RPost, which specializes in registered e-mails, has invented a kind of
electronic Post-it note for electronic correspondence.
The innovation comes from common confusion that arises when copying multiple recipients in an e-mail: The copied recipients sometimes don’t know why they’re being brought into the discussion, unless the sender sends a separate explanation e-mail or picks up the phone to tell them why.
Called SideNote, it’s a virtual yellow note embedded at the top of the e-mail. The note and its contents are only visible to the copied recipient.
SideNote is offered along with RPost’s main service, which is creating e-mails with the kind of delivery confirmations available through the postal service. Downloaded into Microsoft Outlook, the program stamps e-mails with proof of delivery, content and receipt so that conversations about a settlement price, a deposition or an audit can be used as legal documents. RPost’s confirmations were accredited by the U.S. Postal Service in 2002.
Bar associations across the country use RPost’s product, along with the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Census Bureau. Over the past year, the company has doubled its client base to 500. These include the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization, NYSE Euronext, Whole Foods and the Supreme Court of Louisiana.
“Registered e-mails primarily benefit the company by making e-mail conversations more secure,” said Zafar Khan, the company’s chief executive. “What we’ve found with SideNotes is that it relieves some immediate personal pain for e-mail users themselves.”
Founded in 2000, El Segundo-based RPost has doubled its employees to 50 people over the past two years. In 2008, the company expects it will grow the staff to 75.
Wireless Clicks
Loyal Pennings, club owner, was told by city officials in 2003 to figure out a way to keep the occupancy within city code limits or he’d be shut down.
Pennings said that he’s finally found the perfect answer. His company has developed a tech device that keeps track of occupancy rates.
“It was an invention out of pure necessity,” he said.
It’s called Wickler a compound word for wireless clicks. The device transmits occupancy information to Web-based software that tallies and analyzes the results.
The device resembles a television remote control and can be set to track customers, including their gender and what they order. The original head count must be done manually, but the information is transmitted and managed wirelessly.
“From my BlackBerry, I can keep track of the occupancy rate of all of my clubs, or see the numbers night by night or week by week,” Pennings said.
The Wickler company is based in Hollywood. Pennings, who owns nightclubs Las Palmas and LAX, said he had been looking for a product like Wickler for about a decade but didn’t consider creating it himself until recently.
“I’m a nightclub owner,” he said. “I know how to sell drinks. I don’t know how to program and build computer systems. But I found someone who could.”
Pennings co-founded the 10-person startup in 2005 with Eric Parmater, an entrepreneur and technologist.
Mobile Money
Viva Vision, a Santa Monica-based mobile entertainment content producer, has received $2 million in a fresh injection of cash.
The funding came from Medical Capital Corp. and brings the company’s total venture funding to about $20 million.
The company, founded in 2005, primarily develops programming for the Latino community. It recently inked a partnership with Univision that allows the company to stream the Spanish-language media company’s content to cell phones that subscribe to Viva Vision’s programming.
Start Making Sense
RJT Compuquest Inc. adapts supercomplex software for companies such as Trader Joe’s and DirecTV to run their operations.
The Torrance-based company tailors and implements ERP, or enterprises resource planning technology, developed by software companies such as Oracle and SAP. The technology provides the backbone of a company’s entire operations, providing IT infrastructure for finance, sales, distribution, material management and production planning.
The company, founded in 1996, has only recently shown significant growth. In 2004, it brought in revenues of $17 million. This year, the company is pushing $40 million in revenues.
It has 225 employees, and plans on hiring more. By the end of the year, the company hopes to increase its head count to 300. It recently opened two offices in Milwaukee and Chicago, in addition to operations in Dallas, San Jose and Costa Mesa. The company also plans on expanding its operations to India.
Staff reporter Booyeon Lee can be reached at
[email protected]
or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.
