MYSW: The short version
Ok.. there is way too much info to post here, but I will try to summarize.
MYSW originally started out in small business software, providing productivity solutions like mailing list software, address checkers, and publishing tools. The company was very poorly run, bleeding cash, and losing distribitors. The stock languished in the low single digits for a few years. Then, at the end of 1997, a new CEO came in, Gregory Slayton. Greg is a very bright guy (Harvard MBA, Fullbright Scholar, and former CEO of Paragraph Software - a company he purchased and eventually sold for 3x what he paid). Greg came in and fired almost everybody, save one VP, Joe Cortale, who stayed on as the new Executive VP.
With a whole new management team in place, they revamped the entire company in less than a year. They cut costs, envigorated the distribution channel (MYSW was named Staples #1 software supplier last year, ahead of MSFT and other huge companies), and began to seek out promising opportunities in the small business market. By the end of 1998, they had turned the company back to profitable and cash flow positive.
With their software business now on track and growing nicely, the company turned to the Internet for more growth opportunities. They found one in the customer prospecting business.
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