Catching a ride to work, high-tech style

What: Goose Networks

Who: Nick Shiftan, 24, founded the Seattle company in April after leaving Microsoft, where he was a Windows Mobile engineer. Shiftan hired his friend from Harvard, 25-year-old Zac Corker, as vice president of sales and marketing.

What it does: Goose Networks helps corporations encourage employees to take alternative ways to get to work other than to drive alone.

Ride-sharing: The way Microsoft is testing the service is by helping employees who live in Seattle car pool with people on the fly since car-pooling is difficult for people who work long, unpredictable hours.

"While I was living in Belltown, I passed a friend of mine almost everyday on the way to work. I thought if only I knew which one of my friends was driving from Belltown to Microsoft at the same time. That was when the spark went off and led me to found Goose Networks," Shiftan said.

How it works: When a person is ready to go to work, and wants to give another person a ride, they send a text message, saying "drive from home to work." The service tries to find a match in the next 15 minutes with someone in the vicinity who wants a ride. Likewise when a person wants a ride, they text "ride from home to work."

The match: If a match is found, the driver gets a confirmation text message with turn-by-turn directions to the person's location. The rider gets confirmation saying when the person will arrive and what car they are driving.

The motivation: Shiftan said people are interested in using the service because the cost of gas is split between the driver and the passenger. He said saving time and environmental guilt were also high on the list.

Business Model: For the text-messaging service, Goose Networks charges the employer a per employee per month fee. The service is free to the user.

Early results: Since the service launched at Microsoft in September, 80 employees have registered. So far, 39 percent of the time Goose has been able to find a match within 15 minutes. If they can get the registered users up to 200, Shiftan thinks that will go up to 75 percent.

— Tricia Duryee