during the next 90 minutes, Gore had plenty to say about thinning polar ice caps, shrinking glaciers, rising carbon dioxide concentrations, spiking temperatures, and hundreds of other data points he has woven into an overpowering slide show detailing the catastrophic changes affecting the earth's climate. The audience was filled with Silicon Valley luminaries: Apple's Steve Jobs; Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt; Internet godfather Vint Cerf; Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang; venture capitalists John Doerr, Bill Draper, and Vinod Khosla; former Clinton administration defense secretary William Perry; and a cross section of CEOs, startup artists, techies, tinkerers, philanthropists, and investors of every political and ethnic stripe.

But like other would-be startup artists on campuses around the country, the two Stanford engineering students managed to find a way, and their company, Voltage Securities, now boasts 75 employees, 130 business customers, and big-name investors.

The goals for 1990 at Stardent Computer Inc. are ambitious: double revenues to $ 100 million, become profitable, and be ready for a public offering next year if the market is favorable. And John William (Bill) Poduska, the startup artist, is in charge of making it happen.