An early-stage animation startup called dodles is in New Orleans for a major tech conference this week, as company leaders strive to connect with investors and potential partners.

The Appleton-based business is developing a platform where content creators can create, share, license and sell illustrations in an online marketplace. According to CEO Craig Doriot, this makes it easier for artists to make themselves known without needing publishers and advertising studios.

Doriot and the rest of the team are at the Collision conference, which had over 25,000 attendees including speakers from some of the biggest names in tech.

Aside from private meetings arranged in advance, dodles is exhibiting on the beta track, which is reserved for relatively advanced companies.

“That’s more exclusive than the general exhibitors,” Doriot told WisBusiness.com. “That gives us some leverage with investors, a little more attention.”

The company recently ran a closed beta which wrapped up in March.

“We’ve had some good results,” he said, adding that the process helped identify new areas of expansion, like educational elements.

See more at WisBusiness.com.