Javier Rojas
Relationship to Ted: Trusted advisor and idea sounding board
Background
Javier Rojas worked in mergers and acquisitions at Broadview Associates (Ted initially misremembered the firm as "Kennett Partners" before correcting himself in the podcast). He was paying close attention to the heating-up internet landscape, watching companies get acquired.
Role in When.com's Origin
Ted describes Rojas as his "canary in the coal mine" for startup ideas — if Javier didn't like an idea, Ted would move on. When Ted had been playing with his Visual Basic calendar app for friends (~1995–96), it was Rojas who one day said: "You know that calendar thing you were playing with? I think there's something there. This calendar category might work."
That encouragement, combined with Ted's own observation that email had moved to the web (Hotmail, Rocketmail) and calendars would logically follow, crystallized into When.com.