Launch - Winter 2007 - (Page 21)

built commercial prototypes that they are testing with off-site facilities. “We hope to roll those out early next year,” Eckman says. “We’ve already sold some instruments to pharmaceutical companies and have done some service contract research for pharmaceutical companies so we do have some revenue.” Wasatch Microfluidics completed their first round of outside investor funding in August 2007. They are now in the process of hiring senior management to help them prepare for the market release of their first product. In addition to winning the UEC, Wasatch Microfluidics also won $5,000 in the New Venture Championship at the University of Oregon, beating out international teams and teams from Stanford and MIT. Alianza www.alianza.com When Alianza won first place in the BYU competition in 2005, CEO and Founder Brian Beutler was determinedly seeking success for the company. He had already dedicated all his resources to his business, including quitting his previous job and taking out a second mortgage on his house. “There was no swinging for the fences. I thought ‘This company will work out, this company will succeed,’” Beutler says. Of winning the contest, Beutler says he greatly benefited from having many very sharp minds look for the weaknesses in his company as part of a friendly competition rather than as an unforgiving market. “It’s a great forum for fixing problems before you launch. It was instrumental in helping us avoid potential land mines or speed bumps,” Beutler says. Beutler originally developed Alianza, with the help of Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Scott Bell, to be a provider of value-added telecom services and applications directly to businesses in Mexico. However, after a year and a half, they realized that, though their business plan was successful, there was an even better way to do things. They revised their strategy and began focusing on developing a hosted software platform that enables service providers to offer cutting-edge unified communications applications. In September 2007, Alianza announced the launch of PowerPlatform v3.0, the first fully integrated IP-based platform for delivering unified communications applications. Alianza’s footprint has since broadened as well. They now offer their platform for delivering unified communications solutions to service providers across North and South America. Beutler has a staff of 60 people, mostly in the United States, but also in his Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Argentina offices. Since winning the BYU BPC, Alianza has raised $7.5 million in funding, with key contributions coming from the Utah Angels, and vSpring Capital. In addition, Alianza was recognized in July 2007 by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) as the 16th fastest growing company in Utah in its annual “Top 25 Under Five.” $ Click here for the HTML version of this article on launchutah.com. launch winter 21 http://www.alianza.com http://www.launchutah.com/article-feature-q42007.php

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Launch - Winter 2007

Launch - Winter 2007 Contents Editor's Note Dashboard Mentor Column Funding Column Diary Column Sales Column Feature: Moving Forward: College Business Competitions Turn Ideas Into Reality Cover Story: Are Awards Worth the Effort? Company and CEO Awards: Contributing to the Bottom Line or Just Feeding Egos? Entrepreneur Spotlight: Benoy Tamang - Hooksell Entrepreneur Spotlight: Clayton Jenkins - Premium Steam

Launch - Winter 2007

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