It’s been more than a year since my colleague Eric Engleman broke the story on Kiha Software, the super secretive Paul Allen-backed mobile software startup.

At the time, little was known about the product, the management team or its financial structure. Now, a few details are starting to emerge, though Chief Executive Jon Lazarus was extremely reticent to share particulars about the venture in an interview with TechFlash this morning.  In fact, Lazarus — a well known angel investor and former Microsoft executive — said it could be at least another year before they talk publicly about the product.

What are they building in those Pioneer Square offices — the next atom bomb? Word is that Kiha is working on a new mobile platform, something the Web site indirectly hints at.  The company — whose principal backer is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen – is in talks to raise a large round of funding that could top $10 million, sources say.

Lazarus confirmed that they are raising a "significant" round, but he declined to say how much or when the deal might close.

"We are in a lot of discussions with different places to raise money," he said.

Asked what they are developing, Lazarus would only say: "writing software." When pressed, the CEO wouldn’t budge.

"For all good reasons, it is really premature to talk about what we are doing," he said.

In addition to Lazarus, the Kiha team includes several well known technology professionals from the Seattle area.

Pat Ferrel, a former senior engineer at Aldus and MSN veteran who most recently founded Seattle startup Trailfire, is serving as chief technology officer. Dwight Krossa, who spent more than 20 years at Microsoft in various roles, joined Kiha last year as vice president of marketing. And Robin Budd, the former general manager of Vulcan’s FlipStart Labs, is serving as chief operating officer.

"We are doing our best to put together a team of really great people," said Lazarus, adding that the company continues to hire. The startup employs "more than 20" and "less than 50," he said.

Whatever Kiha is building, it is certainly a big opportunity. Not many companies can afford to stay in the lab developing something for 18 or 24 months.

"We are very ambitious, and that’s what makes what we are doing hard," he said. As part that, Lazarus said they are working on several partnerships with other companies.

"Obviously, we have some new ideas, or we wouldn’t be spending the amount of money we are and hiring the kind of people we are," said Lazarus.

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and Concur’s stock rebounds after board offers support of CEO  

Shares of Concur Technologies rose more than 11 percent today after the Redmond company’s board of directors issued a statement of support for CEO Steve Singh. Last Friday, TechFlash and other news sites reported that Singh did not graduate from the University of Michigan as he had previously indicated. The error — which caused the stock to drop nearly 20 percent — appeared in Concur’s financial documents until 2007. The board met Sunday to discuss the matter, expressing "regret that the mistake occurred." [Full statement after the jump]

Concur announced today that its Board of Directors met yesterday to review Concur’s historical disclosure about the academic background of Steve Singh, Concur’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. As previously disclosed, Mr. Singh attended the University of Michigan, but did not earn a degree, as had been mistakenly reported prior to 2007. At the conclusion of its meeting, the Board expressed its regret that the mistake occurred, and its complete confidence in Mr. Singh, his abilities, and his proven leadership. The Board also provided guidance to Concur’s management about steps to prevent similar mistakes from occurring in the future.

Barron’s has a nice run down on what stock analysts are doing in response to "Diploma-gate," with Caris & Co. analyst Curtis Shauger saying the issue will "continue to challenge the credibility of the company’s current management team."  

The issue has caused an interesting debate on TechFlash, with more than 40 comments about the merits of a college degree and the reasons for misrepresenting it.

One reader wrote:

"Isn’t a degree just a piece of paper? I have a degree from the University of Michigan, but I feel like it shouldn’t make that much of a difference if you actually finish or not as long as you get the education somehow or another."

That caused another reader to counter:

"It’s not about the piece of paper. The misrepresentation is the issue. It begs to ask the question, what else is the individual failing to truthfully disclose."

READ MORE and COMMENT, more and Microsoft tries to become fourth thing on Internet to make money  

Speaking last week with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the New York Times’ Saul Hansell asked: Given all the other options, why does Microsoft keep throwing billions at its struggling Internet search business?

“There are only three things on the Internet that have made money: Amazon, eBay and Google,” Ballmer said. “If we’re going to make a lot of money on the Internet, we’ll have to challenge Google in search.”

People will no doubt quibble with Ballmer’s enumeration of money-making "things" on the Internet. But the broader subject is timely, considering the recent data showing Microsoft’s U.S. search market share hitting a new low. Of course, a big part of the reason Microsoft isn’t giving up is that it’s so far along at this point that its pride would prevent it from reversing direction.

But Ballmer makes the case that there will be value for Microsoft, in the long run, in its efforts to build its Internet search business.

The next logical question is whether the company can, on its own, seriously challenge Google in Internet search. Microsoft has been trying to do that since 2005, when it launched its homegrown MSN Search engine. To get a sense for how things have gone, see our tongue-in-cheek timeline of the Top 10 Greatest Moments in Microsoft Internet Search History.

That history makes it more clear why Microsoft is still interested in a Yahoo search partnership, which would give the combined entity about 30 percent of the U.S. search market. A Yahoo deal appears to be the only sure-fire method of gaining ground in the short run. In fact, Microsoft executives have made it so clear that they need Yahoo that you have to wonder if they’ve put themselves in a weaker position when it comes time to negotiate.

Finally, ponder this: Of the three businesses Ballmer cites as making money on the Internet, how many of them got there by following in the footsteps of a dominant competitor?

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Introducing … Inkd  

After more than six months in stealth mode, Kelly Smith  is officially launching his next Internet project. It’s called Inkd, and Smith describes it as "The World’s First Marketplace for Original Print Design." Users of Inkd can search for more than 800 designs of business cards, brochures, letterhead and envelopes.

"Every person who has ever started a small business knows that design is an expensive and time-consuming proposition," said Smith, who previously created ImageKind. That business, which sold to CafePress last year, followed a similar model to Inkd. It  created an online marketplace for original artwork, and acted as an online retailer of frames.

Founded last year under the name Pressplane, Inkd is launching with more than 800 original designs. Users can download those designs and customize them in a matter of minutes. Prices vary from $29 to $99 per design.

Inkd raised $1.7 million from a who’s who Seattle investors last year. They include Mika Salmi (MTV President / AtomFilms founder), Rich Barton (Founder, Expedia / Zillow), Erik Blachford (former Expedia CEO), Andy Liu (BuddyTV), Alex Algard (Founder of Whitepages), Geoff Entress (Voyager), Andy Sack (Founder’s Co-op), Adrian Hanauer (Seattle Sounders co-owner) and Dough Rowan (former Corbis CEO).

UPDATE: I got a few more details from Smith, who says the company employs five full timers and has enough cash on hand to last through the year. In terms of competitors, Smith noted that Stocklayouts.com and Brandoozie are playing in the space.

Smith compared Inkd to stock photo agencies such as Corbis (note that the former Corbis CEO Rowan is an investor) and Getty Images, just replacing the images with graphic design products such as envelopes, letterhead and brochures.

"Really, nothing quite like this has been tried so we are kind of curious what to expect going forward," he said.

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