Can you remember what you were doing when you were 11 years old? (Maybe
not!) Playing in the playground, riding bikes, looking for ways to get in
trouble?
James Demetriades — Chairman, CEO, and Founder of Software Technologies
Corp. — was at CalTech in the Computer Science Department. He was so
fascinated by programming he would climb rain gutters to get to the computer
room after it had closed.
His company plans to go public this week. The price range for Software
Technologies Corp. is $16-18, the lead underwriter is Credit Suisse
First Boston and the proposed ticker symbol is STCS.
Back in 1985, Demetriades helped to building software systems for major
HMOs. But in 1989, he found that his creative thinking was being stifled by
company policy and decided to go out on his own. In 1991 Demetriades,
with only two customers, had built revenues of $80,000 for STC.
Now, STC is a leading provider of e-Business Integration (eBI) software.
STC eliminates disruption in the flow of information caused by the lack of
integration of incompatible systems. The companys flagship product,
e*Xchange, connects a companys applications and databases with outside
strategic partners. The technology is built to promote a companys
revenues, profits and customer service. Whats more, the e*Xchange is
fairly seamless, so there is no need to rewrite legacy application code.
According to STC, about 2 percent of gross national product (GNP) can be
attributed to the business inefficiencies caused by avoidable information
delays, such as redundant information entry, data conversion and other
incompatibilities.
So far, STC has been taking advantage of this huge market. Total revenues
have grown from $26.7 million in 1997 to $55.2 million in 1999.
While the IPO market has been hit hard, there appears to be some life,
though especially with the recent bounce in NASDAQ. STC has strong
momentum and great backers. By all appearances, it looks like it will have
a fair chance at a good IPO this week.
