G.C. Whiz

  G.C. Whiz appeared in my fourth grade class in 1979. On the outside, he was tall and slender with sandy blond hair. His eyes were a deep blue.His face splattered with a vast amount of reddish-brown freckles.On the outside he appeared to be an average child for his age.It was G.C.’s interior that possessed the mystery, drive and brilliance of a gifted child. It took me some weeks to realize I was the mentor of one of my most exceptional students . It would be several more years after G.C. left my classroom that I came to comprehend G.C. Whiz was lightning-in-a bottle. Adjectives fall short of a true descrption of this special boy, student, Harvard graduate, entrepreneur and businessman.

  G. C. Whiz was a special boy! It was crystal-clear, to most who knew him, that he was predestined to do excellent things. Early on he was a challenge to most of his teachers. It was obvious that his intellect would be the energetic vigor that controlled all of his educational and business endeavors. That drive was constant when he spent his energies on school work and it provided little, if any, stumbling blocks while he attended school. All too often he was a bit antisocial as well as bored with his mainstream education.

  As early as second and third grade, he demonstrated a keen interest in electronics as well as T.V. and radio repair. Bottom line the kid had a flair for working on inoperable and broken equipment and then reselling the repaired items. G.C. knew how to make a dollar! Generally he made a good profit from the repair work. It was during his fourth-grade year, G.C. was provided the opportunity to attend "gifted" classes in the elementary school. This having begun, he developed an intense curiosity about computers.

  This took place in the 1980's. To digress a bit, when the original Rubic's Cube became popular, G.C. found it to be small challenge! This was true of so many things in his young world, few things offered much challenge to the whiz kid. Quite often he would amaze his teachers, classmates, friends , and family with the proficiency and speed he demonstrated in solving various designs on the "Cube".

  When Atari Computers came on the market, G.C. made a habit of stopping at several computer stores, frequently, to play Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and other computer games made available to customers who spent time browsing! His favorite activity, aside from playing games, was to program the computers to run a scrolling screen which usually displayed some bit of ornery bit of info. He would then leave the store. Rather harmless, at that time, however, few stores had employees who could correct the scrolling.

  To his credit G.C. never demonstrated any tendencies to be mean or vicious with his mischief. Others have used similar "God given" skills to become "hackers" and have caused major problems on the Internet with viruses and other malicious programming. God bless him for being a good kid, for he surely had the ability to create and instigate lots of havoc for computer users!!!

  As early as sixth grade, G.C. became adept at computer programming games on the Apple IIe Computer. He personally designed a game for a public relations firm to be used at trade shows. In short, the game had the capacity to show a tractor preparing a field for planting. It planted seeds, it showed rain falling and different stages of plant growth. At the time, the graphics were pretty sophisticated, yet user friendly enough for people with little computer experience, to use and have fun! Using the money he made from this enterprise, G.C. purchased his own personal computer.

  At this point the stage was set for G.C. to validate more fully his expertise to the computer community. In truth, he was given only half of the profit made from the software game. The other half went to his former fourth-grade teacher, who provided G.C. with a computer and some direction to create his game program. Whether this was fair or not was never discussed, but his teacher knew from the outset, this was just the genesis for G.C. Whiz!!!

  Earlier it was mentioned that G.C. was antisocial. Actually, nonconforming would have been a better description of his attitude and behavior. He was never a discipline problem, but a daily challenge to most of his teachers. This was ongoing as he became involved with classroom activities. He was easily bored when he wasn't consistently challenged to think.

  Once he was placed into the gifted mainstream, he began to blossom intellectually as he was motivated to use his mind. So much so, as a sixth grader he was given the responsibility to teach the entire teaching staff of a small school district a seminar on the use of computers in the elementary classroom. With minute guidance from his former fourth grade teacher, he led the entire seminar and did a premier job. In reality, he "knocked the socks off" all those who attended the district sponsored workshop!!! His acumen was such that the teachers and administrators were very grateful of his quality of illumination, even if they were taught by a sixth grade phenomenon. This event will not appear anywhere on his resume, but it was another sequence that his life in the computer world had just started. He would, in due time, expand to more consequential and more challenging adventures! He never wavered form his chosen activities. Though possibly a bit different than normal, it was suited for this blossoming computer guru!

  After graduating from high school G.C. became somewhat passive with computer usage. He knew when he attended college he did not want to be "pigeon holed" with nor did he want to be encompassed by computer "geeks". As destiny would have it, he developed a fresh idea for developing a "search engine" for use on the computer involving the use of the Internet. Development of this idea had a major impact on his future professional endeavors. He had used computers for several years as a research tool. At this time it became apparent to him that there were severe constraints of the prevalent "search engines". He knew then that he would have to expand his involvement with the Internet!

  G.C. was accepted into Harvard Law School in 1995 and became immersed with internet usage. In short, he discovered how internet users could use assistance for the next person's search praxis. His idea was to create a "search engine" that would harness previous use. A novel approach to the internet at the time. As with other computer entrepreneurs, G.C. was cognizant that his idea may have already been evolved elsewhere. Again as fortune would have it, no one had and G.C. started his own company as he entered his third year at Harvard Law. Few people would have gone the circuit that G.C. chose to embark upon. He left a promising and developing career in law.

  For some nine years the MIT $50,000.00 Entrepreneur Competition helped create more than 30 companies employing over 500 people. G.C. Whiz's "Direct Hit", his pet venture on a "search engine" was named the grand prize winner on May 8, 1998. To everyone's surprise, G.C. returned the $30,000.00 prize money to follow up the progress of "Direct Hit"!

  Direct Hit proved to be very successful. So much so, in his infinite insight, G.C. made an executive decision. It was time to move on to new horizons. He sold Direct Hit to Ask Jeeves, another search engine company. Soon after, G.C. formed a new company in Boston called SoundBite Communications. With the help of a number of executives and technologists from Direct Hit, G.C. was off to another fresh venture. SoundBite was based on a unique telephone technology invented by G.C.  This technology allowed customers to immediately record and send a voice message to tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people through a voice-driven interface. It was during this phase of his life, G.C. married and moved to California. He spent several months flying back and forth to Boston in an attempt to guide his company. He again made a business decision to sell his company and move on to a new challenge. In his judgment, he'd completed his work with SoundBite.

  G.C.'s next business venture was to start August Ventures as a technology based entrepreneur. G.C. had counseled numerous technology companies. He serves on the board of LegalZoom, a leading online legal service center. He is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent attorney. He holds various patents relating to computer systems and hardware. Along with a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, he has a law degree from Harvard Law School, and he completed the executive MBA Program of Wharton University.