IdeaPaint

IdeaPaint

What It Does: Specialty paint maker
Founders: John Goscha, 25; Jeff Avallon, 25; Morgen Newman, 25
Web Site: www.ideapaint.com
Based: Cambridge, Mass.

Three Babson undergrads, John Goscha, Jeff Avallon, and Morgen Newman, came up with the idea for IdeaPaint in college when they found themselves unable to afford whiteboards for their brainstorming sessions. The product is a paint that turns any wall into a dry-erase surface, at a lower cost than actually installing whiteboards. They tried three labs before finding one that could engineer the paint they wanted. IdeaPaint, which raised $5 million from Breakaway Ventures last fall, is marketing the product to designers and architects, and so far the paint has been used in more than 6,000 installations in offices, schools, and homes. The firm has a staff of 14 in Cambridge and four full-time contract chemists working in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the paint is manufactured. The company expects to break even early next year.