LARKSPUR, Calif., Sept. 29, 2004 -- In 1994, Mindjet founder Mike Jetter checked into a cancer hospital for what he feared would be his last battle to survive leukemia. Looking for something to both occupy his mind during his treatment and to serve as a parting gift to the world, Jetter decided to use his skills as a software developer and create a new kind of graphic interface. Ten year later Jetter, his wife and chief operating officer Bettina, and their partner Michael Louis have now been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year(R) award winners in the Information Technology category. The award was presented by global professional services firm Ernst & Young last Friday night in Frankfurt, Germany.

"This honor from Ernst & Young is a very much appreciated affirmation of the work my wife Bettina, our partner Michael Louis and I have done to make Mindjet a successful company," says chief technology officer Jetter. "When I entered the hospital ten years ago to battle my third relapse of leukemia, I never thought MindManager would find such a receptive audience. I really started out with just one user -- my wife. Mindjet now has half a million customers around the world who use our information visualization software to improve their productivity and creativity. I believed ten years ago that computer users needed a more intuitive, visual interface. Our success -- and now this award -- proves that this is true."

Mindjet was founded in Germany in 1994 following Jetter's successful treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia. Mindjet now has operations throughout the world and enjoys double-digit annual growth due to the popularity of its flagship product, MindManager X5 Pro. This visual tool for planning, collaboration and business process management enhances the productivity of business teams and individuals by providing them with an intuitive visual interface for the rapid capture, organizing, and sharing of information, ideas and data.

An independent judging panel selected the Mindjet founders on the basis of the company's innovative product line, employee development and current and potential corporate performance. The founders will now compete for Ernst & Young's World Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

About the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

The Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) (EOY) awards program was created in the United States in a single Midwestern city by Ernst & Young in 1986 to honor entrepreneurs whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful, growing business ventures. Today, EOY has been expanded to more than 150 cities in over 35 countries with awards presented to over 900 of the world's most successful and innovative entrepreneurs.

About Mindjet

Mindjet software products improve business productivity by combining the power of information visualization with the benefits of team collaboration to increase the return on people, information and business process management. MindManager, the critically acclaimed information visualization application with more than 500,000 licenses sold worldwide, helps business professionals from the majority of Fortune 500 companies plan, organize and manage business processes, projects and information-based activities. Mindjet is a privately held software company with headquarters in California and operations throughout the world. More information is available at http://www.mindjet.com.

SOURCE Mindjet

Web Site: http://www.mindjet.com

Hobart Swan
Manager: External Affairs Mindjet
125 E. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
Larkspur, CA 94939
hobart.swan@mindjet.com
Tel:  415-925-3120, ext. 134
Cell:  415-250 1178
Fax:  415-925-3110