Branding topic of May PubTalk event

What: PubTalk: Clark County’s Premier Networking Event for Entrepreneurs. Topic: “To Market, To Market: Branding Your Way to Success.”

When: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 16.

Where: Fort Vancouver Artillery Barracks: 600 East Hathaway Rd.

Cost: $20 in advance, $30 walk-in (light food available; drinks not included).

Information: Register at 123 Signup.

Clark County PubTalk will continue its pattern of changing its mix of format and topics with its May event, titled “To Market, To Market: Branding Your Way to Success.”

The popular networking event for business startups, investors, prospective investors, and professionals working in business support fields will be held Wednesday, May 16, at the Fort Vancouver Artillery Barracks.

This month, two representatives of Gravitate Design, based in downtown Vancouver, will offer tips on “Branding & Design on a Dime.” Cyndi Parker, principal and creative director, and Marc Neidlinger, the design firm’s creative director of branding, will open the discussion, An audience question-and-answer session will follow.

Two companies breaking into the fast-growing clean technology sector also will pitch their companies’ growth plans. SunModo, fully owned by Tony Liu and based in Vancouver, has developed and is currently selling solar panel mounts that it markets to residential solar system contractors and commercial installers. Launched three years ago, the company has primarily sold its products through direct sales, word of mouth, and through bidding on projects. It so far has focused on Oregon, Hawaii and northeastern states.

Cliff Schrock, the company’s vice-president of operations, will discuss the company’s plans to expand its products and its distribution areas.

SunMoto has applied for eight patents and is setting up sales operations in the Southwest, including California, and south-central states, including Texas. SunModo says it’s been profitable and growing since early 2009, and that it expects $6 million in sales this year.

Puralytics, based in Beaverton, Ore., is the second clean technology company presenting at PubTalk. The company is considered a pioneer in a new photochemical technology for water purification that removes a broad range of contaminants. Chief executive officer Mark Owen founded Puralytics in 2007 and is the primary inventor of the company’s technology.

The company’s purification process has been selected for research grants by the U.S. Army, the National Science Foundation, and the Nanoscience and Materials Institute.

Additional information is available through the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council.