Genealogical research using computers has been around for a while. Some say it's the only way to trace ancestry efficiently. But a family gathering online?
That's just one of the things that makes MyFamily.com one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Nielsen Net Ratings puts the site consistently in the top 20 properties on the Internet for total visits.
Dan Taggart and Paul Allen quit their master's programs at Brigham Young University to co-found electronic publishing company Infobases in 1990. By 1995, it was one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. The duo raised $8 million in venture capital, bought three other publishing companies, then moved on.
Then Taggart and Allen bought Ancestry, a small genealogy publishing company, recapitalized it and turned it into a dot-com company, "My Family.com," which has three Web sites: Ancestry.com, FamilyHistory.com and MyFamily.com.
In the past three years, they've brought in a strong management team headed by Paul's brother, Curt Allen. Along the way Paul Allen and Taggart served in various roles, replacing themselves as the company has grown. The former now serves as vice president of corporate development, and the latter plans to leave active management of the company soon to found two new Internet startups.
Curt Allen joined the company as president and chief executive officer in 1998. He had co-founded Folio Corp. and spent a decade building it into a world-class technology company. He had also been advising Taggart and Paul Allen from the beginning in developing the MyFamily.com business model.
They now have more than 300 employees in Orem, San Francisco and New York City.
They provide tools so families can create a private family Web site to gather and share family information, photos, etc., in a secure environment. Besides sponsorship and ad revenues, they have a gift center and plan to offer other services.
Ancestry.com says it has the largest online genealogy database in the world, a comprehensive reference library and an online family tree service that allows real-time multiple user collaboration, a first. Funding for Ancestry.com comes from subscription service, advertising sponsorship and e-commerce. It is now one of the top five subscription services on the Web, a group that includes the Wall Street Journal, Consumer Reports and Disney Blast.