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2000 Boise tech startup starts turning a profit. MobileDataforce CEO Ken Benedict discusses the challenges and satisfactions of entrepreneurship

Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ , a Boise company that creates business software, says some potential early investors missed an opportunity because they didn’t understand his company.

In May, Boise-based MobileDataforce secured a $1 million equity investment and announced it was finally making a profit — a significant milestone for a startup founded in 2000.

The company began as a spinoff of Meridian-based Inclusion Inc., which specializes in community-based assisted living. MobileDataforce developed software for Inclusion employees working in clients’ homes to transmit information back to the company via mobile data devices.

Much of the company’s sales now are in the utility and construction industries, but hand-held readers also track the origins of cattle to allow instant tracking in the event of a breakout of mad cow or other disease. The software is also used in PDAs for hemophiliacs to communicate with their doctors. In Holland, it’s used to track the growth of tulips.

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Intermountain Venture Forum http://www.ivfboise.org

The eighth annual Intermountain Venture Forum, scheduled for Sept. 26-27 at the Boise Centre on The Grove, is accepting applications for companies interested in presenting.
The 2006 program will feature keynote presentations by Steve Appleton, chairman, CEO and president of Micron Technology Inc., and Paul Maeder, cofounder and managing general partner of Highland Capital Partners.

The forum, presented by the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, connects some of the regions new companies and investors. Each year, dozens of startup companies go through an application process to be chosen to make presentations.

The deadline to apply to be a presenter is Sept. 15. For more information, visit http://www.ivfboise.org or call James Grunke, director of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, at (208) 472-5232.

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Ken Dey
Idaho Statesman

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060725/NEWS02/607250358/1029

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