Jul. 28, 2003 - Even after a layoff cost him his job at PurchasePro.com, Alan Dyches never lost faith in Las Vegas' potential to nurture technology companies. 

He witnessed PurchasePro's success licensing reverse-auction software, which matched hotel-industry goods suppliers and buyers. He thought he could improve on PurchasePro's business model, and thought Las Vegas would support a new company. 

So rising from PurchasePro's ashes, Dyches launched his own business-to-business e-commerce company eProcurer.com. Two ex-PurchasePro colleagues, Jason Co and Jerry Garner, are helping Dyches operate the company, which celebrated its first anniversary earlier this month. 

Dyches, eProcurer's chief operations officer, first came to Las Vegas in early 2001, when PurchasePro hired him from a company in Northern California's Silicon Valley. He recruited his brother, Jason Co, an information technology expert, to join him. Both lost their jobs later in the year in PurchasePro's furious efforts to restructure and survive. 

Dyches, 39, went to work in the Dominican Republic for a while, but then returned to Las Vegas in early 2002 to work for a company called Digital Economic Technologies. Again, he recruited Co, who'd been living in Utah. 

Dyches continued to think of a new business-to-business software venture, often discussing it with Co. By late spring, both Dyches and Co had left Digital Economic Technologies. In July 2002, Dyches launched eProcurer. 

By watching the dot-com collapse, Dyches said he learned how not to run a business. Businesses failed then, he said, because business plans weren't realistic. 

For eProcurer, Dyches would stick with long-proven business ideals. First, he resolved, his company had to have a viable product, in this case an easy-to-understand, easy-to-use, customized-for-the-client software. Second, the company needed to support that product with people and resources. 

"I wanted to do it sensibly," Dyches said. "We had to play by the same rules as other businesses." 

Closeness to the Strip will work well for eProcurer, Dyches said. Because the software is geared toward hospitality industry buyers and sellers, the company is near target customers. Also, echoing many other ex-Californians, Dyches said cheaper living and operating costs made Las Vegas attractive. 

Garner, 33, an executive account manager for eProcurer, said he'd come to Las Vegas before PurchasePro hired him in 1999 and was determined to stay even after his layoff in 2001. He said he kept in touch with Garner and Co and knew new opportunities would come. 

"We knew there was a niche for hospitality (systems), we knew the (price) points, the buyers and the vendors," Garner said. "I never thought of moving from Las Vegas because I'd come here more for the area than the job." 

Co, eProcurer's vice president of product development, said the community has welcomed eProcurer. The Technology Business Alliance of Nevada and Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce both supported the company in its first year of business, he said. 

"They worked with us to help our business grow and become known to the city," Co said. 

Just as its close to possible customers, Co said, eProcurer is close to potential workers. He said the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is producing motivated, skilled information technology and computer science graduates whose skills may make them a good fit for eProcurer's as the company grows. 

EProcurer in June signed a partnership deal with New York-based Hotel Interactive Inc., the parent of the hotelinteractive.com and buyerinteractive.com, to market e-procurement services to the lodging industry. Dyches said he believes that the three-year deal, with a projected value of $38 million, is just the beginning for his company and its future here. 

"I can tell you this," he said. "I expect to be hiring a lot of people over the next three years." 

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(c) 2003, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. PPRO,