The formation of Excite

The year is 1993, the internet is in its infancy, venture capital is hard to come by and the spirit of risk and adventure hardly figures on investors' radar screens. For Joe Kraus, it is a defining moment. Unlike his colleagues, he is a political scientist, while they are technologists. They have the bright technical know-how, he brings… well, it's not exactly clear what he brings, but he's happy to be there for the ride.

Kraus says he never had any interest in business until he went to Stanford University, the famous Californian college that has spawned a myriad net ventures. Once there, he was struck by the heady atmosphere of entrepreneurism and the general clamor for success:

'I think college was very formative. Stanford ...

Get Internet Entrepreneurs, The now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.