Bob, here is that information you wanted on Freerealtime.com
Company Overview
Freerealtime.com, Inc. (OTCBB: FRTI), (the "Company") is a specialized information and media firm servicing the expanding Internet-based investment community. The Company has developed an array of web-based tools for managing, and analyzing various stock market data, which are available through subscription at the Company's web sites. These tools are designed for individual investors who demand sophisticated, yet easy-to-use tools for analyzing securities and managing personal investment portfolios, as well publicly traded companies that need to compete for attention more effectively in the investor markets. By combining professional-level content with unique, user-friendly features, the Company has already gained a significant market presence in this emerging marketplace.
Market Overview
As the dynamics of Internet technology have created a host of new marketing opportunities for otherwise mature business segments, so too has it provided a fertile ground for the migration of traditional brokerage and financial information services to a lower cost alternative. While still embryonic, there are dominant characteristics of the market, including:
•Investors have enthusiastically adopted on-line investing, and on-line investment information. •Market growth of "self-directed" on-line investors is growing exponentially. •On-line "investor relations" is providing tremendous benefit for "self-directed" retail investors. •Small-cap companies are increasingly attracted to the efficiency and targeted approach available to them on-line.
Presently, there are over 70 firms competing for a share of the growing on-line brokerage market, where daily Internet trading volume is approaching 100 million shares per day. As investors are flocking to on-line brokerage for convenience and low priced commissions, they are also attracted to the wealth of market data and investment information that is increasingly available through the Internet. However, what investors are not finding is personalized services that empower them to customize information for making informed investment decisions.
Business Objectives.
The Company's primary objective is to create a "single source" for investor-oriented financial information by bringing a full array of data retrieval and management services into a single, easy-to-use web site. To this end, the Company has developed or is developing proprietary tools and systems that will enable it to build a substantial user base. It also plans to use this user base to attract public companies wishing to increase their exposure to new investors, as well as advertisers who are attracted to the demographics of the user base. The encompassing services of the Company are designed to provide:
For Individual Investors:
•User defined market and portfolio analysis tools capable of tracking and monitoring multiple portfolios in real-time. •User defined industry, market, and Company news. •Broad-based financial markets data for stock markets, currencies, and commodities. •Database management and versatile charting capabilities. •Tutorial programs for using various services and options. •Industry re-broadcast news feeds.
For Corporate Clients:
•Integrated marketing and corporate communications tools targeting shareholders and new investors. •Full-featured investor relations services, including text, video and audio presentations.••A corporate on-line feature including corporate profiles, corporate information (images of facilities, products, etc.), management profiles, strategic partner messages, press releases, research reports, product information, specifications and features. •Public disclosure information. •Stock quotation and charting services, as well as portfolio management systems. •Company showcases featuring audio and video presentations supplied by private and public corporate clients. •Audio and video presentations from advertisers and sponsors.
Services
The Company owns, operates, or has exclusive rights to market three Internet-based properties, including Bullsession.com, Freerealtime.com, and Wwquote.com.
Bullsession.com service is a subscriber-based, dynamic market information retrieval service. The technology behind this service consists of Ticket Tracker, a portfolio management tool, as well as a number of other Java applications that operate on all computer platforms. Subscribers can register for any two North American stock exchanges, with monthly fees ranging from $26.95 to $36.95.
Critical factors in the delivery of service are time and data reliability. The Company's service is unique because subscribers will have instantaneous access to Bullsession.com's Java QuoteServer, which uses 32 bit technology to deliver continuously updating market data. Subscribers are offered a high degree of customization for fast and easy operation. Prices are up to 85% less than comparable services.
Launched February 16, 1998, freerealtime.com is an advertising-supported real-time stock quote service over the Internet. Users must register to receive real-time market data. The information users provide on their registration is data-based and then used to specifically target banner advertisements. Users view highly targeted advertising on a per-quote impression basis. The revenue model for freerealtime.com is two-fold:
•Advertiser Supported - The Company sells or contracts to sell "banner" ads or "links" at rates based on actual usage.. •Reseller Supported - The Company sells to other Internet content providers the rights to provide real-time quote services on a per-quote basis. Zacks Investment Research has signed with the Company to provide its web site subscribers and visitors with Freerealtime.com market data.
Wwquote.com is a mid-range stock quote service that utilizes Java to deliver real-time dynamically updating stocks quotes and news. The Company spent 16 months developing the technology for Wwquote.com and has licensed the technology. The licensee is responsible for the operation and marketing of Wwquote.com. The Company receives a monthly royalty (ranging from $1.00 to $4.00 per user) based on the number of members using the Wwquote.com system.
Market Definition
The specific market that The Company has targeted is the active individual investor and professional portfolio manager that requires not only real-time market information but also powerful applications that add value to that information. The North American market is currently estimated at 1.3 million households, and is projected to grow to more than 9 million households by 2003, according to Forrester Research. Comparable non-Internet services are available at prices up to $1,500 per month. The Company's prices, at $26.95 to $36.95 per month, are significantly lower.
Competition
With respect to free real-time quote services, The Company competes directly with PC Quotes, DTN, Real Time Quotes, DBC's Signal, Reuter's Quotron, Thomson RTQ, and Canada's Stockwatch Interquote. Other services also provide "delayed" financial information over the Internet, but are not continuously or dynamically updating. The Company's Bullsession.com service is unique because of it's power, versatility, and simplicity of TickerTracker. The Company is also distinctive because it is the first such service to be offered absolutely free to the end user. The Company also has a competitive advantage because of their speed to market, established user base, and low production costs.
