internet riches

n every coffee shop and Internet café in Silicon Valley, tech hotshots dream about turning their ideas into a million-dollar winner.

Few, though, probably think they can do it in three months.

But that is exactly what happened to Adam Cahan. Just 12 weeks ago, he started IntoNow, a social-networking tool that allows TV viewers to identify shows they are watching and tell their friends.

Yesterday, he sold the company to Yahoo! for between $20 million and $30 million -- including costs to retain the seven-person staff, according to people familiar with the matter.

IntoNow, founded in Palo Alto, Calif., works similar to Shazam, an application that works in the music sector.

"Twelve weeks might be a record of sorts" from startup to exit, said Cahan, who is a new vice-president at Yahoo! following the sale.

Indeed, the acquisition is among the more buzzed-about deals so far this year and indicates how hot the tech sector continues to be. IntoNow represents the latest trend in "checking-in" that started with real-world services such as Foursquare and migrated to the virtual world of sharing one's digital whereabouts.

"Relying on social channels as a means for discovering content -- whether it's on a PC, mobile device or TV -- is rapidly on the rise," Yahoo! said in a statement yesterday.

IntoNow has only been developed for the iPhone so far, but Cahan said the team would work to make it available on a number of devices.

Yahoo! has been criticized in the past for certain acquisitions that ultimately have been the death knell for innovative startups, but Cahan said he would not have sold it to the Sunnyvale, Calif., company if he didn't think it would succeed.
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