Entrepreneur gets Nationwide Attention

Date:  Mon, 2000-02-28

By: Lori Montgomery Inside Business February 28, 2000 David Martin predicted last June that his newest company, M·CAM, was on the verge of big things. Although his concept was unusual — using intellectual property as collateral for new business loans — Martin, the company’s CEO and founder, believed that once word got out it would be embraced. Well, word is out. Martin was the subject of a long feature story in the January issue of Inc. magazine, which has a print circulation of 660,000. “I think David Martin would characterize the response as spectacular,” said David Winer, M·CAM’s COO. “We’ve received e-mails from across the world, from Australia and everywhere. And the response has been pretty much split between those on the business-development side and those interested in using the product.” Inc. reporter Phaedra Hise said she, too, has received numerous inquires about Martin’s business plan. “The interest has been pretty remarkable,” she said from her Richmond office. As word has spread, the company has grown, Winer said. Since June, M·CAM, which is based in Charlottesville and is an offshoot of Mosaic Technologies Inc., has grown from five employees to 13 and has moved to a new office space. “We predict that within the next 18 months we will grow to about 40 employees,” Winer said. Martin has been collaborating for nearly a year with several Richmond and Hampton Roads businesspeople who are working to introduce his software product to this area. The software, called First Dollar, allows banks to accurately estimate the value of intellectual property such as trademarks, patents, software codes and formulas, which will open the door for companies to secure loans using that information as collateral. Martin also is talking to several banks in and out of the state, including the Bank of Silicon Valley, and is about to wrap up negotiations to establish M·CAM’s contingency liability funds, which will underwrite the loans. “There’s a lot going on, and we will have more news in coming weeks,” Winer said.