Greetings from Silicon Harbor

Can Camden's small-but-nimble tech scene find fair winds and following seas, or will its isolation leave it cash-strapped and dead in the water?

Scott M. Lewis

"Natural beauty is without question the most inspiring element in the history of man," Jim Povec tells me, after letting it be known that heÕs sitting on a dock in Camden harbor, speaking to me via cell phone.

Povec is the CEO of Camden-based ImproveNow.com, which has had smooth sailing since its May 8 launch. The companyÕs original press release led to an article in BusinessWeek, which led to ImproveNow being featured for two weeks on the home page of America OnlineÕs "Workplace" channel. Page views rocketed to 50,000 a day, up from 3000 a day before the AOL move.

"It was fabulous," Povec says, as a boat horn sounds nearby.

ImproveNow, which, among other things, allows employees to offer anonymous criticisms of their boss, is the newest member of the New Economy club in comely Camden, a town of some 5000 that is better known to outsiders for its patrician atmosphere, yachting scene, and the pricey bed-and-breakfasts lining Route 1.

The townÕs New Economy scene isnÕt huge, but itÕs big enough that some in the area are floating the hopeful moniker of "Silicon Harbor" for the area. Aside from ImproveNow, Camden includes local portal company Click2BeHere, computer publisher KM World, software developer Applied Intranet Technologies, several small Web developers and Ñ perhaps best known Ñ the Camden Technology Conference, which is currently readying for its fourth conference in October.

"Camden is a beautiful place that attracts people who have a lot of money and business success," explains Kathleen Gilbert, executive director of the Technology Conference. "I donÕt know if thereÕs any reason technologically why [Camden would have a lot of high-tech companies]. ItÕs more like they want to be in this place, and brought their technology with them."

Start me up

Still, the area does have its start-ups. Gilbert, who used to serve as Applied IntranetÕs director of marketing, points out that AI started out in someoneÕs bedroom in 1989. The firmÕs clients now include LL Bean, LandÕs End and Liz Claiborne. It has software systems installed in 32 countries, and it received $11.2 million in venture capital last October from Internet Capital Group, which AI president Walter Wilhelm describes as the largest B2B investment holding company in the world. "ICG decided, ÔHereÕs a hot little company with a lot of potential, but it needs capital to grow and strategic relationships,Õ" he says. "They gave us both."

Richard Anderson, president of Click2BeHere.com, moved to Camden specifically to start his company, which he describes as a "fourth media service" that builds Web-based communities for areas not getting adequate attention from traditional media. "I started out as a teacher," says Anderson, who used to vacation in Camden. "IÕve lived in college towns, liked the size and scale, and chose [to settle in] Camden because it feels like a college community."

AndersonÕs plan is to offer daily news content on places like Camden, which currently get news only once a week, or Boston neighborhoods such as the North End, which only get covered as part of the entire Boston metro area. "If you want to know what went on last night at a historic preservation committee meeting in Boston, that news doesnÕt get covered in the Globe," Anderson says, his voice inflected with a trace of patrician New England reminiscent of William F. Buckley. Anderson has already constructed his Camden portal, and heÕs got plans lined up for others, beginning with two more on the Midcoast, then expanding to three more in Boston and three in its suburbs. The only thing stopping him is money. Anderson needs $800,000 to launch the Midcoast portals, and $2.5 million to build them all. "If I had that money today," he says, "weÕd be aggressively going to Boston and the suburbs."

He doesnÕt have that money, however, at least not yet. Which raises the inevitable question of whether information-age businesses in Camden have the same chances of landing venture capital as they do in larger urban areas. "My guess is that itÕs not a great help to be up here," Anderson says thoughtfully. "WeÕre distant from some of the sources of these funds. But by the same token, weÕre a bigger fish is a smaller pond out here." He points out that even a year ago, when it seemed like a Niagara Falls of investment money was pouring into the Internet industry, only about 1% of companies were being adequately funded.

Finding sufficient numbers of employees would seem to be another problem in a small, remote area like Camden, but most New Economy employers I spoke with seemed untroubled. "I donÕt share any of the concerns of people who say that recruitment is hard in Maine," says ImproveNowÕs Povec. "We just got a Cold Fusion programmer from Portsmouth. The minute he saw Mount Battie [the 800 foot hill that looms over Camden], it was over. Now he kayaks every day at noon."

