Ian Mercer

Ian received his MA from Jesus College, Cambridge England. Shortly after college Ian co-founded NextBase Ltd. and served as its Managing Director.

NextBase's first product, AutoRoute, was one of the most successful European software products of all time and set the standard by which all later route planning and mapping products were judged.

In 1993, Ian moved to Seattle, WA to found Automap, Inc. and in 1994, Ian sold the company to Microsoft and went to work there. At the time the company employed 55 people worldwide and was still privately held by the founders.

At Microsoft Ian ran the Geography Product Unit which created Expedia Streets and Trips, MSN Maps (now Bing Maps), Encarta World Atlas and Microsoft MapPoint.
After this success Ian changed tack and pioneered the adoption of video editing by consumers. His proposal to Bill Gates was accepted and a team formed to develop MediaPad which became the world's most popular video editor: Windows Movie Maker. Ian's team shipped Windows Movie Maker in three releases of Windows and also launched Microsoft Producer (the second Office family member Ian had pioneered) and Windows DVD Maker. Ian also invented HighMAT (an MP3/WMA disc format), and worked with Panasonic in Japan to introduce it into millions of DVD players worldwide.

After leaving Microsoft Ian spent four years establishing and managing engineering teams for Ancestry.com and Intentional Software. He is currently working full-time on his latest creation: a natural language engine. Ian is also active in the local Seattle startup community advising other startups. He holds 15 patents and a Guinness World Record. His photography has appeared on the BBC News Web site, King5 news and Sammamish Review and he has created what may well be the world's smartest home: an energy-efficient, talking house that understand natural language commands. When he's not inventing new stuff, Ian is skiing or horse back riding with his family.