BW: ...Two Companies, Two Cinderella Stories Begin at LinuxWorld...

Aug 07, 2000, 20:03 (1 Talkback[s])

"Turns out the suits were about to form a company called Linux Global Partners. Their idea was to create a VC firm specializing in Linux-only companies. But up to that point, they were, to put it bluntly, unconvinced. Linux Global Partners wasn't going to try to get off the ground until the company was convinced Linux really was the Next Big Thing. Enter stage right, Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman, the founders of Helix Code, who chatted up the VC guys with more than their fair share of savoir faire. They knocked the suits' socks off, and probably their shoes and ties, too. But here's where the story gets really good."

"We started to talk to them about how great Linux was, the potential it had, and the whole time we kept encouraging them to go forward with their plan to start Linux Global Partners," says Joe Orlando, Communications Director, Helix Code. "During LinuxWorld Conference & Expo they realized Linux was the future, and they became very interested in what Helix Code had to offer. Four months after San Jose, we signed a deal. They gave us $2.2 million," says Orlando. "Suddenly we could move forward with the projects we had been working on, but couldn't release without money. We became a real company then."

"Helix Code isn't the only Cinderella in this story. "Linux Global Partners would not have existed at all without Helix Code, either," says Orlando. "We kept them in the game. Thanks to LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, both our companies are thriving, and Helix Code is now the jewel in the Linux Global Partners crown."

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