Absolut Investment With grant money from the vodka-maker, a dream is now half fulfilled.
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Crashing in an airplane is a national nightmare. Findingexpansion capital is an entrepreneur's dream come true. Yetboth intertwine in the theatrical production Charlie VictorRomeo. On-stage, actors perform scenes culled from transcriptsof airplanes' black boxes, while off-stage, a $50,000 grantfrom Absolut Vodka is allowing the theater company to expand into acompany that produces educational videos.
Bob Berger, 34, and Justin Davila, 29, are the entrepreneurialcreators of New York City-based Charlie Victor Romeo, whichproduced the play. When the show ran off-Broadway throughout 1999and 2000, audiences were moved by it-including aviationprofessionals, who wanted to use the play as a training tool fortheir flight crews. So Berger, with a master's degree ininteractive telecommunications, and Davila, who's completinghis master's in artificial intelligence, developed a trainingvideo in conjunction with the Air Force. (While watching the"pilots," the user can also see what the airline controlsare doing.)
That might have been the end of the story-but one ofDavila's friends told him about the Absolut Angel contest.Through the competition, Absolut Vodka promised $50,000 apiece totwo entrepreneurial companies able to marry art and technology. Thevodka-maker's judges sifted through 700 detailed businessplans, and one of the winners was Charlie Victor Romeo.
"This grant really can open up a lot of doors,"acknowledges Davila. "Now that we have the funds, we'regoing to be developing more market research and contacting aviationleaders to determine what the specific market for this [trainingvideo] is." Then it can be geared toward the general public,aviation enthusiasts, private pilots, commercial airlines andnarrow niche markets: Medical personnel have suggested they mightwant to use the video to study people's reactions inlife-and-death emergencies, and a nuclear power plant's expertshave suggested they may want to have similar emergency videosdeveloped for them.
That's good news for Berger and Davila. But developingpatents and prototypes for the software won't be a cheapundertaking-and development will eat much of the $50,000.Fortunately, the grant keeps giving: Absolut Vodka's publicrelations effort, not to mention the military's enthusiasm, hashelped shine the media spotlight on the entrepreneurs, a spotlightthat investors have noticed. Berger and Davila expect to transformCharlie Victor Romeo into Web-based, Internet, DVD and CD-Romlearning tools soon. A paperback and motion picture based on theplay are also being discussed.
Perhaps most important, Davila says, "We're affordedthe opportunity by this award to develop our business on our terms,at least in this initial phase." And with the company'sexpansion, it's no wonder Berger says the project is well onits way to taking over his life. That's show business-and anybusiness.
Geoff Williams is a writer in Cincinnati. Contact him atgwilliams1@cinci.rr.com
Contact Source
- Charlie Victor Romeo, www.charlievictorromeo.com,www.absolutangel.com
