David Borenstein
(b. 1983) founded Quoteland.com in 1998. Originally dubbed "The Land
of Quotes," Borenstein's original interest was to try his hand at web publishing. Within a few
months, Quoteland was enjoying considerable traffic. Borenstein bought a domain name and
contracted an ad agent, and the adventure had begun.
In 1999, Borenstein
partnered with childhood friend Adam Lewis. Together, they developed
Quoteland into a formidable online reference resource. Quoteland's cross-referencing system
has since been emulated by countless other research- oriented websites. Lewis redeveloped
the software that powered Quoteland.com, making vast improvements in efficiency, security
and user-friendliness.
Late in that year,
Lewis and Borenstein developed GiftofWisdom.com
. In partnership with
Awards International, Inc.
, Quoteland was now able to offer custom gifts featuring the
quotations from its library. That year, they filed for incorporation: Quoteland.com, Inc. had been
born.
In 2001, Awards
International acquired Quoteland.com and its daughter site,
GiftofWisdom.com
, so that Borenstein and Lewis could focus their attention on college. Since
then, Quoteland has been curated and maintained by
American Eagle, Inc.
.
David Borenstein
is an undergraduate at Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA. He previously
attended Bennington College and the Beaver Country Day School. Borenstein is a philosophy
major and a women's studies minor, with an emphasis on existential and religious philosophies.
Although no longer affiliated with the Quoteland.com "mother site," Borenstein remains the
administrator of the Quoteland.com forums.
After selling Quoteland,
Borenstein has devoted himself to community action. Borenstein spent
February of 2002 building houses at the H.O.M.E. cooperative
in Maine, and that summer he
volunteered as a senior counellor at the
Bird Street Community Center
in Dorchester,
Massachusetts. In 2003, he taught English and basic computer skills in rural India.
Borenstein has
been featured in several publications for his work in Quoteland and the high-
tech industry. Media references include Wired magazine, the Boston Globe, Kiplinger's
Personal Finance, Mass High Tech and alt.media.watch, an online technology journal.
1. David Borenstein
