He believes BuildNet and they will come.

• Position: Software company CEO Keith T. Brown - Brief Article

Keith T. Brown learned how to design buildings at N.C. State. After getting his master's in architecture in 1983, he learned more about how they're put together as head of his own architectural firm. What he didn't learn was how to build a big business overnight.

He's getting a quick lesson. In May, his Durham-based software company, BuildNet Inc., scored $35.7 million in venture capital - then a record for Triangle technology companies. That same day, it announced the acquisition of four other makers of project-management software. The deals swelled head count from 60 to 260 and should boost revenue from $4.5 million in 1998 to more than $20 million this year. The software will be used by builders for about a third of the U.S. single-family homes started this year, the company estimates.

With that much of the building industry under its roof, BuildNet is nailing together an online shopping network that puts builders and vendors into each other's back offices with a click of a computer mouse. When it debuts early next year, builders will be able to price supplies, order them and make changes in project configurations right up until the items are loaded on the truck. The potential, Brown says, is a 35% savings along the supply chain because the software does the ordering and record-keeping automatically. BuildNet will take a cut...