The Internet Years: 1995-2002
1995 We (my little nuclear family) moved out to California, land of innovation. I hooked up with a bright group of people who understood the notion of business processes. Using Perl 4, I built a 100% computed Web site (no HTML files) for A&a Printers & Lithographers. That site was an NII Finalist in 1996 for innovations in the “Information Superhighway” (remember when the Internet was quaintly called that). We were in a small group that included the The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition.
LOS ANGELES, CA, NOVEMBER 12, 1996 - Judges in the 1996 National Information Infrastructure Awards program, the world's leading forum for the recognition of extraordinary achievement on the information highway, have announced Finalists in the competition to find the country's best uses of the Internet and related communication technologies.
NII 1996 Awards
Sorry - no photo. I didn't know enough back then to snap screen shots.
1996 It was so obvious to me then: the Internet was coming and it would revolutionize the way business was done. I started a business to conceive and deliver innovative Internet solutions to businesses.
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Artwork by Peter Horjus, Horjus Design & Illustration Visit Peter's site -- he's awesome. | ||
1997 Scored a big client: Scudder Mutual Funds of Boston. Built another 100% computed Web site (Perl 5 this time). It was the first site in the financial services industry to provide a customized “personal page.”
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1998 Having blazed a new path with my approach for both the technology of generating Web sites and the business logic behind that, tried to go the VC route and fund the company to make a product.
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But the Internet Tsunami had arrived, and though all boats were lifted, the “irrational exhuberance” Mr. Greenspan referred fully dominated the business world, and I didn't want to play in that sandbox.
1999 Instead, we used our technology and, looking for real business opportunities where the Internet could make a difference to the lives of individuals, we built and launched a singles (dating) site: Datingfaces.com. We'd innovated again: Datingfaces was the first and only single's site to offer a truly relevant social-science-based compatibility measure.
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 silly me... didn't save any color images |
2000 Things were looking up. The Internet Insanity had priced us out of advertising as a way to grow: AOL only wanted a few million dollars to talk. So we innovated again, and bridged the “real world” to the online world. We gave our members “IntroCards” that they could hand out which gave a link to their personal profile on the site.
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Artwork by Peter Horjus, Horjus Design & Illustration Visit Peter's site -- I told you, he's awesome. | |
2001 The cards didn't gain traction. Things were looking suddenly down. The Internet Crash had arrived, and we swirled down. I struggled for another year to make the site succeed. But it just wasn't in the cards. Datingfaces.com was sold. The equipment retired, the software archived. There still is a Datingfaces.com, but that's not my work.
Little could I realize then that I was being called again by Destiny. But I fought this, wanting to hold on to what I'd been doing. I fought and I fought and I fought until Destiny won. And because of that, you are reading this.
