Software Company Makes International Push : Owners of Dynamic Pathways Co. in Newport Beach hope to take advantage of interest in entrepreneurship abroad by adapting their product to foreign markets.
A start-up software company formed by a chemical engineer and a biologist is making headway in international sales by forming alliances with companies in Eastern Europe and adapting its product to foreign markets.
V. Peter Simpson and William P. Fritz of Dynamic Pathways Co. in Newport Beach, are scheduled to launch the latest version of their company’s software program--called Success Inc. 5.0--which is expected to make it easier for would-be entrepreneurs to write business plans.
They are also finalizing plans with a Russian software manufacturer to produce a Russian-language version of the program next month. Marisel C.A.T. Ltd., a Russian subsidiary of El Segundo-based Marisel Inc., would distribute the software in the Commonwealth of Independent States in June. This would be followed with a Hungarian-language version in August, said Simpson, a former chemical engineer.
AT&T; bought 25 copies of Dynamic Pathways’ software to help its executives write business plans. And the State Library of Pennsylvania acquired 20 copies as part of a library resource to help unemployed people start their own business.
“Our library gets a lot of requests from people who are interested in a career change and many want to start their own small business,” said Stephen M. Mallinger, Pennsylvania’s library development adviser in Harrisburg. “The concept is to use the library computer and Success software to prepare a professional-looking and complete business plan for the user to take to the bank to apply for financing.”
The updated software program, designed for easier use, asks the user a series of up to 60 questions. A mouse can be used to quickly access different portions of the program, which includes sample business plans for nine different types of business, such as retail, mail order or manufacturing companies. The program allows a user to simultaneously work on several business plans. Dynamic Pathways also provides telephone support to customers who have software questions, said Fritz, a former biologist and computer systems manager at UCI Medical Center.
Success Inc. 5.0, the company’s fourth edition of this program, is available on 5 1/4-inch and 3 1/2-inch disks and includes more than 300 samples of complete business plans that users can edit and print, a 160-page user manual and writing tips. The software, which is designed to run on any IBM-compatible personal computer, is available in several software chain stores nationwide, including CompUSA Inc., Egghead Discount Software and Software Etc., the software retail division of the B. Dalton bookstore chain.
Business consultants say it normally takes about two weeks for a novice to write a business plan. Simpson and Fritz said their program helps a beginner finish a business plan in two or three days and an expert can finish one in just hours, rather than days.
While U.S. sales grow slowly, Simpson and Fritz hope to exploit intense interest in entrepreneurship abroad by providing a tool for budding capitalists to start their own business.
Since introducing the first version of Success Inc. three years ago, Simpson and Fritz have had domestic sales of $1.7 million worth of the software, which retails for $130 each.
The recession has increased the demand for the company’s software at home while economic and political changes in Europe are providing opportunities to sell several versions overseas, they said.
“It’s the spirit of free enterprise that the Russians, Hungarians and other European countries are after, and we’re providing them the tools to start their own business the American way,” said Simpson, who began selling the first foreign version of the software in Britain last month.
The company found it more difficult to write the British version of Success Inc. 5.0 than the Russian version, because Britain has a more complex financial system, while Russia has “no real system” of writing a financial statement or business plan, Fritz said.
The Russian version will be sold for 6,000 rubles or about $60, while the Hungarian version will cost about $100.
“We’re pricing our product lower in Russia to make it affordable and to limit the effect of software piracy,” Simpson said. “Russia’s copyright, trademark and patent laws have no teeth, while most of the other Eastern European countries have a history of strongly protecting patents, copyrights and trademarks.”
Added Fritz: “If the users ask themselves the 60 or so questions contained in the software and when they can’t answer many of the questions, it should prompt them to look hard at themselves and to ask if they’re ready or not ready to start a business.”
