Intellext + Al Wasserberger

Plug-in Intellext's sidebar 'Watson' and you can search beyond the public web. You can use their interface to dive into your subscription services (Forrester, WSJ, LinkedIn), your enterprise's database or desktop searches. The persistent bar (unless you turn it off) even serves up content while you're editing a document, writing an email, or building a presentation -- "it finds information for you when you're not looking for it." There's a flash demo here. Intellext sprung from Northwestern University's DevLab in 2005.

Al leads a team of scarry smart PhDs including Watson's co-creator Dr Jay. Al was previously CEO of Spirian Technologies, which he founded in 1996. He raised more than $20 million in venture and debt funding and sold the venture to SecureInfo in 2003. He's been a committed advocate for Chicago entrepreneurishness for years.

Dimensions: 20 people x 3 years x $ NDA
Funding: Motorola Ventures, Palomar Ventures, LaSalle Investments and University Fund
Customers: Consumers, analysts, consultants, other business researchers
Location: Chicago [Downtown] + www.intellext.com