I worked for ~3 years at a startup that built chemistry and geology software. We were all computer graphics and image processing folks, so we approached problem

I worked for ~3 years at a startup that built chemistry and geology software. We were all computer graphics and image processing folks, so we approached problems from those angles. We had three main products: - A hardware/software solution for thin-layer chromatography. This was the product that actually got the company started. Basically we built a chamber with a camera and UV lamp that people could put their TLC plates in and have the software take pictures with and without UV an analyze the results. - A point-cloud visualization application for LIDAR data, used by geologists to scan large rock outcrops and study them. By far the most challenging of our projects, since LIDAR data consists of gigabytes of 3D point data and we had to figure out how to enable quick interactive manipulation of the data (rotating, zooming, etc.) without requiring hundreds of gigs of memory to hold it all at once. - An image processing application for enhancing electron micrographs of ostracod fossils. It required only a few "hints" (in the form of clicks) from the user to know about important areas in the image, then cropped unimportant parts, enhanced contrast, and whatnot. It also had some tools for layering annotations on top of the enhanced image, taking measurements, plus a few other things. By far the coolest job I've ever had. Sadly, the company failed. It was founded in a rather business-hostile country in South America, where taxes are absurd and one can't hope to start a company that isn't in an already established market where money can be made right away. I'm fairly positive it would have succeeded had it been in the US.