SM: They are using the Internet connection to download movies to the set-top box and view them from there. MB: Yes. Again, you have three distinct flavors: Internet TV companies going directly to the PC, traditional operators, and independent boxes all providing video services. That is a highly competitive and confused landscape.
Mitch Berman has 27 years’ experience in the television entertainment industry including pioneering work in pay TV and interactive TV services. His resume includes stints at HBO, E! Entertainment Television, Sky Network in New Zealand and OpenTV. His latest venture is the founding of ZillionTV. SM: Let’s set the stage for the beginning of your
SM: Where are you now in terms of revenue, growth and profitability? EM: For 2008 we will have in excess of $20 million. We are operationally profitable. We are self-sustaining, which means we do not expect to have additional working capital coming from investors for day-to-day operations.
SM: What is driving your low medical billing rejection rate? EM: There are a variety of things. We have a sophisticated process of taking the claims and scrubbing them before they go out to ensure they are encoded correctly.
SM: Let me change the course of the conversation a bit. I would like to understand the genesis of this company. How did it start and what did it take to get to this point? EM: It was started in 2002. There was some nucleus of intellectual property that was purchased from a previous company.
SM: How many employees do you have? EM: We have about 140.
SM: How do you market to your customers? How do you get them to come to your website to sign up the first time? EM: We have a multi-pronged and sophisticated approach. We get all of our business through a combination of web and referrals. It is split 50/50 between natural search and pay-per-click programs.
SM: Your company was able to build this into a $150 million business segment. How many hospital groups did that constitute? I am not looking for accurate numbers, just something to give us a sense of the market environment at the time. EM: For Lawson we started with a handful of hospitals in the early days.