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Boulder company channels its energy
Front Range Tech Biz
Company Culture
Published August 20 -26, 2001
Company name: Channel Technology
Location: Boulder
Describe your business: Channel Technology is a fables semiconductor company developing RF and mixed signal solutions for the wireless data communications industry.
Top Executive: Baker Scott, CEO
When Founded: January 2001
How long at present location: Five months
How did you choose your present location? We were looking for a location in southwest Boulder or Louisville to minimize travel for our employees. We needed 2,500 square feet with a one-year lease that was convenient for daily activities.
Number of employees when founded: Four
Current number: Five
How did you get your first funding? Our first contact for funding was with Al Schuele of Sevin Rosen. Schuele was a former co-worker of Baker Scott's at Crystal Semiconductor in Austin, Texas, before Scott moved to Colorado. Scott contacted Schuele about funding a startup last year during one of his visits to Austin.
On Scott's way back from Austin, he happened to be seated on a plane next to Jay Campion, the Austin managing partner of Denver-based Access Venture Partners. During the conversation, Scott mentioned that the purpose of his trip to Austin was to look for funding to start a company in Boulder. Campion was intrigued by the conversation and put Scott in touch with Frank Mendicino Jr. in their Westminster office.
Scott liked the idea of having a local VC as part of the team and found Access Ventures extremely easy to work with. After several months of meetings and refining our business objectives, we closed a seed round of funding in May.
Describe your company's culture in a sentence: Channel Technology has a team-oriented, engineering-driven culture that strives for excellence while minimizing politics and bureaucracy.
How did the company choose its name? The products we design are for communication channels. We are designing fine-line CMOS processes, where the device characteristics are dominated by the silicon MOSFET channel. The combination of the device channel we design with and the communication channels we design for led us to the name Channel Technology.
What nonwork-related achievement is the company most proud of? We installed a self-contained shower unit in our engineering lab to improve our office's air quality after lunchtime workouts and bike-to-work days.
What TV sitcom does your office most resemble? Who has time to watch sitcoms?
What is the most embarrassing moment your company has had? While at one of our board of directors meetings, a sarcastic comment made Scott laugh rather explosively with a full mouth of Coke drenching our investors.
What are the most popular amenities you offer employees? Unlimited pistachios, showers, a view from the deck, and the corporate cafeteria (a PDQ gas station/convenience store) and refreshment center (Viking liquor store across the street)
Cite an unusual fact that few people outside the company know about: Scott is Baker's last name.
Employees' consensus favorite ski area in Colorado: Pre-IPO, Eldora; Post-IPO, Aspen
Best thing about doing business in Colorado: The awesome weather and the great outdoors.
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