In brand-new offices with a still-empty game room and enough space to triple their staff of nearly 30, a trio of entrepreneurs is leading an Internet start-up with an improbable mission: to out-Google Google. The three started Powerset, a company whose aim is to deliver better answers than any other search engine—including Google—by letting users type questions in plain English. And they have made believers of Silicon Valley investors whose fortunes turn on identifying the next big thing.
Powerset is hardly alone.{{U}} (41) {{/U}}. And Wikia Inc, a company started by a founder of Wikipedia, plans to develop a search engine that. like the popular Web-based encyclopedia, would be built by a community of programmers and users.{{U}} (42) {{/U}}. It also shows how much the new Internet economy resembles a planetary system where everything and everyone orbits around search in general, and around Google in particular.
Silicon Valley is filled with start-ups whose main business proposition is to be bought by Google, or for that matter by Yahoo or Microsoft. Countless other start-ups rely on Google as their primary driver of traffic or on Google's powerful advertising system as their primary source of income. Virtually all new companies compote with Google for scarce engineering talent.{{U}} (43) {{/U}}
"There is way too much obsession with search, as if it were the end of the world." said Esther Dyson, a well-known technology investor and forecaster. "Google equals money equals search equals search advertising; it all gets combined as if this is the last great business model." It may not be the last great business model, but Google has proved that search linked to ,advertising is a very large and lucrative business, and everyone—including Ms. Dyson, who invested a small sum in Powerset—seems to want a piece of it.
Since the beginning of 2004, venture capitalists have put nearly $350 million into no fewer than 79 start-ups that had something to do with Internet search, according to the National Venture Capital Association, an industry group.
{{U}} (44) {{/U}}Since Google's stated mission is to organize all of the world's information, they may still find themselves in the search giant's cross hairs. That is not necessarily bad, as being acquired by Google could be a financial bonanza for some of these entrepreneurs and investors.
{{U}} (45) {{/U}}. Powerset recently received $12.5 million in financing. Hakia, which like Powerset is trying to create a "natural language" search engine, got $16 million. Another $16 million went to Snap, which has focused on presenting search results in a more compelling way and is experimenting with a new advertising model. And ChaCha. which uses paid researchers that act as virtual reference librarians to provide answers to users' queries. got $6.1 million.
Still, recent history suggests that gaining traction is going to be difficult. Of dozens of search start-ups that were introduced in recent years, none had more than a 1 percent share of the United States search market in November. according to Nielsen NetRatings, a research firm that measures Internet traffic.
[A] Powerset could possibly steal a lead if it improves search results by a significant measure with natural language and simultaneously incorporates a near-equivalent to Google's existing capabilities.
[B] Even as Google continues to outmaneuver its main search rivals, Yahoo and Microsoft, plenty of newcomers—with names like hakia, ChaCha and Snap--are trying to beat the company at its own game.
[C] These ambitious quests reflect the renewed optimism sweeping technology centers like Silicon Valley and fueling a nascent Internet boom.
[D] But in the current boom, there is money even for those with the audacious goal of becoming a better GooSe.
[E] And divining Google's next move has become a fixation for scores of technology blogs and a favorite parlor game among technology investors.
[F] An overwhelming majority are not trying to take Google head on, but rather are focusing on specialized slices of the search world, like searching for videos, blog postings or medical information.
[G] The venture capitalists made the investment based on an assumption that Powerset would complete the licensing deal,