Monday, March 10, 2008

Women to Watch

Beth Marcus: Game on for biomechanics inventor

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

The medical field, the gaming industry and the pet accessories market have seemingly little in common, but Beth Marcus has built a name in all three.

As the founder of Bedford startup Zeemote Inc., her focus is now on the digital gaming industry. The company, which she founded in 2005 and is backed by $6.9 million she brought in last December, has developed a wireless handheld remote for mobile gaming and other applications. The device was launched at the recent Game Developers Conference in California and has become a favorite topic among the gaming bloggerati.

But it's more than a toy. It incorporates several of Marcus' 10 patents and has a long line of hard science behind it, including Marcus' Ph.D. in biomechanics from the Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London.

Zeemote's bloodline also includes Marcus' former company, EXOS Inc., through which she developed the first force-feedback joystick for video games. She launched the company in 1988, and in 1996 sold it to Microsoft Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

After the sale of EXOS, Marcus took some time off from the technology industry, but not from entrepreneurship. In 1997, she founded Glow Dog Inc. which made reflective pet clothing. Later, she founded her own consulting firm, Marcus Enterprises Ltd., helping entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground. Some, like Glow Dog (which closed in 2001) were less successful, while others, such as HBN Shoes Inc., which makes insoles aimed at taking the pain out of wearing high-heel shoes, continue to grow.

Prior to focusing on gaming, she applied her biomechanics knowledge to medical areas, as an assistant professor of orthopedics and physiology at New York University Medical School, and later as the manager of Arthur D. Little Inc.'s Medical Products Practice.

"Medicine and helping medical professionals is great and can help a lot of people, but it's fairly limited in scope," she said. "On the gaming side, we're making a platform that could potentially be licensed to medical professionals down the road." Plus, she added, the gaming industry is really fun.

Marcus also makes time to help the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. She's been a member of the executive committee at the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. She was also a judge for Dean Kamen's FIRST Robotics Competition, and after a brief hiatus, she will be retuning as a judge.

Marcus also speaks at a variety of forums, and admits that although she tries to help all the up-and-coming entrepreneurs she sees, the women get a little more attention.

"On a one-to-one basis in talking with people, I always spend a little more time with the women," she said. "If everyone did that, they could really help. That extra few minutes just shows people that someone cares and encourages them to move forward."