Two Startup Companies are Defying the Odds

Date:  Mon, 2000-07-03

By: Lorri Montgomery Inside Business July 3, 2000 Over and over, we hear the discouraging statistics of the success rate of small businesses — less than half make it to their first anniversary. Because I personally can’t do much about the failure rate of new businesses, the least I can do in this space is bring you some good news about a couple of rather young businesses that are defying the odds, M·CAM and Nascent Technologies. M·CAM is a Charlottesville-based company that has grown beyond its founder’ initial optimistic projections and has taken some unpredicted turns. In the past several months, M·CAM has started attracting the attention of national movers and shakers. On the public-relations front, an article written by the company’s CEO David Martin was featured in the June issue of the online publication Entreworld (www.entreworld.com). In addition, David Paulson, M·CAM’s vice president of risk management, is featured in this month’s issue of Risk Magazine. But one of the company’s biggest breaks came last month. Martin, who was featured in an INSIDE BUSINESS article last June, met with members of the congressional Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to talk about what they do. “We believe it’s quite an honor to be asked to participate in these discussions,” said David Winer, M·CAM’s chief operating officer. “They wanted to hear how our system works.” That’s because M·CAM’s concept is revolutionary, its timing serendipitous. It’s writing the blue book on technology. M·CAM has devised software that calculates value for intellectual property, such as patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and continues to recalculate that figure through the property’s lifetime. The software, primarily developed for banks, helps bankers put price tags on a business’ intangible assets, which can then be used as collateral for loans. The Federal Accounting Standards Board also is looking to M·CAM for advice, Winer said, as are members of professions that M·CAM had not expected to hear from. “The banking side is moving on track, but some other things have accelerated beyond what we initially imagined,” Winer said. Attorneys and accountants have approached the company expressing interest in certain aspects of M·CAM’s software capabilities. “They have looked and said they could really benefit from maybe one piece of the software,” Winer said. At the moment, M·CAM is working with 10 banks, compared to one last June. The banks are in-state and out-of-state. “We are talking to some very large national banks, but most of this we can’t disclose just yet,” Winer said. The demand for services has resulted in tremendous growth within the company. M·CAM’s workforce more than quadrupled in the past six months, growing from four employees in December 1999 to 18 today. “What the world is telling us is that the need [for M·CAM’s accounting methods] is greater than we expected,” he said. Another startup, Nascent Technology Solutions, is also on the move. Much has changed since INSIDE BUSINESS wrote a story in February 1999 about the small company that invents solutions for highly technical problems that other companies can’t solve. In the words of Nascent founders, Chris Domack, Ron Todhunter and John Companion, they do it by “building electromechanical and precision prototype devices that no one else builds.” One of their specialties is inventing miniature working versions of much larger high-tech equipment. For example, Nascent developed a welding-inspection device that reveals cracks or problems in space-station parts. The current X-ray technology calls for bulky equipment that is barely portable and requires body shields because of radiation. Nascent’s device is about the size of a cigarette pack and is entirely nonhazardous. In the past year, Nascent has landed several prestigious contracts, locally and nationally. One of its largest includes several projects for Boeing. Closer to home, Nascent helpded build a 35-foot-long wind tunnel for the Denbigh Aviation Academy, which can be used by people around the country via the Internet. As a result of these and other projects, the company’s staff has increased by two employees, but one of the partners, Companion, left Nascent to branch out on his own. In January, Nascent moved from its humble beginnings, a small office near Newport News/Williamsburg Airport, and into much larger and more comfortable surroundings in the Hampton Roads Technology Incubator. “We are doing really well and working on some exciting projects,” Todhunter said. “Unfortunately, the most interesting and unusual project is one we can’t talk about yet.”