Pyra Labs
Encyclopedia
Pyra Labs is the company that coined the word Blog
, creating the service Blogger
.
The co-founders were Evan Williams
and Meg Hourihan
, and the company's first product, also named 'Pyra', was a web application which would combine a project manager, contact manager, and to-do list. In 1999, while still in beta, the rudiments of Pyra were repurposed into an in-house tool which became Blogger. The service was made available to the public in August 1999. Much of this coding was done by Paul Bausch and Matthew Haughey
.
Initially, Blogger was completely free and there was no revenue model. When the company's seed money dried up, the employees continued without pay for weeks or, in some cases, months; but this could not last, and eventually Williams faced a mass walk-out by everyone including co-founder Hourihan. Williams ran the company virtually alone until he was able to secure an investment by Trellix
after its founder Dan Bricklin became aware of Pyra's situation. Eventually advertising-supported Blogspot and Blogger Pro emerged.
In 2002, Blogger was completely re-written in order to license it to other companies, the first of which was Globo
of Brazil.
In 2003, Google
acquired Pyra. At the time of the acquisition Evan Williams
, Jason Shellen, Steve Jenson, Jason Sutter, Jason Goldman and Rudy Winnacker were at the company.
In 2004, Williams left Google
, later going on to form Obvious Corp.
In 2006, Jason Goldman also left Google
.
Hourihan
was associated with Kinja
and some other sites.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, creating the service Blogger
Blogger (service)
Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish...
.
The co-founders were Evan Williams
Evan Williams (blogger)
Evan Williams is an American entrepreneur who has founded several Internet companies. Two of the internet's top ten websites have been created by Evan Williams' companies: Blogger, weblog-authoring software of Pyra Labs, and Twitter, where he was previously CEO.-Early life and education:Williams...
and Meg Hourihan
Meg Hourihan
Meg Hourihan is the cofounder of Pyra Labs, the company that launched the Blogger personal blogging software that was acquired by Google. She published weblogs at and...
, and the company's first product, also named 'Pyra', was a web application which would combine a project manager, contact manager, and to-do list. In 1999, while still in beta, the rudiments of Pyra were repurposed into an in-house tool which became Blogger. The service was made available to the public in August 1999. Much of this coding was done by Paul Bausch and Matthew Haughey
Matthew Haughey
Matthew Haughey is an American programmer, web designer, and blogger best known as the founder of the community weblog MetaFilter, where he is known as mathowie.- Life and career :...
.
Initially, Blogger was completely free and there was no revenue model. When the company's seed money dried up, the employees continued without pay for weeks or, in some cases, months; but this could not last, and eventually Williams faced a mass walk-out by everyone including co-founder Hourihan. Williams ran the company virtually alone until he was able to secure an investment by Trellix
Trellix
Trellix was a software company whose various software offerings allowed web users to set up personal websites with the use of online publishing tools...
after its founder Dan Bricklin became aware of Pyra's situation. Eventually advertising-supported Blogspot and Blogger Pro emerged.
In 2002, Blogger was completely re-written in order to license it to other companies, the first of which was Globo
Globo
Globo may refer to*Organizações Globo, media conglomerate*Rede Globo, a television network in Brazil*Radio Globo, a radio station in Honduras...
of Brazil.
In 2003, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
acquired Pyra. At the time of the acquisition Evan Williams
Evan Williams (blogger)
Evan Williams is an American entrepreneur who has founded several Internet companies. Two of the internet's top ten websites have been created by Evan Williams' companies: Blogger, weblog-authoring software of Pyra Labs, and Twitter, where he was previously CEO.-Early life and education:Williams...
, Jason Shellen, Steve Jenson, Jason Sutter, Jason Goldman and Rudy Winnacker were at the company.
In 2004, Williams left Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, later going on to form Obvious Corp.
In 2006, Jason Goldman also left Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
.
Hourihan
Meg Hourihan
Meg Hourihan is the cofounder of Pyra Labs, the company that launched the Blogger personal blogging software that was acquired by Google. She published weblogs at and...
was associated with Kinja
Kinja
Kinja is a free online news aggregator in beta form, launched in April 2004.-History:With the intention of making web logs more accessible to the public, Nick Denton of Gawker Media and Meg Hourihan of Pyra Labs created Kinja, which began as an investigation into the navigation of web logs...
and some other sites.