In the wake of the charred devastation wrought by the Witch Creek fires in San Diego, [CA] two years ago this week, Dina Moskowitz and Marc Zimmerman saw something that made them wonder.
Was there any service available to the homeowners that could have protected them from losing highly valued items, such as birth certificates, memorabilia, family photos and videos and business records?
They found that plenty of services offered digital document storage  for large firms. But they found nothing for homeowners needing digital storage of their documents and interior videos that could be privately accessed via the Internet.
Combining their experience in real estate, business and technology, they came up with the idea for their San Diego-based startup, Critical Digital Data Inc.
"It was clear people did not have the best way of organizing and taking care of their most important information," Moskowitz says.
Their research showed that 19 percent of Americans have been evacuated from their homes at least once.
Virtual File Cabinets
By May of last year, company CEO Moskowitz and President Zimmerman raised "about six figures," in start-up cash from friends and family, and developed a prototype. In August they rolled out their main product, HomeDataGuard Online File Cabinet.
It allows users to scan, upload, organize and retrieve all their home-based valuable information. Password-protected items such as documents, videos, images and any other digital files can be retrieved at any time from any computer with Internet access.
With graphics and sound effects of a traditional metal file cabinet, HomeDataGuard is designed to put the non-technical at ease.
The company charges $99 to video the rooms of a home for digital storage, and $150 for two hours of home-based document scanning. To put the data in a secure hosted server online, it charges $4.95 a month or $49.95 a year.
Marketing efforts have begun with direct mail, public relations and newspaper ads in the area. Meanwhile, 30-day free trials of the digital filing product are under way. Moskowitz and Zimmerman declined to disclose how much revenue the start-up has generated so far.
The company recently registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to trade shares under the symbol CDIX. OB. Its latest financials show the company posted no revenue for the nine-month period ended June 30, and a net loss of $59,873. It reported 4.1 million common shares outstanding, and a 1 cent loss per share. Since the company's inception in May 2008 through June 30, it posted a net loss of $69,828. (continued...)
© 2009 San Diego Business Journal under contract with MarketWatch. All rights reserved.
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