Aethos Technology readies for growth

SANTA ROSA – Eric Wold and his partners spent five years developing software to make their digital print shop more efficient. Now they’re ready to share their system with the industry at large.

Aethos Technology, formed in January to market the PressWise software-as-a-service system, already has five customers, among them the company – Chromagraphics – that bought Mr. Wold’s digital print business in 2008.

The service allows digital, and soon offset printers, to be much more productive and allows them to take orders over the Web. Mark Sarpa, president of Progressive Solutions in Santa Clara, said he’s excited about the system.

“Most of our digital print work is stationery: announcements, invitations, meeting schedules,” said Mr. Sarpa. “We have several large customers – Hewlett Packard is one – but 70 percent of our business is comprised of small orders.”

Small orders are the bane of printers; they’re time-consuming and inefficient to process. The Aethos technology takes orders and details over the Web and automatically funnels the small batches into a large batch, he said.

“It filled a need,” he said. “We can process many more orders and print them at much lower costs.”

“There are several digital print-management systems on the market; EFI and Creo make them,” said Mr. Wold. “But they’re expensive, stand-alone systems, and you have to purchase several modules at about $50,000 apiece to get the same features we offer. Then there’s maintenance on top of that.”

Aethos’ software doesn’t require a server, and it’s available for a setup cost of $5,000 and monthly fee of $1,000, including service and support.

Aethos is looking for $500,000 to $1 million to grow a sales team and seize market opportunity. It has captured the interest of several local investors, who are doing due diligence, said Mr. Wold.

His presentation won Best of Show at a recent North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum, earning the company a spot at the upcoming North Bay Investors Summit.

The June 10 summit, produced by the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster with the Keiretsu Forum and the North Bay Angels, is open only to selected startups, established companies and accredited investors.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” said Mr. Wold. He and his three partners will structure the company along the lines that their investors prefer.

“If they opt for slow, organic growth, we’ll grow slowly,” he said. “If they want to ramp up quickly to grab market share, that’s what we’ll do.”

The Aethos model has a lot for investors to like. It’s got a proven, scalable product developed by a team that knows the industry, operating costs are minimal and profit margins are huge. “The service costs us less than $50 a month to provide, yet customers are more than willing to pay $1,000 for it,” said Mr. Wold.

For more information, visit www.aethos.com.