Locusic LLC

• Founder: Jake Kerber

• Website: www.locusic.com

Jake Kerber thinks there’s more music in Des Moines than people know about.

He estimates that 1,000 artists reside within 50 miles of the city, and his start-up, Locusic LLC, aims to let people know about them. Locusic, which won the Technology Association of Iowa’s Pitch & Grow event in September in Des Moines, is an Internet radio service that streams the music of local artists.

“There’s a ton of music being produced, and most people don’t have a clue,” Kerber said. “We’ve got some work to do with Locusic. We have to turn that perception around.”

Kerber is still working out the kinks, but the idea is that local artists can sign up to have their music streamed for free, providing them with exposure. Eventually the plan is to sell 15-second commercials to local businesses, letting them target their audience more closely than a traditional radio ad.

Locusic recently launched in Des Moines, and has between 50 and 60 bands signed up. Kerber hopes to expand the service to Minneapolis next, and to Austin, Texas, by March.

“The interest is usually pretty high from the bands,” Kerber said. “It’s just about getting that initial contact with the bands. They’re all really excited about it.”

Question for the founder: What makes you think this will be successful?

I think it’s probably just the great feedback I’ve been getting from everybody on all sides. I’ve been getting great feedback from music fans that think it’s a great idea, from bands that are just thrilled about it, and from businesses who have approached me and want to advertise on it.

NotifyWorks Inc.

• Founders: Rush Nigut (pictured), Mike Colwell, Brian Hemesath

• Website: www.notifyworks.com

As a lawyer, Rush Nigut understands how hard it is to follow up on emails with clients.

Wouldn’t it be easy if a software program existed that could send automated emails on routine matters, taking away the necessity for a busy lawyer to remember routine notifications? Nigut thought so, and that’s the concept behind NotifyWorks Inc., created by Nigut, Mike Colwell and Brian Hemesath.

Nigut, a lawyer at Brick Gentry P.C. in West Des Moines, finds the product a convenient way to help with a challenge of his job.

“Part of what I was trying to solve was a problem for myself in developing the business,” Nigut said. “I have a number of business clients, and they have a lot of different issues that may come up throughout the year. A lot of times on those routine matters, lawyers don’t necessarily have the time to devote to sending out proactive notifications all the time.”

The company markets itself to individuals rather than firms so that lawyers can take the system with them if they change jobs.

So far, NotifyWorks has a number of Greater Des Moines lawyers and one financial adviser using the product. The company has goals of gaining customers on a national scale, and Nigut thinks it could transcend the legal profession.

“I’ve really found that clients respond very favorably, and one of the comments that I’ve heard is it just shows that you care,” Nigut said.

Question for the founder: What makes you think this will be successful?

The hallmark of any professional is that they proactively communicate with their client. And now the market for retaining clients is tougher than it ever has been. Any time that you are staying in touch with your clients and letting them know that you care, I think that’s a great thing that sets a lawyer or other professional apart from competitors.

eDossea Inc.

• Primary employee: Shawn Harrington

• Website: www.edossea.com

EDossea Inc. is an Internet-based portal where dentists can share things such as patient health records and X-rays with other dentists and oral care professionals, eliminating the need for patients to transport printed materials or for dentists to have to mail or email records.

“The dental industry is not used to seeing a system like this,” said Shawn Harrington, eDossea’s director of business development and primary employee. The company’s founder has declined to release his name.

A key element of eDossea, he says, is its ease of use, as well as its affordability for dentists. All that is needed for the program to work at any given dentist’s office is a computer and an Internet connection.

As a company, eDossea has strived to meet guidelines of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Harrington is a certified HIPAA professional. As part of that, eDossea uses a secure database rather than just a regular Web server, he said, to make sure that records are kept private.

The service launched in a beta phase about a year ago and was used by dentists and oral surgeons in Des Moines. It launched nationally at the beginning of September. Harrington said 23 dentists in Des Moines are using the product right now, and the company had about 100 participants in a recent webinar to learn about the product.

Question for the primary employee: What makes you think this will be successful?

We’re hitting the market at just the right time. The health-care industry is demanding, now more than ever, that information be accessible and secure, while keeping costs low for small medical practices. We’ve already proven that our service can fulfill that need, and it’s now ready for mass implementation.

Appcore LLC

• Founder: Brian Donaghy

• Website: www.appcore.com

Appcore LLC represents what founder Brian Donaghy sees as the next step in cloud computing.

Appcore takes cloud computing, or the ability to store or manage data in remote Internet servers rather than a local server, and delivers it as a service. Donaghy likens it to the ability to use storage through Amazon.com Inc.’s Cloud Drive, except Appcore leases hardware and software that acts as a “cloud machine,” giving telephone companies or data centers the ability to host their own cloud.

For end users, “in the same way you buy your electricity, the same way you buy long-distance or your different phone package options – now you can buy an application server, a database,” Donaghy said. “Then you just pay for that as you go along. You get done with the servers, you shut it off, and you stop paying for it. We make the infrastructure that happens behind the scenes.”

The company evolved from another company that Donaghy founded and sold in 2005. Appcore went into a research and development phase in 2008 and started selling its product this year.

So far, it has a customer base of hundreds of telephone companies around the world, Donaghy said. Appcore also has offices in New York, London and Zimbabwe.

“It’s a global market,” he said. “Our products are expensive, so they run $200,000 and up. You need to be where your customer base is.”

Question for the founder: What makes you think this will be successful?

The hype about cloud computing has been out there for a long time. The reality is now coming into the market where customers now have their head around what this new technology is and what it means for them, and now they’re converting over to it and buying it, hopefully. And we’re leaders in that industry.