The tech world is filled with stories of the successes of young people. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert) all made it huge as young men. One thing they all had in common was that they all worked on their money-making ideas in college. At Penn State, two more young coders have made a big splash while still managing to graduate.
Justin Meltzer and Dan Shipper paired together during their time at Penn State to create a new co-browsing program, Firefly. With only their own cash and $20,000 received from the student-run investment firm Dorm Room Fund, the two students created a popular program that has been picked up by thousands of businesses, financial advisors and even the state of Washington's health care exchange.
The two cofounders, and only employees of Firefly, have had some big news to celebrate. In a press release on June 9, it was announced that Pegasystems (News - Alert), a software company that offers enterprise solutions, had acquired Firefly for an undisclosed amount. Meltzer and Shipper, will be moving from their office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia to Pegasystems' office in New York City, where they will be joined by a team with a strong customer support system. The exact amount Pegasystems spent on the acquisition was undisclosed.
What was it that made Firefly so successful? Firefly is a co-browsing service, allowing clients to share their browsers with other users. Co-browsing can play an important role in collaboration for businesses, allowing business professionals to share exactly what they are looking at over the internet.
Co-browsing hasn't always been simple, as it often required the downloading of software, and also brought up privacy concerns. Firefly addressed these issues, as the only major co-browsing service that only shows the browser, not the entire computer, requires no download, and shows the actual web-page rather than an image. The difference between Firefly and its competitors makes it an excellent choice for businesses that want a versatile, efficient and secure co-browsing service.
With the acquisition of Firefly by Pegasystems, the technology of Firefly will now be implemented into Pegasystems' Pega platform for businesses, bringing co-browsing to thousands of customers. Firefly will also remain in its current form as a stand-alone service.
Edited by Alisen Downey