Bloomington native makes good at high-profile startup

Techconfidential.com is running a profile of Leah Culver, co-founder of microblogging startup Pownce.

Culver grew up in Bloomington and studied computer science at the University of Minnesota before heading west to Silicon Valley. Excerpt:

How does a 25-year-old computer science major from the University of Minnesota wind up as a co-founder of one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched startups? For Leah Culver, the lead developer of Pownce -- the microblogging startup co-founded by Digg Inc. founder Kevin Rose -- it all started with a teddy bear.

While still in college, Culver developed Teddy Bear Remote Control, a cute and cuddly remote control for an iPod or computer. The project in 2006 won Culver a programming gig with Instructables, a San Francisco Bay Area hobbyist and "how-to" site.

Shortly thereafter, Culver met Rose and Digg designer Daniel Burka at a party in Silicon Valley. She later quit her job at Instructables to work on an idea of her own -- a social networking site that would put messaging at its heart. After she asked Burka to do the design work on the project, he realized that the concept was similar to an idea Rose had asked him to work on. The three decided to collaborate and eventually co-founded Pownce, using Culver's prototype providing the underlying code.