Starfish Software was founded in 1994 by Philippe Kahn and Sonia Lee, as a spin-off from the Simplify business unit from Borland and Kahn's severance from Borland.

[1] The outspoken founding couple founded another company, LightSurf, in the same year, to develop mobile phone photograph technology.

[2] In 2000, the company helped start the SyncML Initiative to standardize synchronization communication protocols.

[3] In March 2003, Starfish was acquired by Pumatech in San Jose, California, which was headed by turn-around CEO Woodson Hobbs.

[4] Pumatech later changed its name to Intellisync, and was acquired by Nokia in 2005.