From Earthlink to Helio

You remember Sky Dayton, don't you? The onetime owner of Cafe Mocha (Drew Barrymore used to work behind the counter) who started up AOL competitor EarthLink is now, at the ripe old age of 35, CEO of Helio, a startup phone service aimed at the MySpace crowd. Helio customers can make and answer calls, but there's also all kinds of videos and games available. He's also chairman of Boingo, which sells wireless hot spots to computer users. Dayton, who is based in Westwood, has been been making the interview rounds as of late, telling Ron Grover, Business Week's LA bureau chief, how he came up with the idea for Helio.

I went over to South Korea in late 2004. (EarthLink) was in discussions with SK Telecom about doing some work with us in the U.S. I was there with my wife, and we were just amazed to see kids break-dancing in the middle of the streets with their phones dangling from their wrists. It was jewelry, with two earphones for the music. And by the way, they were also making telephone calls. I figured there was a market here for that, too.

He wouldn't offer up any numbers on subscribers, but noted that "younger kids in the U.S. want more than just a phone. They want to be connected every moment of when they are out, and they're out a lot more than they're inside these days."