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Tech Valley News
Unique E-mail Concept Wins $100K Contest
Andrew J. Gibson, chief executive officer, accepted the top prize on behalf of Celery LLC. Three companies with technologies ranging from medical record software development to e-mail applications to the manufacturing of electronic security applications vied for the prize in the final round of the competition, presenting their business plans to a panel of venture capitalists from throughout the United States.
More than 250 CEOs, presidents and senior-level executives from the technology, business, government and academic communities were in attendance at the event, in the hangar at the Million Air terminal at Albany International Airport.
Berkshire Bank, through its Greater Berkshire Foundation, served as the event’s major sponsor; Nixon Peabody LLP was the lead sponsor of the Business Plan Competition.
"We’re delighted to be recognized as this year’s winner of the $100,000 Business Plan Competition," said Gibson. "Tech Valley is a wonderful place to start a business and grow a business. It has everything you want and you can’t beat the quality of life."
Gibson formed the company in 2004, enabling people to send and receive e-mail and color photos without a computer. The company married its custom software application to off-the-shelf fax technology and designed a business model to profitably sell and service Celery’s customer base. Because Celery utilizes an existing phone line, there is no need for the customer to have dial-up or cable modem connection. This easy to use product is available at a lower cost than alternative applications. The company has sold systems in 45 states, Puerto Rico and Canada.
Venture capitalists, Bob Greene of Oncore Capital; Michael P. McQueeney of Summer Street Capital; Mark J. Morrissette of North Atlantic Capital; Tony Schmitz of Pine Street Capital; and, Tripp Peake of Long River Ventures served as judges for the final round of presentations.
For the fifth consecutive year, Nixon Peabody LLP law firm was lead sponsor of the business plan competition; Albany Molecular Research Inc., MapInfo Corp., New York Business Development Corporation and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were major supporters of the competition. Blue Slate Solutions LLC, Center for Economic Growth, MARKTECH Optoelectronics and UHY Advisors NY Inc. were participating sponsors.
Companies headquartered in the 19-county Tech Valley region whose products or services are technology-oriented, are legal entities and have a $2 million per year revenue cap were eligible to enter the competition. From the original group of applicants, ten were selected to present their business plans to a panel of regional business leaders who selected the three finalists for this year’s competition.
In addition to the $100,000 prize, Gibson will also receive consultation from several area firms to help improve the venture’s chances of success. Celery received $50,000 upon being selected, and they will receive an additional $50,000 as it reaches pre-determined milestones developed in conjunction with a professional advisory committee, made up of representatives of each service provider. Celery will continue to meet with that committee on a quarterly basis.
Previous winners include BullEx Digital Safety of Troy, a technology company offering new products in the fire safety and security industry (2006); Valogix Inc. of Saratoga Springs, a developer of business software that forecasts future demand, sets stocking levels, creates replenishment orders and optimizes inventory (2005); Natec Inc. of Plattsburgh, a manufacturer of polymer-based ammunition (2004); Crystal IS Inc. of Watervliet, a materials research and manufacturing firm that focuses on semiconductors (2003); Starfire Systems Inc. of Malta, a developer and manufacturer of high-temperature, high-performance silicon carbide ceramic materials (2002); and ReQuest Multimedia of Troy which produces cutting-edge equipment that can store an entire music collection (2001).
For the second consecutive year Berkshire Bank, through its Greater Berkshire Foundation, served as the major sponsor of the 2007 Summit; the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, Albany International Airport, First Albany, FOX23 WXXA-TV, Midhudsonmedia, National Grid and the Times Union were Summit sponsors. Red Herring was the national media sponsor. Chamber of Commerce sponsors include Plattsburgh-North Country, Rensselaer County and Schenectady County.
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