Barbara Timm-Brock was looking for a more meaningful job, and the quickly growing internet of things field spurred her to a new niche focused on heavy equipment tracking.
As a senior executive at five former businesses, Timm-Brock always was in charge of the maintenance budgets. A report she produced on monitoring HVAC equipment and an introduction to Ed Baldwin, a local IoT telematics guru, helped the two found eTrack Tech Inc. 18 months ago.
Timm-Brock and Baldwin acquired their former company, IoTech, and focused their software-as-a-service product to prevent downtime with heavy equipment, starting with forklifts.
“When a forklift or work truck breaks down, it’s business critical,” said Timm-Brock, who has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s in technology management, both from the University of Minnesota. “There are a lot of things that are preventable. Our technology gives alerts to prevent any problems.”
The company uses its software as well as sensors on equipment to send data to predict and prevent any downtime. The sensors also monitor equipment for safety and asset tracking to help companies be safer and more productive.
“Forklifts have lots of problems,” said Timm-Brock, who serves as the company’s CEO. “At least twice a week, someone is killed in a forklift accident. We monitor tipovers. We also predict component failure non-invasively.”
Managers get real-time alerts to coach employees or give insights to retrain forklift workers.
The startup signed its first paying customer in December, a component provider for forklifts. It now has 43 customers in various states of contracting, Timm-Brock said. They expect to be profitable in 2020.
“Our business model is like home security,” she said. “The customer pays for installed equipment and for monitoring, and they get alerts, asset tracking and actionable dashboards in return to give them peace of mind. They get predictive insights for their heavy equipment.”
ETrack Tech is based at the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation, a business incubator on the campus of GateWay Community College in Phoenix. The two co-founders put in $200,000 of their own money. They received another $250,000 from angel investors.
The company was among 10 local startups named as winners in the Fall 2018 round of the Arizona Commerce Authority’s Innovation Challenge. If they meet all the requirements, they will receive $150,000. It also was a finalist in February’s Venture Madness competition in the deep tech/hardware/Internet of Things category.
Timm-Brock splits time between San Jose and the Arcadia area of Phoenix. She chose to start her company in the Valley because she was told by advisers and investors not to start in Silicon Valley.
“My co-founder lives in Phoenix, and our talent is all here,” she said. “It’s been great because of all the warehouses here and the hot weather causes equipment failure. Startups go where there’s talent, investors and customers willing to try things.”
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