Tech startup of the month.

• Position: High Tech - References-Online Inc.

REFERENCES-ONLINE INC., DENVER

www.references-online.com

FOUNDED: JULY 2002

ERIC PETERSON

INITIAL LIGHTBULB: Throughout his 17-year sales career, Jim Mooney has found the process of referring existing customers to prospects to be a royal pain. "Before a deal would close, our prospects would inevitably want to speak with one of our customers" said Mooney, now president of References-Online. "That objective was quite tedious and frustrating . . . . I lost deals because I wasn't able to coordinate my references with my prospects."

At the same time, other traditional referencing routes -- case studies and white papers that referred to customers -- have an inherent bias because the seller produces them. All in all, Mooney said, "I thought there should be, could be a better way." Last July, Mooney left his post as vice president of sales at Denver's Deuxo to launch his better way, References-Online.

IN A NUTSHELL: References-Online, with six employees, conducts in-depth, third-party interviews of a client's customers "from a prospect's point of view," Mooney said. References-Online then converts the interviews to .wav audio files to post on a Web site. Sales reps for the client then can simply e-mail a link to their own leads and prospects who request a reference. "Not everyone is going to be available if you're going to take a reference call at 3 o'clock on Thursday. By leveraging the Internet. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, everyone in that committee can get relevant information at their fingertips," said Mooney.

"The core competency for us is the value of the interview," added References-Online VP David Sroka. "It has to be good...