Custom Technology Ltd.'s business plan to create a series of
products based on Tridbit™ technology took third
place in the IT category of the Wisconsin Governor's Business
Plan Contest. The business plan is called “JotChat”,
the code-name of the first product in the Tridbit series. It
was recognized as one of the top twelve plans out of a field
of almost three hundred entrants.
The JotChat product is a conversational intelligent agent that organizes
personal information such as shopping lists, to dos, appointments
and contacts. It will be targeted for the visually impaired,
a market poorly served by existing products using conventional
interfaces. Because the agent understands English, users
simply type or say things like “Buy milk” or “What
meetings do I have tomorrow?”
Development on this application includes making all interactions
with Babble accessible. Multiple
audio feedback options have been added, including speaking
keys and/or words as they are typed, as well as the complete
input and response. Enhancements to the vocabulary training
functions are in the works, not only to make them accessible,
but also much easier and in some cases self-learning.
We have assembled an outstanding team to create a business
whose initial product will empower people with visual disabilities.
Future products will change the
way everyone interacts with computers and devices.
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The Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest's mission is to
encourage entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth
stages of high-tech businesses in Wisconsin. 279 business plan
abstracts were submitted in four categories including Advanced
Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and
Life Sciences.
Sixty-five judges took part in a process that progressively
narrowed the field from 279 abstracts to 50 semi-finalists,
26 finalists and finally first, second and third place category
winners and a grand prizewinner.
Winners in the contest were announced June 12th at the Wisconsin
Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee. They will share
in $200,000 in prizes, including cash and services.
An abstract of JotChat's winning business plan is printed
below. Potential investors are encouraged to contact us
at
for more information about
the project and/or to obtain a copy of the winning business
plan.
More information on the contest, including a list of finalists
and sponsors, is available on the Wisconsin
Technology Council's website. Finalists’ summaries
are available to more than 250 prospective investors in Wisconsin
and beyond through the Wisconsin Angel Network, www.wisconsinangelnetwork.com. |
Product and Service
JotChat is a conversational personal information manager (PIM)
that uses Tridbit™ technology - Custom Technology Ltd.'s
(CTL) patent-pending natural language technology. JotChat will
handle reminders, calendars, list management, phone books and
more with simple English, such as “When is
the meeting with Bill?” or “Buy milk.” Unlike most PIMs, JotChat
doesn’t use preconfigured databases limiting what it can store.
Customer Definition
The initial customers are people with
visual and other disabilities that prevent working with available
PIMs, for whom JotChat replaces complex screen interaction
with simple sentence entry. Even scribbled paper reminders
are not an option for many in this under-served segment.
Ongoing advances in voice recognition will allow speech input
in future versions, expanding JotChat onto mobile devices
and into mainstream markets.
Market Description, Size & Sales
Strategy
The first market is the 1.5+ million visually impaired
domestic computer users, who are served through national
organizations, online communities, and accessibility resources.
JotChat will be marketed through these organizations. It
will be sold and distributed through its own website and
other direct e-marketing channels including those that cater
to the visually impaired. JotChat is the first in a series
of products CTL plans to develop and bring to market that
will feature next generation conversational user interfaces
built using Tridbit technology.
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Market |
Accessibility |
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Online
Help |
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Intelligent
Devices |
Entry Product |
JotChat |
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HelpServer |
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TBD |
Customer |
End User |
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Enterprise |
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Device Manufacturer |
Technology |
Desktop |
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Server |
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Embedded |
Size |
$1.7B |
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$3B |
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$2B |
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Phase
1 |
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Phase
2 |
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Phase
3 |
CTL
Strategic Path – Progressive growth in products, markets,
and revenue
Competition
Direct
competition with well-established products (e.g. Outlook)
is avoided by initially targeting the accessibility market.
A handful of “accessible” PIMs (e.g. Day-by-Day) combined
with screen readers (e.g. Jaws) allow awkward entry of calendar
and other narrowly defined information. No currently available
PIMs provide simple conversational information input and retrieval. |
