UTAH TECH WATCH - - by David Politis - - 2/17-19/96 Edition

So what does it take to get over 100 venture capitalists into the same Utah
hotel at the same time?

The 1996 Utah Venture Capital Conference, of course.

Individuals representing all types of investment firms converged on Salt
Lake City on Feb. 7 and 8 for the annual event.

Now in its 11th year, the conference (and its sponsoring organization, the
Wayne Brown Institute) has become recognized as one of the top investment
confabs in the country.

This year's meet was held at the Salt Lake City Red Lion and featured 12
high-growth companies.

Of the 12, 11 are from Utah and seven of the Utah firms could be classified
as high-tech. These organizations include companies
manufacturing/developing everything from modem telephones and software for
the hearing-impaired, to imaging systems for the transportation industry,
and smart cabling systems for residential and office use.

In total, these high-tech firms are hoping to raise between $10 and $12
million during the next two years, with the amounts requested ranging
between $500,000 and $3.2 million.

According to Brad Bertoch, president of the Wayne Brown Institute, firms
participating in past venture capital conferences have directly raised
nearly $50 million through their involvement in the conference.

In addition, another $100 million has been raised by past participants
after presenting at one or more of the conferences -- and that doesn't
include dollars raised by going public or being acquired.

For the record, the seven Utah firms which I consider high-tech include
Provo-based TexSEM Laboratories, Salt Lake City-based ArtNet, Bunnell,
FrameRate Labs, Nxi Communications, and PaperWise, and Sandy-based IES
Technologies.

And yes, in my opinion, a couple of them could end up being quite
successful.

Entrepreneurs of the Year

Held in conjunction with the venture capital conference, was annual
presentation of the Entrepreneur of the Year award, sponsored by the
MountainWest Venture Group, of which I am a board member.

This year's award, however, was presented to the three founders of
Megahertz: David Spafford, Kirk Spencer, and Stephen Aldous.

The three join such former honorees as Alan Ashton, co-founder of
WordPerfect; Roy Noorda, former president and CEO of Novell; Hyrum Smith,
co-founder of FranklinQuest; and David Evans, co-founder of Evans &
Sutherland fame.

Accepting the award for the trio and addressing the lunch gathering was
Aldous.

During his presentation, Aldous chronicled the firm's early tenuous
beginnings of manufacturing PCMCIA modems, through its near-fatal
competitive brush with Intel and its decision to merge with a public
company, to its still-recent acquisition by US Robotics.

It's a great success story, and Steve, Kirk and Dave are to be
congratulated for their success.

Software industry factoids

This week, I had the privilege of hearing one of the top software experts
from Price Waterhouse address local industry executives.

Boston-based Joseph Tibbetts addressed two UITA luncheons this week on the
results of the sixth annual software business practices survey.

Some of the facts guests heard at the presentations for members of the Utah
Information Technologies Association include:

70 percent of the revenues for the average software company come from one
product.

35 percent of all U.S. households now have at least one personal computer.

77 percent of the firms surveyed intended to add jobs in 1995.

23 percent of software firms were currently outsourcing their development,
while 25 percent intended to increase or begin outsourcing in 1995.

For more information, interested parties can contact UITA at 801-569-2592
or contact Price Waterhouse.

The British are coming!

Finally, mark your calendar for March 6 and 7 for the UK/US Partners in
Technology Conference.

This event will provide opportunities for Utah technology firms to branch
out into the United Kingdom and Europe.

Approximately 50 high-tech firms from the UK will participate in the
conference, as well as join in matchmaking meetings.

The conference will be opened by Governor Leavitt and former British Prime
Minister, Lady Margaret Thatcher.

To register or for more information about the conference, interested
parties should contact Gail Rhoades at 801-364-2030.

A marketing communications consultant that specializes in high-tech and
health care clients, David Politis welcomes column ideas at 801-569-2592
or via the Internet at dpolitis@altatech.com.
 
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