Two Teen Tech Titans Make the Grade
Published:
26 May 2001 y., Saturday
Jud Bowman and Taylor Brockman developed their Pinpoint search engine in high school. Verizon and Terra Lycos rate it an A+ tool for the wireless Web When Jud Bowman and Taylor Brockman were looking for backers two years ago to help finance their Internet startup -- which would build customized search engines for Web sites -- they had one awkward problem: They didn't have a phone to receive incoming calls. That's because Bowman and Brockman were only 18, and like other students at their North Carolina boarding school, they weren't allowed to have a phone in their dorm rooms. So the duo gave out the number for the pay phone down the hall -- and implored their rowdy dorm mates to take down any messages.
Since graduation, Bowman and Brockman have had no problems lining up support for their Research Triangle Park (N.C.) venture, now known as Pinpoint Networks. While dot-coms headed by far more seasoned entrepreneurs folded long ago, these teen upstarts are still in the hunt to become the search-engine-of-choice on the wireless Internet -- which Bowman believes will soon explode in popularity.
Already, it appears that youth is being served: The company signed its first major wireless customer last September, when Terra Lycos agreed to integrate Pinpoint's search technology into its wireless application portal (WAP). And Pinpoint scored another coup this past March, when telecommunications giant Verizon Wireless agreed to incorporate the company's search feature into its Net-enabled phones. Given that Pinpoint sits at the sweet spot of the wireless Web, some analysts see the startup as a perfect acquisition candidate some day for one of the major Internet portals, or possibly a cell-phone manufacturer like Nokia, that could integrate the company's technology into its products.
By all indications, Bowman and Brockman might view a buyout as a fitting close to their adventure, giving them a chance to rediscover their teen years before they're gone.
Šaltinis:
businessweek.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Software company announced new structure_ of it_s business.
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
Microsoft's push to make its Windows operating system more secure cost the company more than $100 million so far this year
more »
U.S. Agencies, Technology Firms Set Guidelines to Protect Against Hacking
more »
In another effort to encroach upon Apple's computer-as-entertainment strategy, Microsoft has announced its Windows XP Media Center Edition
more »
So far this year, the Motion Picture Association of America has sent nearly 50,000 complaints to ISPs worldwide and anticipates that number will reach 100,000 by the end of 2002
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
Baltic Utilities X, a software package that provides Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian language support for computers running the new Macintosh OSX operating system, has been released by DekSoft
more »
Intel Corp. is pushing up the release of a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 to this summer in hopes of boosting sagging sales of its flagship PC processor, sources close to the company say
more »
Will the Next Terrorist Attack Be Delivered Via Cyberspace?
more »
The quantity of e-mailed advertising pitches for different opportunities is about to increase dramatically
more »