So they can decide to offer the lowest prices, or somewhere in the middle, and then your system automatically generates a bid?

Absolutely.

And how does this work for a consumer?

If you want to invest US$10,000 for six months, that message is sent to all the banks. It's all automated, there's no human watching it. The best rate is communicated back to the consumer, along with the name of the bank. The whole process takes two minutes.

There must be some pretty complicated algorithms behind all this?

Yes there are. This is innovative, for sure. This is something we did in-house, myself and a couple of other guys. These are complicated algorithms, no question, but they are very innovative and a cool way to solve the problem.

You're only doing banking now, but will this extend to other consumer products, like the HD television set that frustrated you?

Absolutely.

Do banks like this idea?

We have 102 banks in our network right now without even having launched the product or launched the company. We have the state of California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Arkansas, a number of these state banking associations are helping us very actively.

What about the huge banks, like Bank of America?

No, they are not. I cannot imagine large banks playing in it. Small and midsize banks have the roughest time right now. They're getting squeezed on all sides, they can't collect enough deposits. This is a means for them to compete in a level playing field for larger players. We do not accept any advertisements. We collect a fee after the banks have succeeded.

Is this a departure from what you've done previously?

It is quite different. Previously I was in telecom, high-speed routers. This is more on the Internet side. Having said all that, this is highly math centric, there's a lot of cool technology involved in this.

Nexabit was a success for you. What happened with Axiowave, the telecom router company you founded?

That was closed down in 2004. It did not work. The telecom market had tanked completely by then.

After that, you moved into investing. Why did you get back into the business of being a founder and CEO?

We were investing in some interesting start-ups in somewhat more exotic spaces including energy efficiency and medical devices. Along the way you get the itch to go back into the operating role.