Preliminaries

President Martinka called the meeting to order, after which Roger Allington gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Laura Adams Guy greeted visiting Rotarians and guests.

Interact and Antigua

Jeff Mason, teacher from Newport High School, brought three of his students, Shane, Cameron and Christine, all veterans of the Cisco Academy trip to Antigua last year as part of the BBRC-funded Computers for the World project. All three will be making their second trip to Antigua this school year for another similar project.

Christine explained the fun she had being part of the team distributing dictionaries to third graders last year in Antigua, and Cameron described the training of the teachers program they did to equip teachers to make repairs to computers and programs. Since there are few affordable places or persons to repair computers in Antigua, the teachers were shown how to use DVDs and were given demonstrations and also shown how to go online for repair information.

Cameron, who will be the president of the newly formed Interact Club at Newport High School, described one of the Club's first projects: provide 20 computers to a school in Seattle for girls trapped on the streets.

Sergeant at Arms

Sergeant Wendi next provided some amusement by organizing a quiz competition on networking between the three Newport students and a team of BBRCers consisting of computer Guru Dick Brown, John DeWater, and Laura Adams Guy.

First question, what does OSPF stand for? Well, the student team nailed it with Open Shortest Path First. They did it again with the correct answer to: What is the simplest way to test the network? Of course, the answer is to ping the network.

The third question was gobbled up by the students, too: What does Wadali mean? Shane was quick on the draw with the correct answer: the original name of Antigua and a local beer with a map of the island on the label. Shane was apparently drinking in more of the local scene than he was supposed to!

And, where was Beirmeister DeWater on this one? The fourth question was easy for the students,

but Sergeant Wendi graciously gave the BBRC team credit also, just because Dick Brown claimed he was going to give the same answer: What does Cisco stand for? The correct answer is the last four letter of San Francisco.

The SAA’s quiz raised a good bit of money, since Jeff and Frank Young each contributed $20 and each member put $2 on the table.

Oktoberfest

Speaking of beer, Elena Howell reminded all that there will be an Oktoberfest celebration at Lawrence the Florist’s shop at 6:00 pm on Saturday, October 15.

PROGRAM

“From the Jungle to the Dirt Road — Founding and Growing a Start‑Up! “ Tim Gibbons, Founder and CEO/President of Pharmacy OneSource

Member Paul Osborn introduced our guest speaker, his boss, Tim Gibbons, CEO and founder of Pharmacy OneSource. Another member, Kaj Pedersen, is the CTO of the company.

Tim gave a brief history and description of the Factoria-based company with 120 employees.

The company was formed to provide chemical surveillance software services to hospital pharmacies. Since its founding in 2000, the company’s revenues have grown from $6 million to $22 million. Tim explained two of its principal products: Accupedia, a software program that assures accurate delivery of drip medications to pediatric patients based on algorithms that account for patient criteria; and Sentri7, a clinical surveillance software product that takes information from various hospital sources and analyzes it to make sure that appropriate medicines and dosages are being given to avoid unwanted medication events or inappropriate indications. Tim explained that these products are very useful to hospital pharmacies since the principal job of hospital pharmacists has become consultation on drugs for physicians and nurses, as the dispensing has become somewhat automated through machines on the floors in hospitals.

Tim described the company’s funding history, in which it relied on private and angel investors, rather than investment firms. This was done to ensure that the company was able to keep a long-term vision. In 2005, additional capital was raised to buy (and take the name of a company in Madison, WI), and this year, the company was sold to Wolters Kluwer, which has continued to use the Pharmacy OneSource name and is keeping it operating as a discrete division.

Tim identified the company’s keys to success as, first, thoroughly understanding its market domain and market command. Initially it outsourced the technology necessary to build its products, but it has gradually brought technology development in house.

Second, he described their careful and deliberate funding, starting with private investors and bootstrapping growth, rather than seeking outside professional investors.

Another key was a successful banking relationship with Northwest Bank, then known as Bank of Bellevue, and great support from its accountants and others such as Houser Martin in finding key personnel. A good management team with core competencies and a good business plan were also key factors, as was its commitment to execute successfully on its projections.

Finally, Tim credited a knowledgeable board of directors and Minneapolis investment banking company, Triple Tree, with providing great service in developing and executing a good exit strategy plan.

Its products are now found in 1300 sites worldwide and in 20% of hospitals in the US. Its products are helping hospitals successfully operate in the new world of value-based payments now in use by the federal government in paying for its medical programs.