Digital Darwinism.

IT'S SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IN THE NEW MEDIA WORLD, BUT INVESTOR PAUL ALLEN THINKS THAT DIGITAL EVOLUTION HAS WHAT IT TAKES

Eric Puller, founder and chief executive of Digital Evolution, says he wants to change the world with his digital communications company.

With that kind of open-ended business plan, most enterprises face an uphill battle. But the Brentwood-based company is off to a good start, having attracted investment from Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, among others.

The company, which has grown to about 100 employees over four years, develops a variety of new computer-related products, including Web sites, educational CD-ROMs and computer software.

Digital Evolution's list of clients includes Microsoft, MCI, Toyota Motor Sales USA, Disney Online and the Starbright Foundation.

"My business model has been to forge relationships with organizations that were, first, emblematic of their vertical market and second, would actually pay," Puller said.

Puller, 31, started the company in 1993 with financial backing from his parents.

"They helped me start a business in a field that didn't even really exist then," Puller said. "Then my brother, who studied cognitive and neural sciences, got fed up with academia and joined me to develop new technologies."

Pulier's own academic background was a precursor for his business. He earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, where he studied computer science, literature and filmmaking, and did some post-graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab.

After several years of growing Digital Evolution, Puller looked to venture capitalists as a means to have greater resources for projects.

"Our association with equity partners is extremely important to us in terms of advice and connections," he said. "We were looking for a value-added scenario."

Enter Allen, who invested an undisclosed amount of capital into the company in 1996 through his company, Vulcan Capital. Vulcan officials declined to comment, but confirmed the investment, saying that Digital Evolution fits into its plan to invest in businesses where "technology and consumer demand meet."

Digital Evolution also produces Allen's Experience Music Project, an online music museum.

Able to grow with the infusion of money, Digital Evolution is emerging as a serious contender in the interactive segment of the advertising industry.

The company has been a contract Web-page designer for the advertising industry over the years, with ties to Team One Advertising and Wieden & Kennedy Advertising.

"Digital Evolution has been wonderful," said Francesca Cohen, director of interactive production at El Segundo-based Team One. "They're very upfront about what they can and can't do when it comes to the limits of the medium."

While intending to preserve its relationships with advertising firms, Digital Evolution is moving into the creative side of the field, now pitching its own accounts. The company has attracted a former executive from Saatchi & Saatchi to its creative fold, and was noted in Adweek as an up-and-comer.

Digital Evolution is also attracting notice in the new media field as the creator of Media Conveyor, a software program that synchronizes online audio and video components to allow online entertainment such as cartoons to be delivered over a standard modem almost as seamlessly as television.

The Media Conveyer faces competition from Shockwave, the dominant software program for that function.

In addition to the software and advertising areas of his company, Puller is particularly involved in using technology to advance the fields of health care and education.

"I would really like to be a pro-social agency involved in a wide variety of projects," Puller said.

Pulier's interest in using technology to grapple with health care issues dates back to a company he started in his garage with his brother and father in New Jersey while he was still in high school.

One of their projects was exploring the use of computers as interactive teaching tools for multiple sclerosis patients.

Now, Digital Evolution has worked with the Starbright Foundation to produce Starbright World, an online computer network that enables seriously ill children in different hospitals to meet, talk and play with one another through the virtual world. Steven Spielberg is the chairman of the project.

Digital Evolution has produced an educational CD-ROM for children with diabetes for Starbright.

One of the more immediate challenges faced by Digital Evolution is survival, as the new media industry consolidates and it finds itself competing with ever-bigger players. Puller is very aware of the need to continue to grow his company.

"Our growth curve needs to be significant to compete with the new merged companies," he said. "We have no plans to merge as of now, but we remain open to whatever allows us to reach our goal."

Digital Evolution

Year Founded: 1993 Core Business: Digital communications Employees in 1996: 48 Employees in 1997: 100 Revenues in 1996: $3.5 million Revenues in 1996: $7.5 million CEO: Eric Pulier Goal: To make a global impact by creating new technologies to advance various industries Driving Force: Creativity, teamwork, invention