Over the next five years, he increased his stock ownership, and by 1997 he was the sole owner. “After five years in this business, I realized that I had customers. I didn't like using hand dryers because they took too long to dry your hands. • In late 1997, a group of engineers proposed developing a high-speed hand dryer. The research and development process would take them more than three years. “After three and a half years, the company owed me two years of salary arrears. I remortgaged the house; I had maxed out my credit line and was out of options. »• Denis spent more than $500,000 to develop a prototype of the Xlerator hand dryer. On July 26, 2000, he unveiled the prototype at a trade show in Atlanta.