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Christopher Lyman

Christopher Lyman majored in journalism and computer science during his two years at Kansas University, dropping out in 1994 because he believed that academia was being vastly outpaced by technology. He went to work for an MIT spinoff, BDI (Boston Dynamics, Inc.) working on physics-based graphical simulators and modeling.

In 1995, at the age of 21, he started his first company in Los Angeles, The Computer Cure, an Information Technology consulting firm specializing in networking, with clients such as Greystone Pictures and Unsolved Mysteries. He grew revenue at this startup to over $200,000 per year in the first year. At the height of this company's success, he smelled the onset of the Internet. In 1996, he sold his customers to another consultancy and started Virtualis, a hosting company aimed at bringing small/medium sized businesses to the Web. Virtualis was started with less than $2000 cash, and much like The Computer Cure, in Lyman's basement. Virtualis grew to about 35 employees and $160,000 monthly revenue, with profit margins over 30%.

In early 1999, he closed an $8.75M Series A round of funding with major partners like H&Q, Adobe, Knight-Ridder, and others, using this money to invest in the growth of the business. By 2000, monthly revenue was $600,000. Virtualis was sold in September of 2000 to a publicly held telephone company for $30M cash.