Why Buzfactor?

Buzfactor is my third startup which I guess officially makes me a serial entrepreneur.  I founded my first company PFN, Inc. in Cambridge, MA in 1994.  While at PFN, I pioneered the development of policy-based networking and distributed directory services which became the building blocks for many of today’s peer-to-peer communication networks.  These technologies represented a new way for businesses to share and distribute information and, as a result, I received seven U.S. Patents, which have been incorporated in more than 80 applications from a diverse group of companies including AOL, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and Yahoo.  The company was acquired in 2001.

Since that time, my work has focused on the development of large-scale, decentralized, peer-to peer networks.  I believe that ad-hoc, collaborative networks have the potential to create significant new businesses.  In May 2008, I founded Buzfactor to take advantage of what I perceive as one of the biggest opportunities - the formation of consumer marketing networks that leverage the social relationships between customers to increase sales far more effectively than traditional advertising. 

Ron Butman