Pilgrim’s Progress (Of A Sort)
National Awards. Global Product Launches. Lifesaving Products. New Investments. Here’s a rundown of some progress in the JumpStart Ventures portfolio in just the past week or two:
BusinessWeek named two JumpStart Ventures portfolio companies — Phycal and Freedom Meditech – to its inaugural list of the Top 25 Most Intriguing Startup Companies in the World. I really like that Phycal founder and CEO, Kevin Berner, is not only commercializing a technology (its lipid extraction process is projected to 
make algae an economical biofuel), but he also is building an enduring company. From day one, he has built into the company culture certain values based on his experiences and life beliefs, values such as discipline, charity, and intelligence.- Microsoft featured PreEmptive Solutions in two separate keynotes on two continents (in Berlin and Las Vegas) as part of the launch of PreEmptive’s Runtime Intelligence Service (RIS), a cloud-based service that monitors application usage and user behavior. RIS has the distinction of being the only
part of Visual Studio not written by Microsoft. Given this powerful, unique “in-the-box” position, I think RIS’s global product launch could take PreEmptive, which is already profitable and growing, to a whole new level as a leading company in the application lifecycle management industry. 
China suffered a mining tragedy over the weekend and in China alone, 3,000 miners have died this year in mining accidents. Our portfolio company, InSet Systems, has a technology that helps find miners within ten feet instead of within 500 or so feet (which is the approximate accuracy of existing technologies). Noting that it could save many lives in a very dangerous industry, Popular Science magazine, in 2008, named InSet’s inertial tracking and wireless communications technology “one of the Top 10 technologies” of the year. The InSet system will be ready for pilot installation in a working mine in a few weeks; the company has a software development partnership with the renowned Draper Labs as well as a distributor relationship in the Far East; and the company needs angel investment to get to the next steps. I hope the early-stage capital markets will support this company so that it can get this product to market and save lives.
We made a new investment in Checkpoint Surgical which has developed a neuromuscular locator/stimulator. Checkpoint is a spin-out from NDI Medical, which was founded in 2002 by Geoff Thrope. NDI spun out its MEDSTIM bladder pacing system technology a few years ago and shortly thereafter the product line was acquired by Medtronic, which provided a nice “early exit” to the NDI team and others. The excellent Checkpoint team, led by CEO, Len Cosentino (former VP of Business Development at NDI), and Chairman, Geoff Thrope, is well positioned to do a repeat of MEDSTIM: develop a differentiated product, build a good company, forge strong partnerships, and get acquired. Easy, right?
About as easy as sailing across the Atlantic on a cargo ship and arriving in unfamiliar territory at the start of winter. And on that note, I wish these entrepreneurs and all the metaphoric pilgrims of the North Coast technology scene (OK, I know that brand-wise I’m supposed to say “Northeast Ohio” not “North Coast”, but go with me here: my literary side is trying to get a coastal angle on this pilgrim thing) a happy Thanksgiving!
Becca Braun is President of JumpStart Ventures. She founded and led a number of early-stage companies and organizations, as well as worked as a private equity investor and management consultant. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA in Linguistics from Harvard University. She is keenly interested in the intersection of wealth creation and broad-based regional economic growth.