Scott Lipsky, an early Amazon.com employee who went on to co-found online advertising giant aQuantive, is kicking around a new  startup called PhotoRocket.

"While still in stealth mode, I can tell you this," Lipsky wrote in an email. "PhotoRocket is a new concept in the digital photography space that will turn photo sharing sideways and that will solve many of the most common problems and most painful  aspects of sharing."

Lipsky has shown an interest in photography-based startups in the past, co-founding GalleryPlayer in 2003.

The Seattle company -- formerly RGB Labs -- developed a method of presenting high-resolution images on flat panel TV screens. Lipsky -- a self-described tech geek -- came up with the idea after growing frustrated with the process of trying to find images and photographs to display on his living room walls.

But Lipsky is probably best known for his work at Amazon.com and aQuantive, which he co-founded under the name Avenue A in 1997.

A year prior to Avenue A, Lipsky joined Amazon after serving as CTO of Barnes & Noble. He was appointed to the position of vice president of business expansion at Amazon -- leading the company through periods of enormous growth and assisting with the IPO.

Lipsky then co-founded aQuantive and served as its chief technology officer, helping to build the online advertising powerhouse that was sold to Microsoft for $6 billion in 2007.

In his email, Lipsky indicated that he planned to hire a program manager for PhotoRocket as well as other positions in the coming weeks.

That could mean that the entrepreneur is closing in on venture funding, though Lipsky declined to comment further on the project. His bio says that PhotoRocket -- which based on its description could be a competitor to Flickr, SmugMug or PhotoBucket -- will launch in the second half of this year.

One natural partner could be Madrona, which previously backed aQuantive and just today named former aQuantive chief Brian McAndrews as managing director.

Stay tuned for more details.

John Cook is co-founder of TechFlash. Follow on Twitter @johnhcook.