Posted by Proud Anathema, Local Boy(VIP) on October 3, 2000 at 01:20:49:
In Reply to: Post the article damn ye! n/t posted by Fienn on October 3, 2000 at 01:13:45:
Published Monday, October 2, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News Teens tackle cyber world from comfort of living room You know that new Alliance for Childhood Robert Chin and Chris Kung haven't read it. And there's their year-old start-up, a company that hosts ``We just started making a profit,'' said Robert, 17. That puts GameShadow Networks ahead of most of the dot-com No, it's not a huge profit, and it's not a huge operation. World ``I call this the radiation center,'' said Chris, 16. The guts of the operation are down below. The server storing This is serious business, which is clear when you talk to Robert and It's the way it works around here. If you're going to retire at 30, you Robert, wearing a ``Will Work for Bandwidth'' T-shirt, sounds like ``We try to build a community between the people we host,'' he said, He takes questions about going public seriously, not that he has any Robert and Chris were shrewd enough to persuade a veteran venture ``He said, `Why don't you write a business plan?' '' Robert recalled. The loan from Robert's parents, along with the $5,000 their son ``I actually got him to say yes when we were on vacation,'' he said of All that summer, Robert and Chris wrote code and built the site. They ``We didn't want to start while school was in,'' Robert said, ``because Now they host about 20 main sites. They can run the business by And sitting in the radiation center, it's not hard to believe they can. Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@sjmercury.com or (408)920-5536.
report that says computers might do kids more
harm than good?
The Los Altos High School students have been too busy. Yes, there's
schoolwork and track and Scouting.
game-related Web sites.
sector.
headquarters is Robert's living room. Three glowing monitors, a
laptop, CPUs stashed under a desk.
GameShadow Web pages sits in a small basement back room --
gives a whole new meaning to ``storage room.''
Chris. The two run down their business model: They host game
enthusiasts' Web sites for free. The sites offer tips, downloads that
enhance existing games and tools for Web site builders. Then, they
sell space on those sites to advertisers who want to pitch products to
the computer game-playing demographic.
need to get cracking. Computers are just a tool, a tool to build a
career and maybe a fortune.
the seasoned Silicon Valley CEO. He explains that GameShadow
strives to provide Web developers support that competing sites don't.
He says its secret sauce is the chat rooms where those building Web
sites can trade ideas, frustrations and dreams.
``because we figure if you're part of the community, you don't want to
leave.''
such plans. GameShadow is making money, he said, and as long as
you're making money, ``it's nice to have it privately owned so you
keep control.''
capitalist to lend them start-up money. OK, the venture capitalist was
Robert's dad.
``My dad's a pretty thorough guy.''
invested from gains in the stock market, was enough to buy the
server, with change left over. Already, Robert the younger knows
timing is everything.
closing the deal during a 1999 spring break trip to Europe.
launched in August 1999.
we knew we had finals and stuff.''
working a few hours here and there. It gives them the time to pursue
other interests, like Robert's summer job writing software for a
wireless networking company and Chris's summer advance placement
classes.
Next year, it's college. (Chris is thinking Stanford, UC-Berkeley. Robert is considering the University of Illinois, MIT, Carnegie-Mellon.) The boys are confident they can keep the company running when they head to college next year.