The Winter Olympics are upon us. After seven years of planning and preparation, these are exciting days. Billions of viewers will be glued to their TVs watching virtually unknown, mostly amateur athletes do sports that only get attention for 16 days every four years.
What is so compelling about the “thrill of victory and agony of defeat”? The answer is that, as a society, we like the underdog. The Olympics are the oldest form of reality TV, where we love to cheer for the little guy. To us, the casual Olympic fans, these stories seem to jump out of nowhere, when in fact these “overnight” sensations are actually hard-working athletes performing after years of toil and dedication. We are just noticing them now.
Part of the reason I write this column is to introduce the broader business community to the technology “underdogs,” the companies that you haven’t heard of yet. Like an Olympian shining on a world stage this month, some of these technology companies are world leaders in their fields, toiling away in relative obscurity, making fans of their customers and shareholders as they grow their businesses. The odds are long, but some of these companies may get bought or go public, and when they do, most of the mainstream business community will wonder where they came from.
Video surveillance technology has a successful track record in Vancouver even though it is about as closely followed by the general public as the biathlon. Avigilon Corp. is an emerging superstar in this under-the-radar sector, supplying HD-quality image capture and preservation to security markets worldwide at a cost/performance ratio that its competition can’t match. And that competition includes some of the largest companies in the world. Some of the surveillance watching the Olympic crowds this month is enhanced by Avigilon’s video-capture HD cameras and software. The management team built and sold Quantitative Imaging Inc. to Roper Industries Inc. in 2002, parlaying that win into Avigilon. Local angels and Vancouver-based Discovery Capital Corp. are investors.
Vision Critical is a name you may not recognize, but its CEO is someone you know. Angus Reid is at the helm of a game-changing market research technology company founded by his son, Andrew, employing the power of online communities and the real-time web to deliver valuable consumer feedback and market research. In the old world, you asked questions by phone. Polls took days or weeks to capture and analyze. Now, through its online expert panels, Vision Critical delivers instant and relevant feedback. Imagine having a few thousand responses immediately to questions you need to know about your product or service or a new idea you want to try. When brands tied to the Olympics want to know how they are doing during the Games, they don’t need to wait until it’s over to get answers.
Sometimes a previously unknown athlete gets some pre-Olympic recognition and faces the pressure of delivering on expectations. Elastic Path Software Inc. is a growing electronic-commerce company in Vancouver, selling software that powers company e-stores and e-commerce websites to brands you have heard of, including Avis, Symantec Corp. and Aeroplan Canada Inc. If a company’s core competency is making widgets, Elastic Path helps create a high-margin revenue stream by taking over the e-store. Its technology and service are so good that Elastic Path powers the Vancouver 2010 online store and Hockey Canada’s new store. Go buy your Quatchi, red mittens or personal torch right now and see if Elastic Path gets the job done under the Olympic microscope.
In the days, weeks and months to come, you will hear much more from these hard-working companies, toiling away in their space. Just as I’m watching the athletes at the Olympic Games, I am fascinated by their progress and excited to watch their inevitable success on a world stage.
Brent Holliday heads the technology practice for Capital West Partners, a Vancouver-based investment bank.