It wasn't always hip to be computer savvy--as
CyberNation's co-founders Matthew D'Andria and
Adam Pisoni know all too well. "It's funny,"
reflects Pisoni, "because when we were younger, you were
[considered] a nerd if you were involved with computers.
Today, though, you're not--you're actually
cool."
Well, so much for perfect timing. But whatever cachet longtime
friends D'Andria, 22, and Pisoni, 21, may have lacked as kids,
they're making up for it now with their Santa Monica,
California, interactive media firm. As award-winning Web site
creators, D'Andria and Pisoni guide big-name clients such as
Honda Motor Co., Sony Pictures and Capcom Entertainment through the
electronic avenues of the Internet. It's a fusion of good,
old-fashioned imagination and cutting-edge technology.
"Every time a new technology comes out, we're expected
to know it because the client is going to ask about it,"
Pisoni says. "So it's a constant learning process."
Not that they strictly limit themselves to a learning curve:
"In addition to keeping up with the industry,"
D'Andria says, "we're trying to be innovators
ourselves."
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To be innovators in such a rapidly changing industry is
obviously no easy task--but the co-founders of
CyberNation have a wealth of experience to draw on, their
youth notwithstanding. Along with company president and
co-owner David Simon,?4, Pisoni maintained his own
electronic bulletin board system while growing up. For his
part, D'Andria had a personal computer long before
they were fashionable.?It seems like forever," says
Pisoni, reflecting on his life spent in front of a computer
screen.
So how did amateur screen time compute into a
full-fledged business? "While we were in college, we saw that
the Internet was taking off," Pisoni explains. "And we
saw there was a huge need for full-service Internet
development companies that did everything from Web site
development to Web promotion to
programming. That's where it all started." And the
momentum kept going as CyberNation moved into its first office in
1996--and Pisoni brought his brother, David, aboard as chief
information officer.
Three years after its inception, CyberNation is now a company
with more than $1 million in sales--and growth projections of
approximately 300 percent for this year. Big numbers? Certainly.
But, as Adam Pisoni points out, there's a whole wired world out
there. "What we're seeing today is only scratching the
surface of how people can be connected around the world," he
says. "The possibilities are unlimited--up to the day when
everything from your refrigerator to your computer to your
telephone answering machine is going to be connected to the
Internet."
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