Need software? RogueSheep can build it

What: RogueSheep, based in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood

What it does: Develops and sells its own software. Also develops custom software for clients.

Who: Chris Parrish, co-founder

Employees: Five, all founders

Baked in an Adobe pot: The founders were longtime employees at Adobe Systems' Seattle offices and worked together on the same software project as a small team. "It was one of those times where there was just a really good chemistry and you share a lot of the same values," Parrish said. "It just worked. We really clicked."

In the interim: The founders eventually left Adobe and went their own ways, but three years ago decided to reunite and form a company.

The result: RogueSheep. The founders have stayed close to their Adobe roots, mostly developing plug-in applications for Adobe's InDesign and Illustrator programs. One RogueSheep application, for example, lets a user edit images directly in InDesign. Without it, you might have to take the image to Photoshop or another program.

Paying the bills: Just selling software brings in only about 20 percent of company revenue. To earn a living, the team spends time creating custom software for clients with particular needs, such as requiring InDesign to work with some other program. The company's goal is to focus on developing its own software, however. RogueSheep is profitable and hasn't taken any outside funding, Parrish said.

Looking in the lab: RogueSheep is heading in a different direction this year, and is building software specifically to help researchers publish results related to gel electrophoresis. Basically, that's one way scientists separate molecules based on their individual characteristics.

The idea formed when a RogueSheep founder, Jeff Argast, watched his wife struggle to publish electrophoresis results when she was working on her doctorate. "In the existing tools, it's really painful," Parrish said.

About that name: It was inspired by a trip to an Oregon brewery and a drive-by sheep spotting, Parrish said. The team wanted a memorable name that indicated a beyond-the-usual approach to software. "We settled on RogueSheep because BanditLemmings and PirateGoats just didn't sound as good," Parrish joked.

— Kim Peterson