Baby, You Can Pick My Car: Overwhelmed...
Baby, You Can Pick My Car: Overwhelmed by the flood of data that gives the Information Age its name? Are you so paralyzed by facts and figures that you can’t decide what mutual funds to buy or even what kind of pet to adopt?
PersonaLogic, a 3-year-old San Diego firm, thought you were. That’s why it created what it calls Web-based “personalized decision guides” that walk users through a series of questions and help them narrow down their choices, whether it be for cars or computers.
Since launching its Web site (https://www.personalogic.com) in March, PersonaLogic has helped Web surfers select these and other items by posing a series of questions that extract consumer preferences and narrow down the field of, say, 792 cars and trucks to a short list of a dozen or so best-suited to the user. The company has applied for a patent on its decision-making software.
The concept has impressed Barry Diller, Paul Allen and Softbank Holdings, all of whom have invested in PersonaLogic. Today the company will announce that ZDNet, American Express and Cox Enterprises have signed as its first customers. For example, ZDNet will use the software on its NetBuyer shopping site (https://www.netbuyer.com). All three sites should be ready in the next month or two.
PersonaLogic President and CEO Stephen Tomlin, who joined the start-up after serving as vice president and general manager of interactive technology for the QVC shopping network, would not disclose terms of today’s deal, nor would he discuss how much money had been invested in the company.
The idea for PersonaLogic came from Thomas Sammon, who studied artificial intelligence at Stanford University. After his son was born four years ago, he and his wife initiated a lengthy search for a safe and affordable car. Sammon, now the company’s chief technology officer, ended up writing a computer program to sort through all of the data he had collected.
