The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

February 2000

From the Pen of Ken...

Levy Joins XMLFund

It’s somewhat hard to believe for myself and others, but today is

my last day at Microsoft as I decided to take a career path

opportunity that is unique and likely only offered once in a

lifetime, if at all. While I have recently (and in the past as a

contractor) greatly enjoyed working at Microsoft, I have ex-

cepted employment with the newly started venture capital firm

XMLFund, LLC in Bellevue, WA. XMLFund is a new venture fund

focused on building the next generation of XML-based compa-

nies, start-ups to further advance XML technologies, applica-

tions and solutions. Pool, an Internet Pioneer, produced the

world’s first Internet software suite, “Internet-in-a-Box” as the

founder of Spry, Inc. that was later purchased by CompuServe.

My title will be Solutions Architect and I will work directly for the

founder and president Dave Pool and I will be responsible for all

of the technology-centric efforts of the company. My major

responsibilities will be researching the technical details for

possible investments and assisting with firms which XMLFund

has assets in to help evolve and innovate various XML related

solutions and technology. I will also be responsible for all

internal R&D efforts including working in and contributing to the

XML community.

Ken Levy

ken levy@csi.com

An example of what XMLFund is involved in, refer to the press

release below...

XMLFund Invests in PhotoTrustcom to Accelerate the Online

Systems for the Exchange and Storage of Photographs

Tuesday January 18 6:03am

Source:

BusinessWire

BELLEVUE, Wash.—(BUSINESS WJRE)—Jan. 18,2000—

PhotoTrust.com, a revolutionary online system for storing,

managing and retrieving photographs in any format, has suc-

cessfully secured a major investment from XMLFund.

“We are excited to partner with such a forward-looking venture

group such as XMLFund,” said Skip Franklin, Co-Founder and

CEO of PhotoTrust.com. “We share a vision of Photo-XML

technology revolutionizing Internet photo management for both

businesses and consumers.”

“PhotoTrust’s innovative use of the XML technology will dramati-

cally change the way we experience photos on the web.

Standardizing the way we enhance photos, with relevant

information, brings a new dimension to the medium that in the

mass market has never been achieved,” said Dave Pool,

managing director of the XMLFund. “PhotoTrust has gathered an

impressive and seasoned executive team with expertise in

eBusiness, database modeling, web development and market-

ing and together with the Fund hopes to extend the bounds of

photos from images to intelligent information.”

XML is the Internet standard “envelope” for the exchange of

information between businesses. It is the enabling technology

behind the next generation internet trading systems such as

CommerceOne (Nasdaq: CMRC), Anba (Nasdaq:ARBA),

Freemarkets (Nasdaq:FMKT) as well as for the leading technol

ogy companies such as DataChannel, IBM (NYSE:IBM),

Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), SAP (Nasdaq:SAP) Oracle

(Nasdaq:ORCL), Redhat (Nasdaq:RHAT), Sun Microsystems

(Nasdaq:SUNW).

About PhotoTrust.com, Inc.

Photolrust.com, Inc. based in Bellevue, Washington, is the

leader in Photo-XML technology for business and consumer

photo management and interchange. Founded in June 1999 by

Skip Franklin and Jim Harding who have collectively founded

over a half-dozen successful start-ups in the Seattle area

including MountainZone.com, Amaze, Inc. Revelation Technolo-

gies and InfoModelers. The company has launched two

websites to date, PhotoTrust.com ( http://www. phototrust.com)

and OnlinePhotoContest.com (httrx//

www.onIineohotocontest.com~.

About XMLFund, LLC

XMLFund was formed in 1999 by David Pool to foster the growth

of promising companies that use XML Technology, the world

wide standard for data exchange endorsed by Microsoft, IBM,

and Oracle. Through the XMLFund, Pool looks for investments

that offer break-through solutions for fragmented supply-chains.

A pioneer in the Internet industry, Pool founded DataChannel,

the leader in XML-based Enterprise Information Portal (EIP)

Solutions, in October 1996 to provide a total solution for building

an Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) and to unleash the power

of the enterprise, enabling the mapping of IT strategy with

business objectives. In 1989, he founded SPRY Inc., an Internet

software company responsible for Internet In A Box, the world’s

first Internet software suite. When CompuServe acquired SPRY

in 1995 for $100 million, Pool served as the company’s vice

president of strategic development.

Out and About (Con’t from page 2)

of San Francisco, and re-enacted those “good old days” when

women didn’t have the right to vote, blacks weren’t members of

the legislature, etc., etc., etc. C’mon fellas

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