By Cathy Carroll
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Local entrepreneurs seeking startup capital and expert business advice make pitches to investors and business leaders in a monthly forum simply called Central Oregon PubTalk, held at McMenamins Old St. Francis School in Bend.
Among the 20 presenters who have made pitches since early last year were software developers and inventors of high-tech equipment, stereo speakers, all-natural ski wax and handmade, upright electric basses.
Following is a look at what some of those entrepreneurs reaped from their pitches, how the companies are faring today and what obstacles to success remain.
Barker Musical Instruments of Redmond (www.barkerbass.com):
At the February 2004 PubTalk, Lee Barker, a custom woodworker and former owner and operator of Great Ned! Woodworks in Redmond for 22 years, told of the handmade, upright electric basses he develops.
Barker makes the chambered instruments with solid wood faces that he said are summoning attention in the music industry.
He created the instrument three years ago after his wrists began to hurt while playing. The upright bass allows players to keep their wrists in a better, straight position.
Barker said he seized a last-minute opportunity to present his business at PubTalk after presenter canceled. "I was going that month to find out what the heck it was about," he said. "My heart wasn't in getting money at that stage."
Today, he's seeking business expertise that can help propel the business he senses is on the brink of "the tipping point" in popularity, Barker said, referring to the title of the Malcolm Gladwell book.
For example, bassist Chuck Rainey, who, according to Rainey's Web site, has played with Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5 and Steely Dan, played a Barker bass in January at a national music merchandisers trade show and asked to endorse the product, Barker said.
"It was hugely flattering," Barker said. "Professionals at that level are inundated by the big boys who want to give them the world to endorse their products, and he came to us."
The bassist for New Age music performer Yanni played a Barker bass on two tours in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and a member of the pop group Arrested Development is touring with a Barker bass now, he said.
He recently completed four commemorative basses made of recycled wood from vats used for soaking cherries in the Willamette Valley.
"The wood is bright pink — from cherry trees — and is breathtakingly unusual," Barker said. "A wood recycler in Redmond brought me a piece — he's always calling on my ability to identify species of wood.
"The other stuff he'd shown me was black, nasty, splintery stuff. I cut in and saw pink and thought, ‘What in the heck is this?' I bought every piece, enough to build four instruments, signed and numbered."
He plans to market them at $6,000 each. Other basses start at $3,700.
On April 1, 2003, Barker, then 59, closed his cabinetry business to work on his bass company full time.
"After two years, I am absolutely convinced of the incredible characteristics of this product," Barker said.
SensorTrek of Bend (www.sensortrek.com):
In January, Peter May, vice president of marketing and sales for SensorTrek, made a pitch to investors for $300,000 in startup funding and help from a board of advisers. The company is developing solar-powered sensing devices that can be set up in remote locations to gather and transmit data via satellite. The devices can be used for many kinds of monitoring, including fish counts, stream flow, pump flow, water and air quality.
The pitch was a success.
"It was kind of an amazing response," he said.
He met with two venture capital firms and began laying the groundwork for getting funding when the company finishes field testing and starts selling the product.
One of the venture firms at PubTalk is based in Oregon. The second is an Australian company. One of that company's investment managers, Mark Morrison of CM Capital, lives in Bend half of the year, May said.
Perhaps the most valuable result of his pitch was meeting Mike Osborn of Bend, a founder or first chief financial officer of five startups. He joined SensorTrek's board of advisers.
"He has been invaluable in getting the company off the ground and advising us about financing, marketing and business structure," May said.
Osborn has given the company "many thousands of dollars" worth of professional advice, particularly on how the company must position the product in the marketplace, and how to conduct the market research to ensure its pricing is correct and its profit margins make it viable, May said.
At that PubTalk, May met someone who introduced him to AD Electronics of Gig Harbor, Wash. SensorTrek is meeting in August with the company about possibly marketing the product in Asia.
"It's all coming to a point where it could be marketed in the U.S. by the end of year," May said.
In addition, an article in The Bulletin about May's pitch that night at PubTalk caught the attention of a former Bend resident in Salt Lake City who works for a major remote monitoring company. That company is considering manufacturing and marketing SensorTrek's product, May said.
Pressure Drop of Bend (www.pressuredropinc.com):
In February, David Gawlowski, founder of Pressure Drop, pitched his computer peripherals manufacturing company. The company aims to create stylish peripherals, such as hubs for USB and FireWire connections, that fuse art and technology.
As a result of his pitch, he has had several meetings with potential investors and plans to ask for capital this summer.
"Even though we weren't seeking capital, we wanted to open the channels," he said.
The company also met at PubTalk a business adviser who has been helpful in guiding business decisions. That free advice would have cost several thousand dollars, and it has been crucial in determining how to ramp up the company.
Since the event, the company released a new product for the iPod Shuffle called the DecoDock, which connects the digital music player to the computer in an arched, art-deco influenced holder.
"We are being forced to consider more rapid international and domestic growth through resellers and distributors," Gawlowski said. "We will reexamine our business model from serving a small niche to now a broad, deep distribution channel. It's a big shift."
3DB Wax Company of Bend (www.3dbwax.com):
In April 2004, Drexell Barnes, creator of 3DB Wax, an all-natural ski and snowboard wax, made his PubTalk pitch.
Barnes, a chemist who engineered the wax to have minimal environmental impact, said he gained valuable advice about patents and intellectual property from people he met at PubTalk.
"I can't say the company is self-sustaining, but it's pointed in the right direction," said Barnes, a senior lab tech who works for the city of Bend's water quality laboratory.
"I am still out trying to beat the brush every chance I get," he said. "I'm going into stores to get my product line in," he said. "A few times I've been recognized as ‘that guy who talked at PubTalk.' I have a lot more realistic, better plan. I've gotten my name out there, got some product awareness and very good advice."
Ibex Solutions of Bend (www.arcticibex.com):
Tyson Pardue founded Ibex Solutions in 1999, and in February 2004, he asked investors at PubTalk for up to $2 million for accelerated research and development of his company's e-commerce software for specialty retailers, manufacturers and distributors.
He didn't reap any investments from the PubTalk, but people volunteered sales, management and legal services, he said. The company has a positive cash flow and investment isn't urgent, Pardue said.
Since he appeared at PubTalk, the number of customers increased from one to 12; the number of software developers working for him has increased from one to six, and the number of products has increased from three to six. Customers include: www.fullcourtbasketball.com of San Francisco; www.deschutesangler.com of Maupin, and www.worldwaters.com of Redmond. The company is developing four other sites.
He is working on getting more customers, adding more functions to the software and will look for capital again, probably by the end of the year, he said.
Cathy Carroll can be reached at 541-383-0304 or at ccarroll@bendbulletin.com.
