One of the startups generating buzz at a recent TechBrew mixer was Pixton Comics – a web-based click-n-drag application that allows anyone, from school kids to ad agencies, to make comics.
�It�s like Clipart on steroids,� said Pixton founder Clive Goodinson, whose company is one of the finalists in the New Ventures BC competition.
But the trick now will be turning the buzz Pixton has created into cash flow.
Pixton has patents pending in Canada and the U.S. and paying subscribers in more than 70 countries. But Goodinson – who runs the company with his wife – has reached a critical hump and will need an angel investor or venture capital to help him make �key hires� to improve his product and market it.
�It started as an experiment and grew into a business,� Goodinson said. �We�ve proven that this is something that people are willing to pay for.�
Howard Donaldson, a mentor at the Centre4Growth high-tech accelerator, said Goodinson has a good shot at raising the money he needs to hire staff.
�Venture capital is interested in businesses that are in social and mobile media, which he is. He�s created a product that is unique and high quality.�
Goodinson isn�t the only company that has made web-based tools for creating comics, but when Lindsay Ross, a teacher-librarian at Central Middle School in Victoria, went looking online for a program that would allow her students to make comics for school projects, she found the best program was developed just up the highway, in Parksville, where Goodinson lives.
�It�s flexible and it�s full of opportunities,� she said, �but it�s also supportive.�
By �supportive� she means she has no problem contacting Goodinson for support.
�Personal service is one thing I appreciate, because sometimes you can�t even get through to companies,� she said.
Central Middle School is one of dozens of schools or school districts that subscribe to Pixton Comics for schools program. The charge is based on the number of students using it.
Pixton also offers a freemium service, which anyone can use for free, with options to upgrade for $5 per month.
There�s also Pixton for business. It allows business subscribers to create comics, which can be printed or posted on websites or Youtube, and which can be used in presentations or for advertising.
Pixton allows users to choose from a library of characters and characteristics (hairstyles, mouth shapes, expressions, etc.) to create comics in panels that can be configured in various ways.
It even allows photos of people or pets to be imported, and in addition to text (in nine languages), it can create voice-overs for narration.
Pixton�s main advantage over its competitors is the range of customization available through a patent-pending feature that allows users to articulate limbs and facial expressions with a mouse.
The company has received help from the Centre4Growth and the BC Innovation Council, through the New Ventures competition.
Winners are scheduled to be announced February 23.
�Winning the prize would be nice,� Goodinson said, �but the value in it is making us go through the exercise of putting together a proper business plan and thinking everything through.�
Past New Venture competitors have gone on to build successful high-tech companies. Pulse Energy, which makes energy-management software for commercial buildings, placed second in the 2008 New Ventures competition. It now employs 50 people.
AirG, which makes mobile social entertainment products, won the competition in 2001 and now employs 110 people in Vancouver and 40 more outside of Canada.��
