Congratulations K-Diagnostics - Winner of the North Bay iHub Business Plan Contest.

The inaugural North Bay iHub Seed Round Business Plan Competition just drew to a close. The winner, San Rafael based K-Diagnostics has a sleep apnea diagnostic and monitoring medical device. How exciting! K-Diagnostics plans to move to the SMBC (Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster) and hopes to have as many as 30 employees within a few years.

The other finalists:

• GOasis - Santa Rosa - mobile, self-contained, energy-efficient emergency shelters
• E3 - Sebastopol - bio-methane from municipal waste
• Barrier Free Adventures - Petaluma - mobile & internet travel information for disabled travelers

Clearly there are lots of entrepreneurs in the North Bay with compelling ideas.

There were lots of winners in this contest:

• Sonoma, Marin, and Napa Counties -- we need entrepreneurship to spur our economy
• The SMBC that sponsored the contest and gained a new incubator tenant
• Sonoma State and Dominican University that inspired many of the entries
• the Event Sponsors including the North Bay Angels (K-Diagnostics gets to pitch at the NBA's regular July meeting if it wants)

But the biggest winners are all of the 36 companies that participated in the contest. Each was assigned a mentor by the SMBC/iHub. The business plan competition gave the companies a compelling reason to take their business planing to a new level. I mentored a very early stage company/idea. My company did not make the finals...but the team said the process was worthwhile. That is what is important. I only hope that my contribution was helpful.

But, right now we give K-Diagnostics a moment in the spotlight. Great job!

Full Disclosure: I am on the SMBC board of mentors and recently became an Entrepreneur in Residence at the SMBC.

Twitter: @jroym

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It rained this week. In June. It never rains in Northern California in June. Rain only falls from October to April...maybe May. Never in June through September. What is going on?

A picnic I was planning to go to this weekend was cancelled because of a high chance of rain. I cannot remember that ever happening before. I am pretty sure that the rest of the country deals with it differently. In much of the country, it rains in any month. So...people put on events rain or shine. Ideally with alternate arrangements for rain.

I remember crouching under a table with dozens of others during a downpour at the South Carolina Oyster festival in Columbia, SC. The storm came and went. We came out from under the tables, laughing, having gotten to know a few strangers. Ironically, it was fun - and since I am telling this story, clearly memorable.

So...the rain is frustrating. We yearn for our warm summer weather. But, frankly, we in Northern California need to get over ourselves.