Medcom Ltd, the company behind a ground-breaking website teaching surgical techniques, won the top prize at York's Venturefest event. CATHERINE BRUCE spoke to company director Warren Hobden about life after Venturefest.

VIRTUAL operations, on-line lessons and tests on surgical procedures are expected to help York-based firm Medcom Ltd take the medical world by storm.

The company, which is to launch its website, surgicalskills.net, next February, has already caught the attention of the city's business chiefs. The panel of judges at Venturefest were so impressed with the firm's business plan and ten-minute presentation they awarded Medcom the Judges' prize, a business support package worth more than £20,000.

The company will now benefit from a year's free accommodation at York Science Park, £3,000 to invest in the business and £10,000 worth of professional services advice including financial, legal, marketing and HR support.

Warren, 28, started Medcom two-and-a-half years ago with childhood friends, Jim Rowe and Chris Matson, who he had grown up with in Scarborough.

He had the idea of creating a website to help postgraduate surgical trainees learn how to carry out operations, while Jim was training to be a surgeon.

"I ran the idea past him as he's our target audience. He said the only problem with the idea was that it didn't exist already," said Warren.

He has been working on developing the company full-time for the last 18 months. The University of York recently became an equity partner in Medcom and the firm is eager to find more investors.

By the time the website is launched next year, Warren hopes to have between seven and twenty workers at Medcom's base at the Science Park's IT Centre. The website will have lessons and hints on at least 30 surgical procedures. Up to five virtual operations will be added to the site every month, with the help of Medcom's chief medical adviser, neurosurgeon Neil Buxton, who is based at the Walton Centre in Liverpool, and twelve consultant surgeons.

Users of the website will pay £180-a-year in subscription fees and the company hopes the site will eventually broaden its appeal so it caters for not only postgraduates but also undergraduate medical students and medical staff.

The trio of directors are also looking into developing similar websites to teach people techniques in other fields including dentistry and engineering.

If surgicalskills.net is successful, they plan to translate the website into different languages to make it available to customers all over the world.

Warren certainly has the entrepreneurial spirit and is keen to use the Venturefest award to develop the company as much as possible.

"I've always wanted to run my own business from a very early age. I thought it would be great to be my own boss and create an environment where people love working," he said.

The team is determined to create a young, vibrant company. Its target customer is a member of the Internet generation, who feels more comfortable surfing the net than searching through a library.

"We're aiming for the Audi TT market, people who have spent years being a pauper student and suddenly get a well-paid job. We are providing them with a fantastic product to make them better, more competent surgeons," he said.

"If you get in after a long stint in hospital and you know you have a surgical technique to assist on the following day, you can't be bothered to go down the library.

"Trainee surgeons are crying out for a facility like this."

But while the team is confident of the worth of the product, it was still surprised to scoop Venturefest's top award.

"We were convinced it was very worthwhile to raise our profile and it's a great networking event. We didn't expect to win but we were very, very pleased when we did," said Warren.

"The prize will make a massive difference to us."

Updated: 12:01 Tuesday, February 24, 2004