Paul Baier, MBA 1994

Paul Baier, HBS 1994, launched several entrepreneurial ventures. His first, Compare.com, enabled customers to compare prices on everything from PCs to mortgages. He and his partner bootstrapped for ten months but were unable to get funding. So they closed their doors and Paul joined AOL and then Open Market, where he saw an opportunity to serve small and medium-sized industrial buyers via the Internet. In 1999 PurchasingCenter.com was born. When the technical and logistical challenges of building an online service proved overwhelming, the company refocused on selling software solutions developed for the online business. Excara.com then launched in 2000 as a software company offering e-commerce solutions to manufacturers. Paul also joined Charles River Ventures as the business development director. He described his journey as an entrepreneur in a video interview at his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in June 2002. Interviewer: Amy Blitz, HBS Director of Media Development for Entrepreneurial Management.