CORNERSTONE TECHNOLOGIES: LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF SILICON SLOPES TECH SUMMIT.

• Author: Rawle, Chris
• Position: SILICON SLOPES

The largest structures in the world--the Empire State Building, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House--all begin with a cornerstone. After these buildings were completed and marked the skyline of each city, it was easy to forget how it all began--with a solid stone that varies in size but not support, altered to meet the specific demands of each structure. A foundational piece that enables an entire experience, causing tourists and passersby to look at some of humankind's most intricate creations and feel they are a part of something special.

Nearly 30 years ago, Chad Fraughton and Todd Mortensen were working as engineers at WordPerfect. They were part of a team that was tasked with multiple duties, the most notable falling into two categories: creating emerging technologies like voice recognition software and serving as an internal events/communications group that created event-driven experiences.

"We were a collective group that were writers, producers, directors, showmen, technology people," said Fraughton. "Todd and I were both engineers by trade but always looked at return on investment, what events could do for a company, and the metrics behind successful events."

After WordPerfect merged with Novell, Fraughton and his team pitched a business proposal for their department-- they were laid off on a Friday, but re-hired on Tuesday to begin work with a subsidiary of Anheuser Busch, responsible for beer commercials and experiences within theme parks like Busch Gardens.

After one year another opportunity arose, tying back into technology. A former VP at WordPerfect approached Fraughton about creating flight simulator technology, a project agreed to by both parties. Now with a relatively decent stream of revenue coming in, Fraughton and Mortensen decided it was time to start their own company. They mocked up a logo and settled on a brand: Cornerstone Technologies.

A TURNING POINT

"We started Cornerstone and were being encouraged to move back to St. Louis," said Fraughton. "My business partner and I had our roots here and had started small families--I was 23, he was 33, and we didn't want to move. So we were sitting one day in a basement at one of the WordPerfect buildings and we decided, let's take our business proposal to Carine Clark."

If this were a comic book, Carine Clark--a Utah tech OG who has served as an executive at Novell, Altiris, Symantec, Allegiance, MaritzCX and Banyan--would be the heroine of this particular story arc. As...