NeoCore advances from creation to commerce.

• Author: TAYLOR, MIKE
• Position: Brief Article

Chris Brandin is an inventor who has been a CEO, so he's aware of the transition a young tech company confronts when it goes from creating a product, to selling it.

That crossroad is roughly the position of NeoCore, a Colorado Springs-based company Brandin cofounded in 1997 with tech entrepreneur Tim Dix. NeoCore owns four U.S. patents with numerous others pending, all related to XML (eXtensible markup language) applications, which allow a variety of software systems to interact.

NeoCore's flagship product, invented by Brandin, is an XML Information Server that NeoCore says solves the problems big companies have in processing, storing and managing large amounts of data. Three companies gave NeoCore high marks in beta testing the product in their everyday operations. And in April, NeoCore received $ 10.4 million in financing from Baker Capital of New York and co-investor Wit Soundview.

The infusion of capital signals a transition for NeoCore that Brandin knows well, from startup to commercial viability.

"One side of the continuum is pretty different than the other side," says Brandin, 49, who prior to NeoCore was the chief executive of Business Operating Systems Inc., where he developed computer systems used by the New York Stock Exchange. "I think one of the common mistakes companies make is they don't recognize that things change, and they don't artfully execute that sort of 'hand-off.'

"If you're a startup and continue to run like a startup, you're going to have real problems," he says. "On the other hand, if you start off with just sort of a financial investment in hand, and try to act like a big company, you're never going to get anything done. So you sort of...