TheState.com:
The next time your child makes her own movie on the Kerpoof Web site, keep in mind you’re looking at the brainchild of two University of South Carolina graduates.
Brent Milne, his wife, Krista Marks, and their two partners met while working for the software company Xilinx in Boulder, Colo.
They came up with a simple way for children to make Internet movies using cartoon characters, music and words and turned it into a popular site that’s even been used in classrooms.
“We were always the last people there on Friday. At some point, we decided we should put our excessive work habits into a startup.
We all were interested in Internet technology. We were just looking at the market, and we thought there was an opportunity to do something for kids,” Milne said.
“We went the first year without salaries. We all had savings. Later on, we also received two grants from the National Science Foundation. They have grants for education, and we realized Kerpoof was being widely used in schools to teach basic programming to kids,” Milne added.
Earlier this year, they sold Kerpoof to Disney for an undisclosed amount. Now, the team works for Disney, maintaining Kerpoof and applying its technology to other Disney Web sites.
Photo by Kerpoof.