Maximum efficiency: entrepreneur hopes clients will get organized at his Web portal.

When school administrator Caroline Blackwell was trying to organize a national workshop, she turned to Pelotonics LLC to get teachers nationwide on the same page, or portal, as it were.

Pelotonics, named after a peloton of cyclists who ride together for maximum efficiency, allows subscribers to build a portal where participants on a project can leave messages, share files, plan curriculum and schedule milestones.

For Blackwell, who was planning a summit for the Association of Independent Schools, it meant collaborating to build a curriculum, invite speakers and organize seminars.

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"We were managing large chunks of information, flowing back and forth between 10 people," said Blackwell, who works at the University School of Nashville. "We wanted to ensure in the planning stages that we were having quality conversations, and do it in an efficient way."

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When the event was over, the presentations were uploaded and archived for the summit's 65 participants, including the group photo taken on the last day.

Organizing Principle

Pelotonics was developed by local entrepreneur Troy Malone, who has raised $500,000 this year in venture capital to fund his business.

He got the idea while at Blue Sky Broadcast, a Web conferencing company.

"So much is coming at us every day," said Malone, whose rifle is chief evangelist. "The organization and management of that stuff is what counts ... it's the difference between being effective versus caught up in the clutter."

His epiphany came after reading "Getting Things Done," by David Allen, a book that teaches how to prioritize pressing commitments.

"I read (the book) and implemented that personal productivity system three years ago," he said. "I became highly productive personally, but I was managing a team of 20 people. And I realized they were all doing things differently. I bought them the book, but it didn't make them productive."

He decided to develop a system to share, which freed him from chasing details. He hired a consultant to build the application, which he and his staff modified.

When outsiders used it, they liked it.

"They said, 'This is neat. I could use this for my business,' "said Malone, who recognized a need for such a product in the marketplace.

Malone launched a beta site in 2007 for 150 administrators with space for 10 projects and unlimited participants. Earlier this month, he added space for 500 more administrators, who have until Aug. 20 to sign up.

"Hopefully, they'll talk to us ... and help us improve it," said Malone, who hopes to have 15,000 subscribers,

Pelotonics has five paid monthly subscription tiers, from $49 for 20 projects to $199 for unlimited projects.

"The portal that people build to collaborate on projects invites people outside an organization onto the platform," he said. "It typically elicits a response that's kind of neat. People say, 'I need that for my business.' That's why I want to get these beta users in and talking about it."

He is also pitching it to organizations like the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"If you're putting on an annual meeting or a luncheon and you're organizing volunteers, it's like herding cats," he said.

Viral Marketing

Blackwell's introduction to Pelotonics came at a women's luncheon in Nashville.

"I was part of a committee organizing a big event, a 500-person luncheon," she said. "The chair of the committee ... organized the 16 to 17 members using Pelotonics. I was taken by it immediately."

Blackwell has shared it with parents at her school, including an environmental scientist working on a landfill project.

"She's interfacing with scientists and people throughout the state. She loved the interface and all tools associated with it."

Blackwell says she'll introduce it to her students.

"Our school's students are very, very busy. There's no question in my mind that I will introduce the portal to some of them."

She also touted its green attributes at a recent webinar.

Her summer workshop, called Summer Diversity Institute, addressed such heady issues as conflict resolution and bias in curriculum--subjects that would normally generate multiple handouts and presentations. This year, they uploaded everything to the portal.

"I gave them the log-in information and tour of the portal," she said. "They still had a notebook, but it wasn't filled with stuff they had to lug back."