Finalist: Med X Change Inc.

Finalist: Med X Change Inc.

By David Wexler

Associate Editor

Advances in digital-recording technology over the past five years have changed the way health-care professionals do their jobs. It also changed how Craig Scherer ran his business.

Four years ago, Scherer, president and CEO of Bradenton-based Med X Change Inc., developed an online web casting system that captured live video of customer-service departments working with hospitals. At the time, his company focused mostly on medical manufacturers.

At least that was until the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey caught wind of what Scherer was doing in early 2002 and asked him for a demonstration.

While in New Jersey, Scherer created a product that not only allows doctors to watch surgery live, but also provides them with the ability to record a surgery and edit it using high-tech digital technology.

Scherer spent six months on the road. He visited several hospitals and tweaked his product. By September 2002, he released two new products to the market - DRS (Digital Recording System) and DRSW (Digital Recording System with Web Casting).

"I really didn't think it was going to take off," says Scherer, 38. "We really didn't have a clue. We were just designing something really cool. After a week on the road, I realized this was going to be a very big product." He was right. Med X Change currently has about 350 systems in the field. The company recorded $1.25 million in revenue in 2004 and expects to top $2 million in 2005 and $3.5 million in 2006.

Not too shabby for somebody who says, "up until four years ago, I had no idea I was going to be in this market."

"I rarely worked with hospitals," he says. "But when I was on the road, I noticed surgeons were dying for this."

The digital recording systems use software based on the latest video compression technology, known as MPEG-4. The software can record more video in less space, allowing it to produce compact video files suitable for presentations or educational purposes, as well as Internet streaming. The technology is compatible with both PCs and Macintosh systems.

"What our system does is allow doctors to record surgeries, take it home, stick it in their computer and edit it themselves," Scherer says. "It saves a lot of money and time for the doctor, plus the doctor gets to do it himself and really can pinpoint exactly what he wants."

Med X Change's digital recording systems alleviate the need for hospitals to hire costly staff to edit surgeries taped on a VHS. Also, CDs and DVDs take up much less space than VHS tapes.

The company has seven employees that work in-house and remotely. Med X Change has about 25 distributors with roughly 75 sales representatives selling its video recording systems in the United States.

Scherer says he learned about digital technology on his own, mostly through the Internet. A self-described technology geek, he became interested in computers at age 12 and started writing business software for construction companies at age 15. He earned two associate degrees from the University of South Florida and after working in sales at electronics retailer Sound Devices, he started Med X Change in St. Petersburg in 1994.

Tech Time

After a successful launch of his high-tech company, Craig Scherer has some blunt advice for anyone starting out in the business: Learn the operating systems of the computer you are using, not just the cool stuff you like.

"I see so many people who are in computers and learning graphics design or software design, but they never seem to have a very good core understanding of how the operating system works," he says. "I know a lot of graphics designers that don't know their way around an operating system, and if they lose a file, they can't even find it."

The admitted tech-geek says computers have always come natural to him.

"I eat and sleep the stuff," he says. "I've been working on computers since I was 12. I love solving problems and I love building stuff."