A proven flair for picking technology winners

Time tells whether a technical or market insight proves to be a hit or a miss, and history will show whether or not dynamic signage takes the world by storm. But history has already shown that Clarity's Paul Gulick knows a winner when he sees one: specifically, the overhead transparency panel.

"We went to Comdex 1986 with four prototypes built in my basement and a manufacturing plan with a contract manufacturer," said Paul Gulick. The "we" was Gulick and Steven Hix of startup In Focus Systems; the prototypes were monochrome CGA-format LCDs in a choice of green or yellow.

"It was so much fun," Gulick recalled. "We were way in the back of the basement of Bally's, but we had them four or five deep in the aisles almost the whole week."

Gulick admitted that "the image quality was really ugly compared to today, but the concept was so easy to grasp, the idea of being able to put computer information up on the wall dynamically."

After the outstanding response at the show, Gulick and Hix headed back to the Northwest "pumped up, and then we kicked into high gear," said Gulick, "and we were shipping production products by the following February."

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