Gavin Manes, president and CEO of Digital Forensics Professionals Inc., oversees work in his office in downtown Tulsa. DFP is about to embark on a large expansion of its computerized investigations.

By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
6/17/2008

There aren't many companies that specialize in electronic investigations and data retrieval. Yet Gavin Manes, founder of Digital Forensics Professionals Inc., says there's a huge untapped demand for digital detective work in workplaces across the nation.

"In Oklahoma alone, I could have 10 competitors and there would still be enough business to split up," he said. Not that he wants to split it up. Manes said Tulsa-based DFP is about to begin a national advertising push as part of its goal to expand from 11 full-time employees to at least 300 in five years and single-handedly account for 15 percent of private digital investigation in the country.

Manes said he wants to pull most, if not all, of the new employees from the Tulsa area, since he feels the area and its universities have a broad pool of talented tech workers already. This summer, he was able to recruit 16 interns.

"I can find them all in Tulsa," he said. "That's no big deal."

The campaign and ambitious expansion plans are being made possible by a $1 million investment by Mimosa Tree Capital Partners, a local investment group founded by Vincent LeVoi and Joel Kantor that helps businesses grow. Previously, Mimosa Tree has focused on aerospace companies outside Oklahoma.

Manes, who founded DFP in 2003, said the company had expanded greatly over the last five years and now provides services in 17 states due to positive word-of-mouth and a lack of competing services in many areas.

At this point, the majority of DFP's revenue comes from out-of-state work, Manes said.  Still, he said his expertise is in digital investigations, not business development. When the company started seeking financing for future growth, he sought out investors who could provide more than money.

"Mimosa Tree knows the industry really well and they're willing to work to help bring this business forward," he said.

With the investment entity's guidance, DFP will use the investment to launch a nationwide ad campaign designed to bolster the company's image and remind corporations and lawyers alike of the availability and importance of digital forensics.

"It's impossible to do business without a computer," he said. "So when someone gets sued, there will be electronic data."

Manes said DFP focuses on corporate investigations and civil litigation because criminal work would force the company to pick a side and limit itself to 50 percent of the market.

DFP deals with all kinds of information retrieval from electronic devices, including computer hard drives, cell phones, file clusters and e-mail servers. Most often, their investigations center on wrongful terminations that involve the manipulation of sensitive information, such as a bank vice president who leaves for another bank and takes a client list with him.

"In that case, who owns that intellectual property?" Manes said. "How did that information move around?"

DFP's investigations often include piecing together the use of the data and the motivation behind its movement, since seemingly shady acts on complex systems can boil down to old-fashioned human error.

"Is it corporate espionage, or is it people just being stupid?" Manes said.

The company's data diving also has helped bring employees to unusual and sometimes hilarious places. Manes said his business was once hired by a married man who had an online mistress. Even after two years, the woman refused to meet the client or identify herself. DFP put the pieces together for him.

"It turns out the person he was cheating with was his wife," he said.

Manes said he always expected his company to do well, though its rapid ascent caught him by surprise.

"Honestly, I figured someone else would be ahead of us already, but we've stayed current while competitors are using older models," he said. "We're one of the most savvy companies of this type out there today."