Screaming Mouse Making Some Noise Spokane Company’S Web Software Has Gained The Attention Of Investors, Founder Says

A Spokane start-up company hatching cutting-edge sound and video content for Web sites says it is within weeks of landing a multimillion round of initial investment.

Screaming Mouse founder Barton “Bo” Cooke said this week the company has been courted by several venture capital firms ready to back the company’s push to bring its product to wider audiences.

Cooke founded the company in 1996 and created a Web page, BigWoodie.com, to showcase its software that adds sound, music and video for those visiting certain Web sites.

His business now has 10 full-time employees, but funding may add another dozen people to the company’s offices at 22 W. Main.

Over the past five weeks, Cooke said he’s had several meetings with venture-capital firms in Seattle and San Francisco. He expects a decision within 60 days.

“We do have about eight companies all in some stage of due diligence,” said Cooke.

Former Spokane resident Chip Overstreet, who started a technology firm in Seattle, has looked at Screaming Mouse’s plan and thinks Cooke will land the investment.

“Sound is seen as one big way to turn visitors (to Web sites) into customers,” said Overstreet.

He understands why Cooke must be vague in discussing prospective investments.

Federal Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines say companies seeking start-up investments can’t make statements suggesting they’ve already acquired funds prematurely.

Even so, Overstreet is confident Cooke’s first-round financing will be in place quickly.

“There’s a lot of interest right now from the customer side for the kind of product Barton has,” he said.

Investors will get 25 percent of Screaming Mouse, plus one new director’s seat, expanding the private firm’s board to four members. Screaming Mouse already has established deals with the music e-commerce site CDNow and Sony’s video game retailer, Studio 989.

After Cooke showcased Screaming Mouse’s technology this spring in Las Vegas, the Republic of Singapore signed a deal to use the software.

Screaming Mouse will create video and audio content for a site - Woof - called Singapore’s version of Yahoo, said Cooke.

Cooke, 39, has kept the start-up going with a combination of creative marketing and minimal funding.

Two years ago, Screaming Mouse acquired $200,000 in “seed” funds from ICM Asset Management of Spokane. Cooke also arranged a $200,000 loan from Spokane’s Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI).

Screaming Mouse has yet to make a profit. But neither have several other much larger companies, such as Loudeye and Beatnik - both also trying to add sound and media to Web sites.

Most of the interest by venture capital firms is based on the success of BigWoodie.com, the creative, edgy snowboarding Web site Screaming Mouse launched last November.

In its first 30 days, bigwoodie.com drew more than 800,000 visitors, Cooke said.

Part of its appeal was the assortment of messages and audio comments that visitors found there, making the experience less static and more entertaining, said Overstreet.

Along with improving the Screaming Mouse product, the investment will allow Cooke to add six more programmers and six company managers, he said.

Three new managers will focus on business development. The other three will be a chief financial officer, chief executive and president, Cooke said.

Cooke and his colleagues see their software becoming a key feature in some of the Web’s busiest sites.

Online shoppers visiting Amazon.com, for instance, might find a Screaming Mouse message if they start hunting for new music CDS there, said Cooke.

Those messages only arrive if the user has already installed Screaming Mouse software on a PC that allows it to work when connecting to certain Web sites.

The Amazon visitor might get an audio message that there’s a new B.B. King recording, Cooke said.

“Even cooler, it’s possible we can have B.B. King telling the visitor about that new album,” Cooke said.

A number of e-commerce critics might accuse Screaming Mouse of helping make Web sites too intrusive and too commercial. Cooke disagrees, saying each user gets the final decision on which sites allow audio messaging.

“It’s the user’s decision. If they want to hear sound when going to eBay, they’ll make that decision. If they don’t want to hear files when they go to the Ford Web site, they’ll make that choice as well.”