By Angela Hey
About this blog: I write about technology companies, trends and events in and around Mountain View. Where else can you find startups nurtured by
Y-Combinator and
(More)About this blog: I write about technology companies, trends and events in and around Mountain View. Where else can you find startups nurtured by
Y-Combinator and
500 Startups working alongside multi-billion corporations like
Google,
Symantec and
Intuit? I like to write about software and systems that are changing lifestyles. Innovations like self-driving cars, on-demand limousine services and electric bikes are revolutionizing transportation. Smartphones help people find their way, manage their health and make new friends. In my articles, I like to include something for Mountain View residents, something for industry professionals and something for venture investors. I'm particularly interested in mobile apps and cloud computing. I came to California to find software applications for AT&T. I've worked in startups, advised venture capitalists and analyzed enterprise software markets. After getting a PhD at the University of London in engineering, I joined Bell Laboratories, analyzing over 400 telephone company systems. I also have an MMath degree in optimization from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and an MA in mathematics from the University of Cambridge. My husband John Mashey, is a computer scientist and trustee of the Computer History Museum. He also defends climate scientists by blogging.
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BooRah, see September
article, announced Friday that it is now part of Intuit.
BooRah helps diners find restaurants and restaurants find customers. Its search technology crawls the web helping consumers evaluate dining establishments. BooRah is a tiny company, with a handful of employees.
Intuit is known for its financial products like TurboTax, Quick Books and Quicken. The company expects fiscal year 2009 revenues, ending July 31st 2009, to be betweeen $3.13 billion to $3.25 billion representing growth of 2 percent to 6 percent.
According to the Census Bureau the US has about 4.5 million firms with 4 or fewer employees and 20 million non-employee businesses, i.e. the owner is self-employed. Many of these businesses already use Intuit's products for accounting. Increasingly these firms need more professional marketing, a need that Intuit is addressing with
marketing tools. Acquiring Homestead in 2007, helped Intuit provide wesite creation services. Intuit also offers
grants to help small businesses expand.
BooRah's technology can capture select information, like ratings and location, as well as descriptive paragraphs from small business websites. With enough investment, BooRah's technology could help Intuit promote many other types of small businesses besides restaurants. Intuit already provides software and services for finance professionals. Accountants and tax advisors could be found and rated using BooRah's technology.
Intuit is not revealing financial details or its strategy for BooRah. BooRah helps Intuit expand into customer acquisition services for small businesses.
