(left) Gian Fulgoni (right) Magid Abraham
ComScore
For a generation, Gian Fulgoni and Magid Abraham ran Information Resources Inc., a Chicago company that collects and analyzes checkout data at bricks-and-mortar retailers and sells the information to packaged-goods manufacturers to track the effectiveness of their promotions. In 1999, however, the Internet beckoned. They left IRI and, with an initial investment of $10 million from Accel Partners in San Francisco and Flat Iron Partners in New York, started comScore (SCOR), a company that tracks the impact of Internet marketing campaigns both online and off. Their first customers were Pets.com and BabyCenter.com. "You have to look at how consumers respond over time, not just a click, not just the Internet session when the ad was there," says Fulgoni, 61, comScore's chairman. "If you look only online, you miss 80% of the impact." The partners opened offices in Chicago and Reston, Va., near Abraham's home. Today, following a string of acquisitions, comScore has become a publicly traded company with 600 employees, $117.4 million in annual revenue, and 1,200 clients that include Microsoft (MSFT), Best Buy (BBY), and Verizon (VZ), as well as ad agencies and publishers. To get its insights, the company works worldwide with 2 million "panelists" who give permission to track their online activities—including searches, videos, social networks, instant messages—and their in-store purchases. In exchange, they receive file storage, computer screensavers, games, or planting a tree (an extremely popular option). –Venessa Wong
