Posted at 5:08 p.m. PST Friday, February 19,
1999
A
platform for experience of their lives
BY
MIKE
CASSIDY
DAN Brown worked at NASA on
high performance computing. Neilesh Patel's job was at Modus
Media over in Fremont.
They were OK high school summer jobs, but how far could they
take a couple of young men?
``We decided to have a consulting company,''
Brown, 18, says. ``Start up a little company and make some
money.''
And why not? Brown and Patel live in a land where anyone
with a www seems to turn it into a million bucks overnight.
They knew computers. They knew others who didn't know computers.
Maybe they could sell what they knew.
``It's a lot harder than it looks to get clients and stuff,''
says Patel, who like Brown attends St. Francis High School
in Mountain View.
It's especially hard when you have the know-how, but not
the experience. So, the two decided that rather than selling
what they know, they'd give it away.
``We'd gain more clients,'' Patel, 17, explains.
Think Netscape giving away its browser, or an Internet company
that spends more to get customers than the customers spend
on the Internet. Brown and Patel figured they'd help non-profits
and individuals with everything from troubleshooting to Web
design. If a moneymaking company wanted their help, they'd
charge a fee to help support their other work. No, they wouldn't
make money, but the experience would be invaluable.
They put up fliers and posted notices on the Web. They created
a Web site (www.studentshelp.org)
and got some nibbles.
``I was looking for furniture,'' says Lenita Ellis, who had
just graduated from Stanford and found StudentsHelp among
the online classifieds. ``I needed a computer for my job.''
Ellis' job was running the youth services program for Free
at Last, an East Palo Alto non-profit drug rehab program.
She sent Patel and Brown an e-mail last fall saying she was
looking for a machine. They offered to build her what she
needed, if she'd pay for the parts.
``We went in there,'' Patel says, ``and made them a real
nice computer.''
Then they got Netscape, where Patel's mother works, to donate
a monitor and software.
``It took about three weeks total,'' says Ellis, who depends
on the pair for tech support.
The two have recruited a half-dozen others to help. They've
worked on Web sites for a local artist and a trade organization.
And they've answered bushels of e-mail seeking help.
``They need someone else to help them along as they learn,''
Patel says of those who write.
He and Brown would like their outfit to become a full-time
pursuit. They want the help to remain free, but they've thought
about selling advertising on sites they build.
``We have a lot of big ideas,'' says Patel.
No doubt.
Hey! Have an only-in-Silicon-Valley story? Call Mike Cassidy
at (408) 920-5536 or send e-mail to mcassidy@sjmercury.com
