CONCEPT STAGE COMPANIES 

A dozen Concept Stage companies pitched to an animated, standing-room-only crowd at the Bend McMenamins Old St. Francis School September 26 for the opportunity to be selected as a finalist at the October 14 Bend Venture Conference (BVC).

Following each entrepreneur’s rapid-fire pitch (three minutes) and a staccato question and answer session (also three minutes), the audience voted by ballot selecting the finalists below who will compete in BVC’s Concept Stage competition for a grant of $10K.

1. AudioName (Sheetal Dube). AudioName seeks to overcome the difficulty of pronouncing foreign or tricky names by attaching an audio recording wherever an individual interacts online. Confident that they can pronounce a name correctly, those engaged in business and social interactions such as salespersons or teachers, are targets for this startup.     
2. Mobius eXchange (Dave Saylors). Mobius eXchange is developed by former emergency medical technicians to quickly and conveniently record patient information in emergency response environments. The custom application, loaded on a ruggedized iPad, replaces the current practice of writing on masking tape and solves insurance documentation requirements.  
3. The Physical Activity Pharmacy (Judy Shasek). Citing the health benefits of exercise, this Concept Stage company would make it easier for physicians to write prescriptions for physical activity and have both doctors and patients be more accountable for exercise. Building on the national Elbrys database, the Physical Activity Pharmacy would aggregate local providers of physical fitness and exercise in Central Oregon as its beta test.    
4. The Social Business (James Gentes). Specifically targeting small business, the Social Business would build an online service that enables these clients to optimize their social media investments. (Think SMO—search media optimization, similar to SEO—search engine optimization.) The service would advise small businesses on strategies, suggest improvements, and help customers track progress. 
5. WARscooters.com (Jarred Baker). WARscooters is the winning outcome of OSU-Cascades’ Entrepreneurship class project this year.  Sporting a well developed e-commerce website, WARscooters.com has started to sell scooters to boys 8-14, and plans to add a build-your-own capability and further market its niche site. 
6. Yeti Snow Traction (Matt Bassitt). Targeting studded tires that are increasingly unpopular with municipalities and difficult-to-install chains, Yeti Snow Traction has created spring-loaded traction devices (Yeti-Trax) for cars that can be installed in 8 to 10 seconds per tire. Additionally, the Yeti traction system in lab tests delivers a smoother ride.