Database City was incorporated as a Texas Corporation in 1994. We started as a Bulletin Board System (BBS) with the idea of providing all kinds of information about Austin, Texas. That didn't really work. We added Internet connectivity to the BBS in 1995, and that turned us into a small dial-up ISP without much thought (or investment). We sold a fair amount of dial-up access and soon added other servers (a database server and a web server). Then we started getting requests to build web pages. Following our nose, and being opportunistic during the late nineties led us to grow into a comprehensive Internet service company with T-1, ISDN, and dial-up access, hosting services, and design/development service. DBCity became DatabaseCity, and we had some high profile projects related to international trade. We were about 30 servers and 23 people in 1999 when the bottom seemed to drop out of the whole Internet enterprise. Bust was a good word it. Scrambling, we sold the dial-up accounts and essentially waited for new projects. Luckily, we were hosting web sites and colocating servers, or we would have been toast. That was our mode of operation until we decided to pursue our passion and forsake all other lines of business.
So, in 2006 we sold the hosting and access sides of the business to focus on web application development. This was a good move, as now Database City is comfortable and doing what we enjoy -- working with companies and helping them solve business problems with online applications. Every project brings new challenges, and the technologies keep getting better and more powerful. Also, we continue to meet all kinds of interesting people. There seems to be no end to the demand for database applications. Our instincts were right all along. Today Database City operates as a small team of 3-4 very talented people, and we can expand beyond that as needed. While we are all very serious and professional about our work, we also like to enjoy life a little. We get bonuses of T-shirts from most of our clients. Outsourcing companies from India call daily, but we politely decline their offers to do our work for us. Here we should say "Think Global, Buy Local".
Database City has always been extremely entrepreneurial. While the account above is a brief and logical synopsis, we've taken some blind alleys along the way. Database City was integral as the technical and programming resource in several spin-outs that really didn't work out. These include:
DigiCasters - an early webcasting service for beaming musical performances from Austin's venues.
Trade Catalyst - an economic development play to match up international business opportunities.
VoxFlow - a startup Voice over IP (VOIP) service, similar to Vonage, providing telephone service.
Oh well, it was all fun and exciting. We're still open to venturing, but we're smarter now. You bring the capital!