Next week, Microsoft is scheduled to officially kick off its marketing campaign for Windows 8, described as the most radical overhaul of the PC operating system since Bill Gates persuaded Mick Jagger to let him use “Start Me Up” to promote Windows 95.
Microsoft obviously has a lot riding on its new tile-like startup display, but it also could be a defining moment for SweetLabs, a little San Diego startup that developed Pokki, a platform that’s intended to make programs for Windows PCs look and behave more like mobile apps. The company has designed its Pokki for Windows 8 to help old-fashioned users sing, or maybe just hum, “The Way We Were.”
Chester Ng, SweetLabs’ co-founder and chief marketing officer, calls the Windows 8 version of Pokki a bridge for users who are transitioning to the new OS, but still want to keep that familiar Microsoft Start Menu handy. The app offers some of the same core functionality, making it a little easier for users to search their computer, launch programs, change settings, and shut down the PC.
“This is our job. This is our time, our moment,” Ng said during a phone interview. “This is what we built our company for.”
It also helps explain why SweetLabs was able to raise $13 million in a Series C round of funding from Intel Capital, Google Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners just over a year ago. They saw this one coming.
The company, founded four years ago in downtown San Diego, has grown to 60 employees (including a team in Seattle led by co-founder and CTO Mark Chweh). Most of the founders had worked
