In an age when technology has torn down many walls to launching a business, technology innovator Bruce Elgort likes to remind would-be entrepreneurs that some of the old rules still apply.
Work hard. Establish your skills and reputation within your field of expertise. Build good will through volunteer work and name recognition by participating in professional networks that offer free advice and services.
“All of these things tie together and help you build your company brand,” Elgort advised students in BeLynda Lee-Jensen’s career choices class last week at Hockinson High School.
For those with the desire and skills to go out on their own, Elgort painted a portrait of opportunity created by today’s digital technology.
Elguji, the company he founded with his wife, Gayle Elgort, was his case study. The company’s software was created by a developer who lives in London. Gayle runs Elguji from the couple’s home in Orchards. The company sells downloads for its software, so there’s no need for costly inventory or storage space. The Internet’s power as a megaphone for new products eliminates the need for advertising.
“Software is a great business to be in,” said Elgort, a former Sharp Electronics information technology manager who has spoken nationally and internationally on specialized technology topics. “There’s no inventory and no physical building. It’s a virtual company operated out of homes in London and Vancouver.”
Elgort’s entrepreneurial pitch resonates in these tumultuous times of high joblessness and shrinking opportunities in many professional fields. Elgort, who is 47 and legally blind, should know: He left Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas six months ago. He has friends at Sharp and elsewhere who once felt secure in their jobs and professions, only to become casualties of the painfully prolonged economic downturn.
“A lot has changed in the last few years,” he said following his Hockinson High School presentation. “No one’s safe any more.”
Elgort put in long early morning hours creating Elguji (The name is a blend of his last name and his wife’s maiden name, Ujifusa) while working at Sharp. The software he conceived taps into the Internet’s bottomless potential to share information and ideas.
The company’s most successful product is IdeaJam, a trademarked software tool that allows users to share ideas and test their viability and marketability. It also sells IQJam, a knowledge-exchange software, and LinkJam, a tool for managing and sharing social bookmarks. Elguji sells the products individually or in package deals costing $12,000 to $30,000. Buyers include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, IBM, and tire manufacturer Michelin.
“It’s very, very profitable,” Elgort said. While he wouldn’t disclose figures, he said the company’s success has allowed it to build healthy cash reserves to use for new products and business ventures.
Hockinson students, who ranged from ninth through 12th grades, paid close attention and even had a few questions:
“How do you know there’s demand for your product?” (We created the demand, Elgort responded).
“What about competition?” (We don’t have any competitors. Bring them on, he said.)
“What do you do in your free time?” (He likes to play drums and once dreamed of being in a rock band).
Elgort is bullish about the business opportunities opened up by the iPhone and other smart phones, which are accessible to users with the push of an icon.
He’s left the work of running Elguji to Gayle and is now a solo entrepreneur. He already has developed one smart phone application, known as an app, for Philly Bilmo’s restaurant in Fisher’s Landing. That app, which was featured in The Columbian, drove up business for the restaurant and encouraged Elgort to come up with new apps.
He said he wants to keep his next creation secret until he can roll it out, but he dropped a big hint.
It has to do with airport security checks carried out by the Transportation Security Administration.
“Imagine,” he tells the students teasingly, “sharing your experience with the TSA with the world.”
