Kodak's Legacy: Business Startups

Kodak's lasting legacy is continuing through the numerous spinoff and start-up companies that continue to develop.

Some of the talent that has left Kodak is working for other Rochester small businesses or even running one.

It includes people like Bruce Ha.

He created Stamper Technology 6 years ago.

The company creates stampers that help duplicate cd's and dvd's.

It's an education he got while at Kodak.

"I started Kodak when Kodak needed a person to lead the Picture CD development team," said Bruce Ha, President of Stamper Technology.

The Kodak Picture CD helped to digitize film photographs.

"I developed the technology and patented the technology to go and manufacture the discs from 15 minutes to 5 seconds it was a large paradigm shift that allowed Kodak to move hundreds of thousands of discs to millions of discs," said Ha.

But then overseas competition got the best of Kodak.

It sold the business, which left Ha without a job in 2003.

"It was a bit of an unfortunate event that allowed me to restart," said Ha.

Ha restarted with an start-up - becoming a business owner in 2006.

Since then he's had his eye on the future.

"This is a trinket that I created - it is the entire King James Bible, every single word," said Ha, who pulled out a small metal necklace, about the size of a person's thumb.

It's inscribed on nickel, estimated to last 1,000 years and withstand extremely hot temperatures.

But you'll need a microscope.

"I rearranged all of these dots to turn it into text that is readable," said Ha.

It's technology that could transform how information is stored for the future.

"If you have companies that have very valuable intellectual information and they want to archive that," said Ha.

Ha wants business to grow and is always looking to what's next.

"I learned as a small business that you have to be fast, you have to be fluid, you have to be flexible," said Ha.

Kodak laid a foundation for him.

"Kodak instrumental in helping managers improve their skills," said Ha.

But he honed his business skills through trial and error.

"I think Kodak was efficient in doing things in large scale, but as a small business we could not afford that. Cash flow is one of the biggest factors I hard to learn to make sure everything is funded," said Ha

"The Kodak legacy allowed me to move into a building with all of these infrastructures that I was able to take advantage of. "

From the infrastructure to the training, Kodak helped set a foundation for Ha and other business owners to grow.

"We are taking the disciplined workers that Kodak had developed, the approach of small companies that are fast, fluid, and flexible and we are going to combine that to compete," said Ha.

For more information on Stamper Technology you can click here.