Cool Person of the Day

Connecting advertisers and potential customers through all of the digital devices the average person has today is a daunting task.  In fact, very few companies have effectively managed to exploit every possible device and network as a viable revenue stream.  Even sites traditionally known for their success using ad revenue on the Internet, like Facebook, have had some issues with monetizing on a mobile platform.  PubMatic is a company that, in 2006, saw how the Internet was branching into a multiplatform media no longer simply utilized on home computers and developed software that allows advertisers to spread their message effectively across every type of computing device.  Mukul Kumar is the software engineer who makes the PubMatic vision work! Read more »

More often than not, when the mainstream media discusses the tech sector and the businesspeople within it, they convey information about executives who make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars each year.  There is another side to the tech sector, though, and that is the charitable side.  There are many executives in the tech sector who, upon seeing the profound influence technology may have on one’s quality of life, become inspired to spread technology to the underprivileged.  Millie Liggins has seen just how great IT can improve a company and in her spare time, the works to spread technology through the World Computer Exchange! Read more »

It does not take long, when shopping for new technological gadgets, to realize that every major manufacturer of tech has a different way of connecting, recharging, powering or operating their devices to make them distinctive.  For those who do not want to ally themselves to a single corporate standard and would like to buy gadgets from a wide range of manufacturers, they either end up spending a lot of time figuring out how to maintain each of their devices or they end up spending a lot of money to be able to recharge and synch all of their devices simultaneously.  Callpod, the makers of the ChargePod, FuelTank, and other connectivity devices, saw that problem and has been steadily working to make the lives of consumers much easier.  A lot of the credit for Callpod’s success comes from Craig Lurey. Read more »

The tech sector seems to embrace different roles played by different people based upon their interests and experiences.  Just as cops do not make for the best marriage counselors and poets are not traditionally called upon to rewire your house, many brilliant technical minds simply are not good at, or interested in, business.  Many of the biggest tech sector companies, like Facebook, only reached their business potential when the tech-focused creator hired a brilliant business-oriented individual (like Mark Zuckerberg did when he hired Sheryl Sandberg).  No other major industry seems to respect just how well specialized people may work when they are allowed to focus on their specialization (instead of treating all employees and executives as interchangeable) than the tech sector.  Ryan Rouland has long recognized the benefits of letting tech leaders focus on the ideas and products, while he has built many successful tech companies for those innovators! Read more »

As Cloud-based streaming services become more prevalent and popular, the major producers of movies, music, and television programming have become more anxious about the new services.  After early Internet sites like Napster gave away their content, major studios got wise (and litigious) and have been more vigorously fighting piracy.  The new strategy that both streaming services and the major studios have begun taking is creating alliances and agreements as Internet companies develop their platform.  That requires the streaming start-ups, or established sites that are looking to diversify into media distribution, to have great lawyers.  For Roku, the manufacturer of streaming media players, the legal team is headed by Kim Funk. Read more »

With so many digital photography services online, it can be very hard for a new, emerging, or revamped service to effectively sell itself to its target demographic.  Digital photographers have a lot of choices these days, but with the rapidly changing nature of the Internet, recently several online photo editors and storage sites have been shut down, while new ones have sprouted up.  Making your online digital photo service seem fresh, new, and vital can be as much a marketing challenge as it is an issue of programming your service the right way.  For Shutterfly, the challenge of marketing the website and its many services falls to Katelyn Watson. Read more »

The Internet is a spawning ground of great new ideas.  Many of those ideas, especially when they pertain to making the Internet run in a way that it has not before, have been very profitable for a number of entrepreneurs and investors.  As a result, a whole industry within the industry has developed that focuses on aiding creative minds and programmers to create new products, services, and applications for the Internet.  One of the most intriguing of such sites is Fireplace, a site designed to randomly generate start-up ideas.  One of its founders is the very cool Gilan Avidan. Read more »

Virtually anyone with a real talent not directly related to their field of employment who has friends will be told “you should do that professionally!”  While friends mean well by such compliments, they seldom realize that starting a business is a huge task, often involves a skill set entirely different from the skill or product that their friends love, and they are asking their friend to take something they love doing and become dependent upon it for income.  Very few people have the wherewithal to go through with such an endeavor.  However, Julie Degnan not only made a business out of her hobby, she had all the business skills to make it a success! Read more »

If you find medical jargon difficult and health care laws and forms utterly incomprehensible, you are not alone!  While some would argue that it is the infrequency with which we deal with medical forms that makes all of us intimidated by the forms and directives needed to obtain, keep, and get reimbursement for, health insurance, many people who work within the medical billing and medical technology field side with the common folk.  One entrepreneur who has extensive experience with software, health care and start-ups has taken the stance that the system is far too complicated and he has decided he is going to change it!  That entrepreneur is Deepak Kumar and his company is FlexMinder. Read more »

Style and fashion can be a tough sell using the Internet.  The Internet is great for presenting images of cutting-edge styles and connecting users to sales points, but many style shoppers have discovered that products hardly seem as glamorous as the digitally touched-up images they saw online make them look.  Fashion shoppers frequently find that colors are not as precisely rendered on their computer monitors, resulting in negative shopping experiences that can leave them out of the current trend.  But one woman has found a very effective way to synergize online shopping, social networks and the in-person shopping experience.  That business visionary is Jessica Herrin! Read more »