<s>
Powerset	B-General_Concept
was	O
an	O
American	O
company	O
based	O
in	O
San	O
Francisco	O
,	O
California	O
,	O
that	O
,	O
in	O
2006	O
,	O
was	O
developing	O
a	O
natural	B-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
search	I-General_Concept
engine	I-General_Concept
for	O
the	O
Internet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
July	O
1	O
,	O
2008	O
,	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
for	O
an	O
estimated	O
$100	O
million	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Powerset	B-General_Concept
was	O
working	O
on	O
building	O
a	O
natural	B-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
search	I-General_Concept
engine	I-General_Concept
that	O
could	O
find	O
targeted	O
answers	B-Algorithm
to	I-Algorithm
user	I-Algorithm
questions	I-Algorithm
(	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
keyword	O
based	O
search	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Powerset	B-General_Concept
on	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
attempts	O
to	O
use	O
natural	O
language	O
processing	O
to	O
understand	O
the	O
nature	O
of	O
the	O
question	O
and	O
return	O
pages	O
containing	O
the	O
answer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
was	O
in	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
"	O
building	O
a	O
natural	B-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
search	I-General_Concept
engine	I-General_Concept
that	O
reads	O
and	O
understands	O
every	O
sentence	O
on	O
the	O
Web	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
form	O
of	O
beta	O
testing	O
,	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
opened	O
an	O
online	O
community	O
called	O
Powerlabs	B-Operating_System
on	O
September	O
17	O
,	O
2007	O
.	O
Business	O
Week	O
said	O
:	O
"	O
The	O
company	O
hopes	O
the	O
site	O
will	O
marshal	O
thousands	O
of	O
people	O
to	O
help	O
build	O
and	O
improve	O
its	O
search	O
engine	O
before	O
it	O
goes	O
public	O
next	O
year.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Said	O
The	O
New	O
York	O
Times	O
:	O
"	O
[	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
Labs ]	O
goes	O
far	O
beyond	O
the	O
'	O
alpha	O
 '	O
or	O
'	O
beta	O
 '	O
testing	O
involved	O
in	O
most	O
software	O
projects	O
,	O
when	O
users	O
put	O
a	O
new	O
product	O
through	O
rigorous	O
testing	O
to	O
find	O
its	O
flaws	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Powerset	B-General_Concept
does	O
n’t	O
have	O
a	O
product	O
yet	O
,	O
but	O
rather	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
promising	O
natural	O
language	O
technologies	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
the	O
fruit	O
of	O
years	O
of	O
research	O
at	O
Xerox	O
PARC.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Powerlabs	B-Operating_System
 '	O
initial	O
search	O
results	O
are	O
taken	O
from	O
Wikipedia	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Barney	O
Pell	O
(	O
born	O
March	O
18	O
,	O
1968	O
,	O
in	O
Hollywood	O
,	O
California	O
)	O
was	O
co-founder	O
and	O
CEO	B-Application
of	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pell	O
received	O
a	O
PhD	O
in	O
computer	B-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
from	O
Cambridge	O
University	O
in	O
1993	O
,	O
where	O
he	O
was	O
a	O
Marshall	O
Scholar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
joining	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
,	O
Pell	O
was	O
an	O
Entrepreneur-in-Residence	O
at	O
Mayfield	O
Fund	O
,	O
a	O
venture	O
capital	O
firm	O
in	O
Silicon	O
Valley	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pell	O
is	O
also	O
a	O
founder	O
of	O
Moon	O
Express	O
,	O
Inc.	O
,	O
a	O
U.S.	O
company	O
awarded	O
a	O
$10M	O
commercial	O
lunar	O
contract	O
by	O
NASA	O
and	O
a	O
competitor	O
in	O
the	O
Google	B-Application
Lunar	I-Application
X	I-Application
PRIZE	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Steve	O
Newcomb	O
was	O
the	O
COO	O
and	O
co-founder	O
of	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
joining	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
,	O
he	O
was	O
a	O
co-founder	O
of	O
Loudfire	O
,	O
General	O
Manager	O
at	O
Promptu	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
on	O
the	O
board	O
of	O
directors	O
at	O
Jaxtr	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
left	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
in	O
October	O
2007	O
to	O
form	O
Virgance	O
,	O
a	O
social	O
startup	O
incubator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Lorenzo	O
Thione	O
(	O
born	O
in	O
Como	O
,	O
Italy	O
)	O
was	O
the	O
product	O
architect	O
and	O
co-founder	O
of	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
joining	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
,	O
he	O
worked	O
at	O
FXPAL	O
in	O
natural	O
language	O
processing	O
and	O
related	O
research	O
fields	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ryan	O
Ferrier	O
is	O
a	O
member	O
of	O
the	O
founding	O
team	O
of	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
alumnus	O
,	O
Alex	O
Le	O
,	O
became	O
CTO	O
of	O
Serious	O
Business	O
and	O
went	O
on	O
to	O
become	O
an	O
executive	O
producer	O
at	O
Zynga	O
when	O
it	O
bought	O
the	O
company	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Siqi	O
Chen	O
founded	O
a	O
stealth	O
startup	O
in	O
mobile	O
computing	O
after	O
leaving	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tom	O
Preston-Werner	O
and	O
Chris	O
Wanstrath	O
worked	O
at	O
Powerset	B-General_Concept
and	O
left	O
after	O
the	O
acquisition	O
to	O
found	O
GitHub	B-Application
(	O
also	O
acquired	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Powerset	B-General_Concept
attracted	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
investors	O
,	O
many	O
of	O
whom	O
had	O
considerable	O
experience	O
in	O
the	O
venture	O
capital	O
field	O
.	O
</s>
