Oren Etzioni is the founder of Farecast. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Harvard University in June 1986, and was the first Harvard student to major in Computer Science. Etzioni received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in January 1991, and is currently a professor at the University of Washington. He has founded three companies, is a Venture Partner at the Madrona Venture Group, and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, SCIENCE, The Economist, TIME Magazine, Business Week, Newsweek, Forbes Magazine, Wired, and more. Visit the company blog here.

What's the story behind how Farecast got started?

It started on a flight where after talking with other passengers, I had realized that I had overpaid for my airfare by buying at the wrong time. It was then that I was determined to help people avoid that same experience, by answering the question, to buy or not to buy? Originally the company was named Hamlet Inc., a play on the question, to buy or not to buy. The name was officially changed to Farecast in July 2005. Our motto is "Know When to Buy".

What software technologies do you use, and why were they chosen?

Farecast is an open source/Java shop, but we do use Oracle as our high performance database.

What is the greatest challenge to your service?

Our greatest challenge is to convey complex, chaotic, and sometimes confusing airfare fluctuations in a manner in which consumers can save money and buy with confidence.