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Mike maintains that he gets his best ideas while in contemplation on the john - some people read.

It was because of a particular problem he, as Documentum Administrator, was running into at work.  The company was trying to "mesh" two distinctly different types of systems of document management into one.  This kind of thing goes on all the time in big companies with mergers and acquisitions, or just simply because of upgrades or changes in systems.  Each system has stored huge amounts of documents and other information. Trying to get them to mix together so the two become one can be like mixing oil and water (or some marriages). The usual approach is to create a one-off computer program "bridge" that can cost millions and is never used again.  Its expensive, complicated and time-consuming.

Bingo! Business problem.  Mike asked himself, what if there was a company that offered, as a service, a bridge that can be used over and over, for many different types of systems, for basically a "rental fee". (These are my words, as I interpret the idea).  As the stored documents "cross the bridge", they are automatically sorted and configured to fit into the system on the other side.  Hence, the "Q" in Qtility: as in, to queue things up.

Ok, so simple explanation, difficult to make a reality.  LOTS of programming. LOTS of money.  Mike's not a programmer, but he does know Documentum inside out. He knows how to "design" and spec a software program.  He knows document management systems very, very well.  He knows people in the industry. We are both well-versed in, and have a mind-set for, business in general.

We write the first of many versions of a business plan.