a bootstrap—doing the information system for the Perot campaign for the presidential
campaign of 1992. They could really use an information system that
leveraged some network. Of course, they didn’t know what network, but we
did. So we could build this Internet using modems and leased lines and all sorts
of things to be able to build this up. The Perot campaign collapsed, but we still
had enough money to make it through most of the first year to go and get our
products built.
One of the interesting ideas out of WAIS...

Printing Office. We worked with both the House of Representatives and the
Senate. So we were working with people who had insights into what it is they
really wanted. It’s harder to get those customers at first, but they were terrific
because they weren’t just trying to catch up. They weren’t trying to be number 2.
They were number 1 in their fields, and we could learn from them.
As the Web came along and was a better underlying system, we became a
web services company, basically. We set up, I believe, the first...

I think there was some hand-wringing, but we couldn’t figure out any way to
really do a deal. The problems that slow things down the most are these things
around intellectual property—especially when there’s no money yet—and
these are the times that you could end up talking endlessly and you can’t figure
it out. It’s a lot easier if there’s money. Then you have a mechanism of knowing
how share it. But before it, it’s really, really tough.
I found it was very helpful to start a company out on the West Coast. Even...

Brewster Kahle 271
Livingston: So you were getting a little bit of money from clients. Did you hire
anyone?
Kahle: Yes, there was Harry Morris, the key engineer that built much of the
technology. It grew into a company that was about 30 people, 35 people by
the time it was bought by AOL.
Livingston: Tell me about some of the most hair-raising moments.
Kahle: Going broke. When you just don’t have enough money to pay the bills.
We would usually live with the amount of money in the bank that would...

we’d say, “Well, there are some alternatives out there.” In the early ’90s there
was AOL, there was Lexus Nexus from the ’80s, where they would lose the control
of the distribution of their work. We’d say, “Do you want that?” They’d say,
“No, we don’t want that. We want to control the distribution of our work.” So
we said, “Swing with us for a little while, while we build this Internet. Let’s
build this Internet together based on open systems.” So these business guys
were, in fact, wanting an open system.
We...