Courting Angel Investors at month end.

With all of these activities during the summer, when am I ever going to have time for a game of golf!?

Welcome Elizabeth!

2010-07-10T12:02:00.001-07:00

We are so pleased to welcome Elizabeth Larned to the ZINO Society team as our new Events and Marketing Coordinator! Elizabeth recently graduated from the University of Washington on the Dean’s List with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and comes to us from the Moyer Foundation where she worked as an Event Planning Intern. After only a week, she is already making herself invaluable! Look what’s on her work plate!

She is currently working on our upcoming July 15^th Roundtable Investment meeting, our inaugural ZINO Vino Liquid Assets Forum on July 19^th, our Master of Wine Monday at the Purple Café on July 26^th, our Flexjet Dog Days of Summer party at the Maryatt home on August 8^th, our 5^th Birthday and Magnum Party on August 19^th and our biggest investment extravaganza event of the year, ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum coming up on September 15^th plus assorted smaller ZINO Business Insights and educational events.

Watch for Elizabeth at our ZINO Society events and for her emails with details of upcoming events.

Featured ZINOpreneur: Ken Berkun

2010-07-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

New blog postings that you will see from time to time going forward are those sharing information about ZINO Society featured entrepreneurs, sponsors, members and events. At our June Roundtable Investment Meetings, one of the presenting ZINOpreneurs was Ken Berkun, President of Labels That Talk. Ken presented to ZINO Society a couple of years ago but has moved the company several steps forward since then and from our recent interview shares some of what continues to drive him today.

What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . Labels That Talk® is a research and development company generating revenue by licensing our patented Soundpaper® technology for printing audio on paper.

· How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . . Having a child and poor hand writing, I was looking for a way to easily label photographs. I thought to myself, “Why not just talk about the photograph?” Only later did I begin to understand all the other applications – especially the importance of capturing the sound of the moment, not just captioning the photo. But I also knew right from the beginning that printing the audio on paper was important, there is something special about paper.

The word that best describes your company culture is . . . Honesty and integrity. OK, that’s two words, but you get the idea.

How are you different from your competition? . . . We’re a “next step” company. Since there is nothing quite like us, it is up to us to have a product that encourages people to take that next step and try something new. Our competition is primarily the status quo.

What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . Fund raising remains our biggest challenge. We understand the technology and the engineering that needs to be done. We have our customers lined up. We have our distribution channels lined up. But we are a very different company from your average Web development company or even a typical software company. It is challenging for investors to understand exactly what we are doing. On the other hand we have a very simple and traditional business model and that helps.

How much money have you raised to date? . . . About $750,000.

If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . . Finish our engineering work and ship product! We would be able to hire more people rather than use contractors. The great thing is that we don’t need $3 Million, we could put most of that in the bank.

What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . We are not internet oriented. Our data is on paper. Paper! How old fashioned is that? Sure, we the internet plays a role, but not the main role.

What is one thing missing from your business? . . . What is missing is a traditional office. Everybody works from home. I’m in Hawaii, our VP of Business Development is in Kirkland, WA. Our lead programmer is in Portland, OR. Our hardware engineers are in the Bay Area. It’s not ideal, but it works.

Why will your company be successful? . . . Ultimately, because we solve problems that are not being solved today. People desperately want to capture and preserve memories and other methods are too awkward. Only 5% of the blind read Braille. Medications errors kill 100,000 people a year. Illiteracy is growing problem in this country, the list goes on.

Introduction and May 2010 happenings!

2010-05-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hello!

My name is Kayla Villnow, and fairly recently I joined ZINO Society as an intern -- throughout the course of the next ten months or so, I'll be working with our COO, Rob Brown, to manage all entrepreneurial programs here at ZINO. When I am not working at ZINO, I attend the University of Washington Foster School of Business where I am pursuing my MBA.

To get this blog started, I wanted to begin with a quick reminder that tomorrow night is our May Roundtable meeting, followed by an Eastside Roundtable meeting in Bellevue on Wednesday. We have four fantastic companies lined up and ready to pitch: WebServius, Inc., Silver Planet, Inc., Aminex Therapeutics, Inc., and Scayl, Inc.. Each is bringing a strong deal to the table, and we are excited to see how things go for them.

If you'd like to attend either of these events, please see our website for sign up details.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more information on this month's Roundtable!

The Screening and Coaching Process for Entrepreneurs

2010-04-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

This past week, we welcomed our new intern, Kayla Villnow to ZINO Society. Kayla is a second year MBA candidate at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, with a concentration on corporate strategy. She is already making herself invaluable as she works directly with ZINO Society COO, Rob Brown, to support and facilitate the entrepreneur processes for ZINO Society. In the photo above, she is reviewing and compiling the green screening evaluation sheets which the screeners and coaches fill out during our monthly screening meetings. These sheets provide valuable feedback and suggestions to the entrepreneurs to help them make their brief presentations more understandable and compelling, which is one of the most important support services we can offer.

Yesterday, our screeners and coaches met to view the entrepreneur presentations live that made it through the first electronic screening round for our upcoming ZINO Life Investment Forum. Each of the entrepreneurs had seven minutes to present followed by two minutes of question and answer and input. See photos of some of the screeners and coaches above and as they diligently fill out the green evaluation sheets.

Taking into consideration all the feedback and input we receive from the screeners and coaches, we ultimately choose who to feature at our investment meetings and forums and then line up those entrepreneurs with individual coaches who will help them polish and finesse their presentations so they can be most effective in getting their messages across. It is interesting to note that though most entrepreneurs think they do not need or want coaching, but since we insist on it, almost every entrepreneur comes back to us saying that their coaching was invaluable to them in making their message stronger and clearer. It is Kayla’s role to match up entrepreneurs with coaches to ensure that each presenting ZINOpreneur has that important support.

On the day of the event, each presenting ZINOpreneur will have a special ribbon on his or her nametag showing that they are presenting so that potential investors can easily connect with them. Following the event, Kayla will once again communicate to the entrepreneurs sharing any input from the event attendees and sharing any contact information for those members or guests who expressed interest in any specific investment opportunities.

Our ZINO Society screeners and coaches deserve huge kudos for the important service they provide these entrepreneurs!

Top 50 Emerging U.S. Companies

2009-10-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

FundingPost.com recently released its list of the Top 50 Emerging U.S. Companies, as selected by a panel of over 130 VC and angel investor judges from across the country. Of the 50 selected, two are from Washington, and BOTH of them are recent ZINOpreneur presenters. Congratulations to Jobaba and nTerraCon!

Jobaba is an online social marketplace, fully Twitter-integrated (Twintegrated?), which connects people with needs to local providers. CEO Peter Chang presented the business to ZINO Society members at our July Roundtable meeting.

nTerraCon makes iGeo, a software that geo-enriches websites and allows viewers to "fly-into" locations on the site. CEO Clyde Ford was one of the 28 presenters at ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum last month.

I'm very pleased that these 2 ZINOpreneurs have been nationally recognized for their business success and future potential. Considering how many great companies we're growing around here, I was surprised to see that only 2 out of the 50 companies selected were from Washington State.

It is my understanding that there were no state or regional levels to this competition - the top 50 companies were selected without regard to geography. I don't know how many local companies applied, but I wonder if we need to help FundingPost reach out more to entrepreneurs in our area. Or, are there so many local opportunities for entrepreneurs, that they don't feel much need to go to national groups? Or does this statistic seem normal, given the other hotbeds of entrepreneurship around the country in California, New York, Massachussetts, Texas and elsewhere?