Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Pitch

Paperwork.Pro sees niche in paperless document conversion

By Lynette F. Cornell

Paperwork.Pro LLC
Headquarters: Boston
Phone: 917-699-8211
Email: peter.zaroulis@paperwork.pro
URL: www.paperwork.pro
Founded: 2010
Employees: 3

In the company’s own words:
“Paperwork.Pro is a cloud service for small and medium enterprises to go paperless, without writing a single line of code. The Paperwork.Pro filing cabinet converts static document formats (e.g., PDF, DOC and paper forms) to interactive HTML. Paperwork.Pro captures data in a web browser and eliminates the need for paper. Paperwork.Pro delivers value to SMEs by eliminating repetitive data entry, paper, printing, scanning, faxing, mailing and filing.”

About the technology:
Businesses can use Paperwork.Pro’s software tools to create an online form to collect and manage data from users. The software automatically organizes the submitted information and assigns the document with an identification number for tracking. Businesses can review the forms online and attach follow-up data for confirmation notices. They can also approve submitted forms through typed signatures or, in using a tablet, on-screen handwritten signatures. The company’s online web form service is targeted at customers with a high volume of paper forms and repetitive data entry but limited IT resources to create a custom application and integrate it with existing legacy software.

People behind the company:
Peter Zaroulis is a co-founder and partner of Paperwork.Pro and manages the company’s business relationships in the role of sales manager. He previously worked in the financial services industry as an investment analyst. Jai Chawla is also a co-founder and partner and serves as the company’s project manager. He was formerly an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital.

Advisors:
The company has two advisors on its board, Brad Callow, a venture capitalist at Boston Millennia Partners, and Ira Leiderman, an investment banker with a biotech background.

Partnerships:
The company is a member of the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program. It also has partnerships with value chain partners involved with the delivery of integration and cloud hosting and security to its customers.

The pitch:
The company will be closing a private round of seed capital at the end of April, and in the next six to twelve months, it will be raising $1.3 million in a Series A round for hiring additional engineering employees and expanding its marketing and sales efforts. Although the company is not actively seeking new business partnerships, it is open to speaking with potential partners. The company is expecting to break even financially within the next twelve months.

The market:
The company is pursuing the online form market, specifically for small- and medium-sized businesses, estimated at over $9 billion dollars, based on data from the technology research firm Parallels. Zaroulis estimated that the company’s immediately addressable share is $1 million prior to its scaling phase.

The competition:
The company has competition from two different categories. Its first competition is Adobe PDF technology. This static document format results in paper pushing and unintelligent data collection for integration with back-end databases and cloud SaaS applications, according to Zaroulis. Its second source of competition is from document management companies.