News and Information

Watchdog Technology! Sex Offenders beware! V-Soft provides technology to local schools to alert staff of any priors your neighbors or fellow PTA members might have!
Sole Proprietor Magazine, April 20, 2006

Allan Measom: Raptor Technologies, Inc.

SP: Allan, can you tell our readers a little about your background?

AM: I have been in sales for around 30 years. I was a rep for a software company a few years prior to my starting Raptor Technologies.

SP: Exactly what services\products does Raptor Technologies provide?

AM: Raptor is a software development company, whose core business is providing our visitor management software to the K-12 school market (V-soft). The software tracks visitors, students, faculty and volunteers. Each visitor and volunteer is screened against 47 states` sex offender databases instantly. When a match is confirmed, an instant text message can be sent to cell phones or pagers of designated personnel. Our developers were the first to create the technology of screen visitors against sex offender databases.

Our software has actually been responsible for two arrests of absconded sex offenders who were wanted in other states.

SP: What kind of market research was necessary before launching V•soft?

AM: I spent a year visiting with school police administrators and resource officers researching the needs of schools in regard to security and tracking visitors.

SP: It would seem like a product like yours sells itself, but how difficult was it to sell your product to the school system and other organizations?

AM: The software does in fact sell itself. We have kept the price affordable so that individual schools and district alike can afford it. We don`t have a huge team of sales people to pay commissions to, so we can keep the price low.

We started with one single school three years ago, and are currently in more than 1,400 schools in more than 100 school districts in 10 states.

Many of our district wide customers have started with a few schools purchasing the software. Once the other principals and parents see the software in action, they want it at other schools and it spreads like that.

Generally when the district administrators see what the software does, they are immediately want it district wide.

SP: What type of training or certifications do you need to start a business like Raptor Technologies?

AM: Actually, none! I am simply a sales person like many other people. But I have always been great a building relationships. I am a creative thinker and have great developers who can do almost anything. It`s a really good combination.

SP: How do you see V•soft curbing the number of sex offenders that have access to children at schools and other locations?

AM: We are identifying numerous sex offenders at schools every day. Many of them are parents. And now at least the administrators are aware when they are on campus. Many laws are changing, making it harder for registered sex offenders to be able to do work on school campuses. Our software is going to continue to aid in that fight.

SP: What avenues do you use to advertise your products?

AM: We have really not needed to do any print advertising. We have been fortunate that we provide such an important product, that we are in the news in publications or news segments local and national on the average about every other week. It`s a good story, and very newsworthy. Especially since we have prevented entry of construction workers that are sex offenders, as well as caught absconded offenders from out of state. No other company can make that claim at this point.

We also attend conferences for school administrators, school safety, and school law enforcement. Law enforcement has been our best ally.

SP: How long did it take you to develop your product?

AM: Our chief developer is great. He had the product ready to launch in about two months.

SP: Tell us what sets your V•soft apart from other products designed to screen sex offenders in schools?

AM: Well, until our product there really weren`t any that were designed to do so. We have been the benchmark. Now there are a couple of other companies attempting to do what we do. However, we are not just about providing software to make money. We are continually educating ourselves about sex offenders and their behavior. And I regularly speak about school security and technology at conferences.

SP: How did you fund Raptor Technologies?

AM: Well, that`s the best part of the story. I was actually in debt up to my eyeballs. The opportunity of starting this company didn`t come at the best time. But I knew I would be able to make a living doing this. There was no doubt in my mind. So we started the company in the house. My wife was working, and she helped as best she could to keep us afloat. But credit cards floated us until we could get going.

By the way, I don`t suggest starting a company this way--it rarely works.

In less than a year, we were getting reimbursements for the money we spent starting the company, and shortly after we were getting a salary. Almost exactly a year after we started, we sign a lease for our first office space.

SP: Did you overestimate or underestimate the start-up costs?

AM: Since we were a software company, our start-up costs were going to be low. We already had some development software, so it just really started from there.

SP: What did your family and friends think of you launching Raptor Technologies, before it evolved into the successful business that it is today?

AM: We had many supporters.

SP: How many paid employees do you currently have?

AM: We now have a total of eight.

SP: What kind of business did you form? (S- Corporation, LLC, etc.)

AM: S- Corp.

SP: What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs who haven`t taken the leap into entrepreneurship for whatever reason?

AM: Go full steam ahead. Have a plan, and be flexible. Stay focused on your market. Don`t try to be too many things to too many people just to make money.