The Model NanoCo is . . .

There will be platform companies, IP library companies, biotech, semiconductor and specialty chemical companies. Nanotech startups and IPOs will and already do look like instrument companies and computer companies, electronic device, software and basic materials companies.

More than look like them, they are them.

But what does the model nanotech company look like, one that we can point to today, and say with some degree of confidence, "now that's one that works; 'that's what I'm talking about'"?

The answer, for me, is simple. It's Nano-Tex.

Spun out from supposedly, stodgy Burlington a few years back, investment and business giant, Wilbur Ross, created a nanotech-based, industry and manufacturing-congruent moneymaker. Most importantly, the company and its products solve real world problems (keeping stains, static, moisture, odors, off of ties, shirts, skirts, trousers, carpets, upholstery . . . ). The science and technology are solid, but where Nano-Tex really shines (outshines everyone, really . . . Nanofilm is a close profile . . but that's another story) is where the tire meets the road (or in this case, where the catsup meets your shirt).

They make money the old-fashioned way; they sell something that people actually (in this case, fabric and clothing manufacturers) want to buy.

Now, it's all very nice to, say, develop a new and wonderful tool or build a super-sensitive sensor, revolutionary platform technology or cure a horrible disease, but, from a business and investment point of view, give me the mundane. Give me the basic. Give me the frivolous markets like people who like music (iPod Nano), people who want good deals (Ebay, WalMart), heck, people who like hamburgers (McDonalds) . . . .or . . . people who wear clothes . . . Hmmmm . . . now that's something to get excited about.