Milt Capps UPDATED Jan. 2, 2009 1740
Published Sunday, October 19, 2008 9:09 pm
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[Update: On Jan. 1, 2009, Frazer and MusicRowSearch CEO Tom Truitt announced what they called a 'strategic merger', with Truitt taking on sales-leadership duties at Digome and retaining his search firm. ]
Roe Frazer, the former CEO and general counsel of CaseLogistix, moved the litigation-software provider here in 2006 from Jackson, Miss. Now, he's a serial entrepreneur.
In 2007, Frazer sold CaseLogistix to San Diego-based Anacomp Inc., which boasts that the product is its flagship offering.
Now, Frazer is a year into a new project, Digome LLC, conceived as a suite of really smart digital services that promises to delight audiences with live-cast sports and entertainment content delivered "real time." The company's name is derived from the emphatic Spanish expression, "Tell me!"
In an interview Oct. 16, Frazer told VNC that Digome's multimedia platform will debut in early 2009 and will deliver "almost DVD quality" in video content and MP3 quality in audio.
Frazer said he and angel investors from beyond Tennessee have bankrolled Digome thus far, and he sees decent odds the company can bootstrap itself several years, without seeking venture capital.
After a year's work "under the hood" developing Digome technology, Frazer said Digome is now in beta testing and will reach the market next year. He said he believes Digome represents "game-changing technology."
Frazer's confidence in such claims stems partly from the fact Frazer's team includes former CaseLogistix technology chief Marty Mills, whom he's known 15 years and who is now Digome's CIO. Frazer also said his company is allied with business partners whom Frazer declined to identify.
Digome will deliver high-quality transmissions of all live content in less than 3 to 4 seconds, which Frazer said is a fraction of competitors' requirements. Digome delivers not only to computers and television screens, but also to iPods, cell phones and other devices.
Frazer said that when Digome is completed the package will include not only content presentation, but also such intelligent features as targeting ads for individual viewers by gender and other demographics; live "backstage" camera views and live visits to studio sessions; ticketing services; and, social-networking groups.
Frazer indicated the Digome brand may be extended to other products and services and the platform, which is to be customized for each customer, may be repurposed for markets beyond sports and entertainment.
Frazer said he anticipates the company will occasionally deviate from its standard pricing and take risks on new performers and untested events, perhaps in exchange for a piece of the action. He referred to the approach "an entrepreneurial-based per-client revenue model."
True to his entrepreneurial instincts, 49-year-old Frazer told VNC, "I'm not looking to build the next Google or Microsoft," so when Digome reaches "adolescence," he'll probably be looking for a buyer.
Frazer, age 49, earned a bachelor's at Wake Forest University and a law degree at Cumberland School of Law, Samford University. He was Outstanding Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1992-93 in the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association. He practiced law 19 years, before founding Mississippi Basketball & Athletics LLC, a sports-facility management firm. ♦