Episode 194: Video Conferencing & Money Management

Episode 194 originally broadcast on February 21, 2009

Its all about making things easier this week with the use of the web. Host a large video confernece with omNovia Technologies and easily manage you money with Rudder. Shawn Shadfar discusses omNovia Technologies in this weeks Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback while Blair Garrou hosts another DealMakers with Nikhil Roy of Rudder.

School of Business 02/21/09

Russ and John present the show that features innovators and does the heavy lifting to keep our entrepreneurs at the forefront. Includes: BusinessMakers Quote of the Week—a pithy observation from author Gregg Easterbrook; This Week in Business History includes such FAVE attention-getters as Joan of Arc, popcorn, the Alamo, the Jackson 5, and People Magazine; Navigating Business Jargon—acronyms, technospeak and disclaimers; and Dumbest Moments in Business History—President for Life?! The joke is on Hugo Chavez.

The DealMaker Series - Rudder.com

Blair Garrou, managing director of venture capital firm DFJ Mercury, gives a snapshot review of another hot new company, Rudder.com, and visits with founder and CEO Nikhil Roy. Rudder is an online money management system that helps users budget, control and track their finances with secure, individualized, up-to-the-minute updates. Rudder helps users make forward-thinking decisions by including over/under budget comments, bill reminders and sending “remaining cash flow” statements. The company already has 4,000 financial institutions in its system and expects to announce an application for the iPhone during 1Q 2009. Roy’s presentations for funding were well-received among venture capital firms; he believes focus is the key. Garrou likes Rudder’s ease of use, but wonders how many users they will need to really gain traction under their current model.

Flashback - Shawn Shadfar, omNovia Technologies Inc.

Russ visits with the founder and CEO of omNovia Technologies. Five years ago, Shawn Shadfar founded a new company to provide information security consulting services. A friend hired him to build a software product and, later, commissioned him to build a web conferencing system, a completely different technology, which became the company’s main focus. Today, that web conferencing platform can host as many as 5,000 simultaneous participants and is used worldwide. His timing could not have been better as companies continue to cut their conference and travel budgets. Shadfar believed it was important to focus on his customers and to make his product the absolute best it could be, so instead of “wasting time going after investors,” he self-funded the company, which quickly became profitable. You can’t argue with success.

WebXtra - Shawn Shadfar of omNovia Technologies Inc.

Survivor Tip - Showing Initiative

In this survivor tip Dr. Don Minnick talks about how you can be indispensable in your company. He suggests using individual initiative, like being a detective.