SkyCast – the cooler path to in-flight entertainment

Occasionally, you see a deal where you immediately understand both how cool it is and the impact that it will have on an industry. Couple that with one that will also have an impact on you personally and a great team, and you have SkyCast Solutions.

Founded by the inventor of the digEplayer (if you fly Alaska as much as I do, it needs no introduction), Bill Boyer, who is joined by my friend, Peter Parsons, and Greg Latimer (former VP Marketing at Alaska Air), this is a team that understands the industry. It is no secret that airlines have troubles with profitability. As fuel prices soar and the sluggish economy depress business travel, the problem gets worse. Airlines have learned that ancillary sources for revenue (like baggage fees) are an attractive way to make up any gaps. The problem with fees: customers hate paying for something that brings them no enjoyment that they think should be free.

Enter SkyCast Solutions. They make a VERY cool in-flight entertainment solution, called TrayVu™ (http://www.skycastsolutions.com/NEW/products.html). It is an android tablet that goes into the tray table, can be viewed through the table, and automatically flips up when you put the tray down. This offers many advantages, including being light weight (a short IRR for the airlines on fuel savings alone), ability to show ads or other things below 10,000 feet, having use of your tray table with the screen in a perfect viewing position, a credit card reader to buy food or pay per views, and (maybe most importantly to anyone who has had the person behind them play angry birds in a seat back system) when you play a touch game you don’t disturb the person in the seat in front. It is an exceeding economical system for the airlines to install and use, brought to you by an industry veteran who knows how to make these things work.

OK.. in-flight entertainment won’t change the world. But it will make long flights much more fun. This is why I (and other Alliance of Angels members) chose to invest in SkyCast Solutions.

AppAttach – Serving the long tail

I recently invested in AppAttach (http://www.appattach.com/about), an online marketplace for device manufacturers (OEMs) to find and sign up software vendors (ISVs) and receive a bounty the way the very largest hardware OEMs do.

It’s widely known that software preinstallation has become key to profitability for consumer electronic device manufacturers, but whether it’s major OEM bundling an antivirus application with a PC or a small Chinese handset manufacturer pre-installing Internet Search on a new mobile device, there’s no efficient way for buyers and sellers to quickly see what placement opportunities are available and easily conduct business. Most software vendors can only do such deals with the very largest PC manufacturers, because there is no efficient process for consummating, implementing and tracking such deals. Today’s market is crowded with new tablet entrants, who (other than the iPad) have limited market share. Likewise, the PC marketplace has a lot of custom-built PCs (like the one on which I’m authoring this blog).

AppAttach has created a marketplace and set of value-added tools and services that greatly reduce the cost of finding, negotiating, and monetizing pre-installed software and online service transactions. Simpler and less expensive transactions allow small/mid-size OEMs and ISVs to strike pre-installed distribution deals, while at the same time allowing large manufacturers to strike smaller, more targeted deals that maximize per device revenue and enhance the end user’s out-of-box-experience.

The appAttach Marketplace facilitates transactions in all major categories of software and online services, including security, productivity, browser, search, multimedia, entertainment and gaming, on devices ranging from desktop computers to mobile phones. The appAttach Marketplace is a neutral, secure interactive trading exchange where members can bid via auction-based or fixed-price listings for pre-installed software and online service placements, allowing its customers with the ability to negotiate and agree on pricing, quantity, delivery, quality and other terms online.

James DePoy, the appAttach founder, worked at the OEM group at Microsoft prior to founding appAttach, so he understands the industry dynamics and the needs of both hardware OEMs and software ISVs. His vision and drive should allow him to build an great company.

I like smaller companies that can customize a computer (or tablet) to your needs. I believe that appAttach is a missing piece of the business infrastructure that will enable smaller companies the freedom and flexibility to grow their revenues.

Virticus Acquired by LSI

One of my AoA portfolio companies was acquired today by LSI Industries. http://www.nasdaq.com/article/lsi-industries-inc-announces-acquisition-of-virticus-corporation-20120319-00192

Virticus is an integrated set of products and services that reduce energy and maintenance costs by 30-50% through a communication and control system that allows the management of lights individually and collectively. It is a cost-effective solution that scales from 10 lights in a church parking lot to 10,000,000 lights managed by a city. Virticus is a great example of how modern network and software technologies can be a green way to lower energy consumption, while maintaining (or improving) functionality. Its customers were delighted with what it could do.

The decision to sell a company early in its life cycle is always a difficult one. While Virticus had enormous promise, it also participated in an industry with many mega-players. Customers, like municipal governments, are generally not very quick to adopt new technologies, even when they have the potential to safe budget dollars. Selling to large governmental customers (or large industrial ones, too) is particularly difficult for a small startup.

Virticus was completely financed by angels.

Congratulations to the Virticus team and board for building a great product, company and team. And then having the wisdom to sell at the right time.

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