It’s almost like Derek Jeter signing up to coach a minor league team.
Steve Wozniak, inventor of the first personal computer and co-founder of Apple Inc., has joined the board of a Studio City company that’s trying to develop new Internet video applications.
En2go International Inc. takes its name from the phrase “entertainment to go,” based on the belief that people want their music, video and text to move with them on portable devices such as iPods.
Wozniak’s main job these days is as chief visionary officer at Jazz Technologies Inc. in Newport Beach, a semi-conductor company.
“The digital revolution is under way and it is powered by the user,” Wozniak said in a statement, adding he wants to work with En2go “as part of their creative team, exploring ways to best apply En2go innovations to improve digital life at all levels.”
Tolga Katas, founder of En2go, said the road to landing the celebrity director stretches back for decades. Katas has attracted a team of executives that includes President Paul Fishkin, a former record producer who promoted Todd Rundgren and Twisted Sister. Also on hand is Chief Technology Officer John Draper, an early Apple expert who earned the nickname “Captain Crunch” for his programming skills.
“Everybody has relationships going back 20 years,” said Katas. “I’ve been working with Crunch for seven years, and our friendship goes back almost 30 years. For Woz, he has so much to give to the world right now. He was looking for a company to join, and we were a good fit.”
Besides friendship, En2go, which trades over-the-counter, gave Wozniak 1 million shares. Since the trading price has been $1.50, that gives the stock an apparent value of $1.5 million.
The company has two products it hopes to bring to market in the next six months. The Flixo program streams high definition-quality video to home computers, allowing the monitor to function like an HD television. The IMaculate program makes Internet searches run faster.
The company has no revenue. Its most recent quarterly report listed its assets as $245,722 and software programs in various stages of completion.
On Jan. 25, En2go announced an investment of $1.3 million from Connect Capital in Vancouver, British Columbia. Katas anticipates the need for much more capital when the applications go to market. He expects his payroll to swell from the current 20 to about 200 in the next year.
En2go’s leadership said it stands apart from other startups.
“We are working with people with whom we have years of relationships,” Fishkin said. “Since they understand the field and read the news, they know it’s in their best interest to stay with us and not bail out for a few million dollars. They want to make millions and billions of dollars, not just a few million.”
