Invest in an innovative start-up company?

Note that in recent times, we have had several different parties enquire as to whether we are "for sale".  Hence, we have updated this section to more conveniently provide some answers to the commonly asked questions.

Our company was formed in 2000 by 3 partners who have always seen the business as an investment (and not a life-sentence), and with the expectation that the business would be sold at the appropriate time.

When is "the appropriate time"?  We don't have a fixed view on when this might be, but are working to a plan that will see us progressively increase the value we represent to our current shareholders.

How we have grown

Since that time our business has evolved significantly, in a number of respects, including:
1)   Continual growth of the number of clients we serve; and
2)   Ongoing growth in the number of software products we provide.
3)   Hence our numbers of employees has also risen.
4)   To reflect these changes, our share register has also evolved over time.

Our company share register is currently a mix of three different groups of people:
1)   Our company is majority owned by current employees (including one of the founders).  This ensures considerable alignment of the interests of employees with the strategic direction of the company.
2)   We also have facilitated share ownership for a number of ex-employees, who have spent some time with us before proceeding to work elsewhere in a diverse range of locations and environments.  In this capacity, these shareholders can provide us the benefit of their external perspectives and experiences.
3)   The company also retains another of the founders as a passive shareholder.  In this capacity, he provides what assistance he can to the company.

We have put together a short chronological record of our shareholder's register, in order that you can understand how the company has changed.

How our philosophy has evolved

The company focuses on the delivery of "shrink-wrapped", "off-the-shelf" software products that have broad applicability across participants in, and observers of, the competitive energy market.

In particular, we're focused on software that can help us to maintain our high retention rate for existing clients.  This approach enables us to implement other aspects of our business model.

For the next few years (at least), we will continue to focus on growth - which will mean the reinvestment of revenues into:
1)  The ongoing development of products for the NEM, and Ontario; and
2)  An increasing focus on other markets, as time permits.

As such, we don't envisage paying a dividend for some years to come...

We've put together another page that describes more of our Investment Philosophy.

Behind the scenes...

In April 2009, we also began blogging about what happens "behind the scenes" within the company.

Our sporadic commentary (when we have the time to post) should provide you more details about what our company is like (warts and all), from a practical perspective.  Of course, if you have positive suggestions for improvement, we'd welcome these on the blog.

The bottom line is that we've established this company such that it will be purchased by a 3rd party, at some future date...  We're not currently looking for a buyer.

At this stage, we could be interested to hear further from you IF you can provide us something (i.e. in addition to funding) that would help us to better meet our growth and service objectives.

We'll leave it to you to explain, to us, what you have to offer.