My Story with Powerset

Ever heard of Powerset? It is a private startup I have been following for several months now. It has come up with potentially disruptive search technology based on natural language processing. This basically means that their search engine has more advanced capabilities to actually unlock the meaning encoded in ordinary human language. This seems several steps ahead of mere keyword search which Google offers. In fact, recently Powerset launched a test drive of their search technology based on Wikipedia articles. Check it out at www.powerset.com.

Anyways, in addition to Powerset's technological innovations, its team has captured my interest as well, namely its Founder & CTO, Barney Pell. I have managed to schedule a meeting with him in mid-August 2008 to discuss the future of Powerset and any advice he has for students like me planning to enter the business & technology industry. Ever since, I have been counting down days to the meeting with great anticipation. I can't wait!!

And, TODAY, I learned something that seriously made me fall of my chair. Microsoft just acquired Powerset. Wow! A company that I have been following for months with excitement has, within a day, transformed from an independent self-sustaining entity to another division within the Microsoft Live Search team...though I can definitely see advantages of making this acquisition (the abundance of resources Live Search offers, for one) I am afraid that Powerset's dynamic start-up culture and independent thinking may be compromised in the process.

More fascinating to me, however, is how fast things can change in the world of business, especially in the business of technology where the tech governs the marketplace! I will continue to follow Powerset and am keen to see how it progresses from today onwards. Plus, this will provide me with interesting talking points with Mr. Pell in August :)