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

My quotes in an article this week in the Silicon Valley Business Journal

My quotes in an article this week in the Silicon Valley Business Journal

I was quoted in the Silicon Valley Business Journal this week. The SVBJ won't let me post the entire article, but here are the paragraphs in which I am quoted. The article is about YCombinator giving $150K to each of the companies that participate in its incubator program.

Startups get $150K each to help bring products to market

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - by Jon Xavier

Date: Friday, February 4, 2011, 3:00am PST

http://bit.ly/eazJTl

Even with the incubator’s strong reputation and heavy hitters, it remains to be seen whether other incubators will try to court similar investments. That will depend on how successful the current crop of Y Combinator startups in the next few years. Regardless of the outcome, Y Combinator continues to be ahead of the curve, said J. Roy Martinez, chair of the angel investment group North Bay Angels.

“Y Combinator really has reset the bar, raised the expectations for what an incubator should offer,” Martinez said. “I mean, I’ve heard at least one incubator being told, ‘Why can’t you be more like Y Combinator?’ So they continue to raise the bar, they continue to innovate, and more power to them, I say.”

Twitter: @jroym