Changes At Natural Language Search Company Powerset

Nov 2, 2007 at 1:37pm ET by Vanessa Fox

Big management changes are going on at Powerset, which has received much attention for its potential in using natural language processing for search. Barney Pell, who has been CEO at Powerset, posted today in his blog that he is transitioning to CTO, that Steve Newcomb, who had been COO, is leaving the company, and that Ron Kaplan, who had been CTO and Chief Science Officer, is now solely Chief Science Officer. The company is currently looking for a CEO.

Several companies have been taking the natural language angle in creating the next generation search engine, but turning the potential into production has proven tricky. Powerset had hoped to launch their search engine this year but now thinks it could be as late as 2009 (although they are hoping for a mid-2008 launch).

Hakia, another player in the space, hopes to have their own brand of natural language processing fully powering their search engine next year.

Pell is optimistic about Powerset’s future. In his blog post, he says he’d love to talk to potential CEOs and closes by saying:

“The changes we are making now position us for a next phase that promises to be really exciting. We will bring our technology out in real products that users will enjoy and that will trigger changes across the entire ecosystem of search. I think the next year is going to be an amazing time for Powerset and I am as passionate as ever about Powerset, our technology, our team and our future.”

Vanessa Fox is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. Called a “cyberspace visionary” by Seattle Business Monthly, she is an expert in understanding customer acquisition from organic search. She shares her perspective on how this impacts marketing and user experience at ninebyblue.com and provides authoritative search-friendly design patterns for developers at janeandrobot.com.

See more articles by Vanessa Fox >

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