How Gigmark Turned the Mundane Flash Drive into a $10 Million Business Founders of this tech startup transformed the flash drive into an intelligent interactive marketing platform that produces real analytics.

Gigmark Interactive Media isn't the classic Silicon Valley fairy tale. No sneakers and Mark Zuckerberg-style hoodies here. Instead, this tech startup's 20-employee office is located in Knoxville, Tenn., more than 2,000 miles from the Bay Area's geek salons. And co-founders Rob Balchunas, Parker Frost and Mark Myers prefer selling to corporate clients the old-fashioned way: in a Manhattan boardroom.

Gigmark's product isn't a sexy smartphone app or the next hot social network. Rather, these guys have staked their claim to tech riches on the seemingly mundane USB flash drive--the trusty, but staid, file-storage device that plugs into just about any computer.

Though most techies would call the flash drive a thing of the past, Balchunas begs to differ. "People are saying the flash drive is dead. The flash drive isn't dead," he says. "Millions of these devices are still being sold and used. What we're doing is taking it to the next level."