TECHNOLOGY - Feb. 15, 1994

The Grass Is Greener: Chief executives and investors mingled Monday at the beginning of investment firm Cruttenden & Co.’s two-day Southern California Growth Stock Conference.

Each of the 48 public companies at the sixth annual conference in Newport Beach gets about 15 minutes to give a sales presentation to investors and analysts.

This year, David Samuels, former chief executive of accounting software firm State of the Art Inc. in Irvine, used the conference as an opportunity to review investments, not to give a pitch.

“It’s nice to be on the other side of the fence,” said Samuels, who has been taking care of his family and relaxing since leaving the company in November.

Samuels said he was taking a close look at State of the Art’s larger local competitor, Platinum Software Corp. in Irvine, which has grown to 700 employees and is Orange County’s largest software firm. It sells financial software to large corporations and medium-sized companies. After hearing a presentation by Gerald Blackie, chief executive of Platinum, Samuels said he was interested but hadn’t decided whether to buy its stock.

Meanwhile, investors got to grill David Hanna, Samuels’ replacement, about how he plans to expand State of the Art. Hanna said the $28-million company hopes to make acquisitions and grow at a faster pace than in the past by launching new software and expanding the company’s international sales.

Asked if Samuels might one day work for Platinum, Blackie declined comment. Samuels said: “I’m not looking for work. If I were, I might consider it.”