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When Frank Riskey and Layne Simmons founded TenXsys four years ago, they didn't know what product they were going to make, or who their customers were going to be. TenXsys was a company in search of a problem.
Riskey and Simmons had a vague idea about developing technology, and a strong desire to build a company of their own.
But in just four years, their unusual approach to business management and commitment to innovation have made the company a success.
Common vision
The official description is that TenXsys makes telemetry systems for remote monitoring. NASA, the U.S. Army, the Department of Agriculture and the CIA use TenXsys technology to collect a variety of data in real time for applications as varied as wildlife monitoring, athletic performance analysis and physical rehabilitation.
Simmons and Riskey worked together at Hewlett-Packard for several years as project managers - like most in Boise, they were developing printers - when they started talking about doing something more.
"We didn't have a single technology in mind," Simmons said. "We knew our skills, strengths and interests."
Simmons said she was happy working at HP, and said the company was supportive as TenXsys was getting off the ground.
But Simmons also said that HP was too...