Casual Friday Collection

Herewith is a casual Friday assortment of random stuff:

Zyvex to be cash flow positive in ’06, IPO imminent?

Most closely-held private companies do not bother to share details of their financial performance with anyone besides the Internal Revenue Service. Zyvex, however, has revealed that it had revenues of $10 million last year, up 16% from the year before and up substantially from its first revenues of $150,000 recorded in 2001.

A couple of years ago, I asked CEO Jim Von Ehr when he would consider taking Zyvex public. He said that maybe he would consider it when the company became cash flow positive, which he predicted might happen in 2006. That prediction seems to be coming true right on schedule. Does this mean an IPO is imminent? I would bet that, if the market holds, an IPO will happen toward the end of this year, as Jim has big plans that require financing.

New Nano-Prefixed Word

The first new submission to the nano-prefixed word dictionary comes from my son Randy. He offers the term “nanonutcase” which he believes to be self-explanatory. One-billionth of a nutcase? However you define it, he thinks my picture should illustrate the word in the dictionary. Since I control this blog, I offer instead this picture of Randy himself with his girlfriend Theresa, taken atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They make a lovely couple, don’t you think?



Nanotech Pioneers and Lobbyists

Nathan Tinker of the Nanotech Business Alliance (NBA) downloaded the index to my book, Nanotech Pioneers, and was “Shocked, Shocked!” to find that NBA was not included. NBA, he points out, not only lobbied hard for passage of the Twenty-First Century Nanotechnology R & D Act, but actually wrote it, confirming what we are learning from the Abramoff scandal; our nation’s laws are written by lobbyists for the benefit of special interests. But in this case, it’s a good thing, right?

Actually, I do owe NBA an apology. It is a great organization and the pre-eminent nanotechnology trade and lobbying group. I should have slid a mention of them into my book. Plus Nathan is a good guy.

Now before anybody else e-mails me, I will point out my general purpose apology, which is included at the end of the first chapter (which can also be downloaded gratis):

“I would like to end this chapter with an apology to all of the Nanotech Pioneers whose names don’t appear in this book. Obviously a book of finite length cannot mention everybody whose work is interesting; choices have to be made. Chance and circumstance also play a part in what went in and what had to be left out.”


I will conclude with some blatant self-promotion--my favorite passage from the foreword to Nanotech Pioneers, nicely written by Biophan CEO Mike Weiner:

“Steve was there, as this industry has emerged, and watched many of the players reported on in this book run the gauntlet from start-up to success. But beware, there are some hazards to reading further. The nanotech revolution is contagious and there is risk you can get roped in! I recommend you hold this book at least six inches from your soul, because nanotechnology is compelling and contagious, once you get what it is about and what it can mean to the world and to business.”