This will be another addition to the ‘Some Interesting Ideas’ series, an ongoing discussion of businesses with attractive 3-5 year outlooks, as I finally reviewed and put together my notes from The Planet Microcap Conference that was held in Las Vegas from June 16th - 18th. Planet Microcap is one of the most productive conferences on the calendar for anyone hunting in the sub-$1B space. The conference featured hundreds of attending companies and even more investors. The best part about the conference has always been the people involved, and those who attend, and the crowd this year was incredibly diverse. There is something for everyone at the event, and I really enjoyed catching up with peers and making new connections. If you’re in the small cap and microcap spaces, I’d highly recommend attending next year’s event. The following businesses are ones that I’ve either met with, followed closely, or added to the watchlist since attending. Each one has some combination of an underappreciated business model, solid management execution, and a valuation that doesn’t yet reflect the earnings power being built. This year, I gravitated toward businesses that may not appear optically cheap, or whose stock prices are up nicely in the past year. I tend to focus more on management and business quality first before headline valuation, and the businesses below scored fairly high on both counts. As always, this is not investment advice, DYODD, and please see the disclaimer at the end of this post.Pro-Dex (PDEX)Pro-Dex is a high-quality microcap that most likely wouldn’t stick out unless you meet the management team and learn more about their customer relationships. The company designs and manufactures autoclavable, battery-powered surgical drivers and shavers used primarily in orthopedic, thoracic, and craniomaxillofacial (CMF) surgery, sold to medical device OEMs on a long-cycle, engineered-to-spec basis. In English, Pro-Dex makes the specialized handheld power tools that surgeons use in the operating room. Think of a really precise, medical-grade cordless drill or a tiny electric shaver, but built to surgical standards. Surgeons use these to drill into bone, drive in screws, or shave away tissue during operations.This is not a commodity contract manufacturing business. Pro-Dex participates in the product design itself, holds patents on adaptive torque-limiting and sealing technology, and once designed into a customer’s procedure kit, they are effectively locked in for the life of that platform. Pretty attractive.