However, Wilhelm of Applied Intranet isnÕt so sanguine. "It is absolutely difficult to be here," he says. "There are some good parts Ñ when you actually have an employee here, they tend to stay. But the labor pool is small and not everyone wants to move up here. That makes it tough."

With major clients in New York, and the source of its venture capital in Boston, Wilhelm says "thereÕs a lot of pressure on us to move our headquarters. We donÕt know if weÕre doing that yet."

From spooks to infrastructure

From the outside, it might seem surprising that the home of the Camden Technology Conference has such problems, but while the conference has certainly increased CamdenÕs visibility and pumped money into its service industries, itÕs less clear how much strength it has contributed to the areaÕs New Economy businesses. "Probably five of the people drawn here by the conference are now living in town," says an unimpressed Povec. "And they all made their money elsewhere, then decided to live here and do half-baked consulting. They havenÕt started companies here."

Anderson of Click2BeHere is clearly frustrated that the Technology Conference hasnÕt brought a greater windfall of venture capital. "Maybe our idea isnÕt sexy enough," he says.

Camden has a history of attracting well-heeled, or at least well-connected, inhabitants to its tony environs. At the top of the scale currently are well-known computer-world figures such as John Sculley, a former CEO of Apple Computer, and Bob Metcalfe, a founder of 3 Com and inventer of Ethernet technology. While neither seems to have much local visibility these days, Sculley and Metcalfe played crucial in the founding of the Technology Conference. According to Bruce Taylor, president of KM World and a conference founder, Sculley and Metcalfe were brought in because of their prominence and connections, and helped make the first conferences a success. Both still serve on the conference board.

Before the arrival of the tech crowd, Camden was home to a well-connected clique that included many former higher-ups in the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA folks helped start the Camden Foreign Policy Conference, which the technology conference was initially modeled after.

"This was once a homing place for ex-CIA agents," says Anderson. "Word spread that it was a good place to be, and then it had an inordinate number of spooks running around. Now the same thing is happening with the digerati Ñ

"I don't know if there's any reason technologically why Camden would have a lot of high-tech companies. It's more like they want to be in this place, and brought their technology with them."

theyÕre attracted for the physical characteristics, but then find people with similar ideas."

Ideas are great, and many of the areaÕs New Economy entrepreneurs seem to view their field through a philisopheÕs spectacles. (Indeed, Camden resident and computer industry pioneer Tom DeMarco refers to the town as "an Idea Garden.") But Camden native Scott Rocknak, principal of Maine Digital Imaging, seems more excited about CamdenÕs communications infrastructure, which includes T-1 lines, wireless and cable modem connections, and DSL.

Rocknak has been executing multimedia projects in the area since 1995, including a recently opened multimedia kiosk for RocklandÕs Farnsworth Museum [see "Business and the Arts," p. 24], and has done work for Applied Intranet and ImproveNow. He says the Camden area has a thriving freelance scene, and several new-media shops with five people or less. "There are world-famous copywriters and Cold Fusion people, all located right here," he explains. "A lot of high-powered individuals have chosen to locate here. They tend to bring their customers with them Ñ itÕs not just people going after the local Shop Õn Save. My customers are as far away as Germany and California."

Camden has traditionally been strong in publishing, and some observers trace its current digital-age appeal to the days of paper and ink. In the 1980s, approximately 20 magazines were being published in Camden, according to Taylor of KM World, who published several of them himself. "That fed a very vital freelance journalism and graphic arts industry for a long time," he explains. That substrate of freelance graphics and content people helped grow Web developers in the 90s, Taylor says, and the Camden area still has many freelancers and small boutique shops that occupy various niches in the information industry.

"Everyone who is here is here because they chose this as a lifestyle," says Taylor, whoÕs lived in Camden since 1978. "This is a very alive intellectual town, without the preciousness of Portland. We do what we do because we enjoy it, and because we love it in Camden. You donÕt allow the world to push you around. That has to be one of the rules of life."

Scott M. Lewis can be reached at editorial@maine-biz.com.