Outlook
Currently, the major revenue sources for Freerealtime.com, Inc. include subscription fees generated through Bullsession.com and Ticker Tracker Internet services, as well as advertising fees derived from the Company's freerealtime.com web site by on-line advertisers. According to SRI consulting and Advertising Age, Internet advertising revenues are expected to reach $1.7 billion in 1998 and over $11 billion by 2002. After subscribing over 100,000 users since its debut in February, Freerealtime.com is quickly expanding its user base and capturing a larger share of the fast-growing on-line investor market. Of the 1,000 new users being added per day, 90% can be attributed to the Company's Freerealtime.com web site, while 10% are the direct result of new subscribers Bullsession.com and Ticker Tracker.
Given its high profile advertisers and Internet business partners, including Zacks, Comtex, Big Charts, Imgis, and Cybereps, Freerealtime.com is well positioned to become a predominant player in the on-line market data industry. By providing technologically superior products and services targeted to the under-represented population of individual investors and the professional investment community, the Company has already surpassed its projections for both page views and users by more than 95%.
To support the Company's exploding growth, investment capital is being used to ramp-up production and data feeds to meet increasing customer demand, maintain competitive advantages through increased R & D, and underwrite an extensive marketing campaign for building name recognition, expanding distribution channels and supporting top-line revenue growth.
Business Strategy
The Company continues to position itself as the preeminent supplier of real-time financial market information services and tools for the Internet. The Company intends to build its products into powerful, well-known Internet brands. Branding creates long term customer loyalty, greatly enhancing shareholder value. The structure of the World Wide Web allows the Company to deliver a high quality, high value service to subscribers at an extremely low cost. Low cost is obviously a very important competitive advantage.
The Company derives revenue from a number of sources. These include:
•Individual Investor Subscribers - the Company charges a fee competitive with similar services existing today for complete access to the Bullsession.com Web sites and all of its features. These include real-time quotes, portfolio management and all features outlined above.
•Corporate Subscribers- the Company offers or will offer Web site packages to public companies to showcase their products and services on the Internet. These Web sites will be designed to link to quotations system and search routines offering maximum exposure for their companies. They will also include a corporate overview, financial information, stock charts, news releases and corporate presentations, in video, audio or print formats. There will also be strategic links to neutral information providers.
•Corporate Sponsors- the Company offers advertisement space on its various Web sites. Revenue may also be derived from video commercials strategically placed within the Company's sites.
AdvertisinIn the fourth quarter of 1998, The Company plans to initiate an aggressive program to advertise Freerealtime.com. Incorporating traditional and Internet media and targeting the "self-directed" individual investor, the campaign will stress the value of Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com as useful tools in a volatile marketplace. Management believes that this campaign will significantly grow its Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com subscription bases beyond current levels.
On the World Wide Web, full listings with all the prominent search engines on the Web will help potential subscribers find the Company's Web sites. Additionally, regular readers to financial publications The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and Investor's Daily will be presented with a compelling message the Company's web-based services. Advertising content will focus on the highly interactive nature of Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com, their distinctive features and value-adding benefits, as well as the overall cost/value relationship.
The Company's offering is defined by three strategic product lines, which are outlined below:
•Bullsession.com Service - The retail individual investor market represents a relatively new market segment for the financial information industry. Up until now, it has been very expensive and inconvenient for individuals to access up-to-the-second market data in usable format. Now, however, Bullsession.com brings a low-cost information service to market in order to address the needs of this important segment of customers.
•TickerTracker - The TickerTracker is an extension of Bullsession.com that allows the Company to pursue parties interested in the TickerTracker's capabilities off the Internet. The TickerTracker can easily be packaged to work with any data feed, thereby increasing its total attractiveness as a powerful portfolio management tool.
•Freerealtime.com Advertising sales - The Company is currently engaged on the promotion of our free real-time stock quote service, freerealtime.com. this service is an ad-supported service that relies heavily on large volumes of traffic and sophisticated banner ad targeting software. They have developed a very deep demographic profile of our members in a relational database. Alliances with companies to actively promote and market advertising space on Bullsession.com and freerealtime.com has been established with Flycast Communications of San Francisco, CA and Cybereps of Sausalito, CA. They expect this line of business to represent an increasing portion of FI's revenues.
Marketing Strategy
The overall marketing plan for our services is based on the following objectives:
Build overall awareness of the Company's products - It is imperative that the Company use every means possible to build visibility among its targeted audience, which generally includes individuals and professionals who regularly access financial information on the Internet. The Company intends to implement a comprehensive and ongoing advertising program designed to build awareness of its products among this user market.
Convert new visitors into long-term patrons and subscribers - Internet usage studies suggest that "seasoned" users having specific interests tend to rely on a relatively short list of Web sites which they "bookmark" for regular use. Once a site is found that meets these specific needs, a patronage is usually established. Because of its very strong value statement and effective sell-through design, the Company believes that it can convert a high percentage of new visitors into regular patrons. This will be accomplished through the free services provided through Freerealtime.com, and then by the "step-up" subscription services offered through Bullsession.com and TickerTracker.
Leverage the Company's user base and brand-name to build advertising, corporate sponsorships and strategic alliances - As its services and promotional efforts result in increased patronage, the Company will attract corporate advertisers who have an interest in reaching our established user base. Banner advertising as well as promotional programs will be offered through the Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com. Additionally, the Company will work to develop strategic alliances or joint marketing agreements with organizations that complement its pallet of products and services. As of August, 1998, the following joint ventures have been announced.
•Zacks Investment Research - The Company has developed important and profitable strategic alliances with Zacks Investment Research, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois and Comtex Scientific Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia. Zacks is an established name on Wall Street providing earnings estimates and other stock related research directly to investment houses and to individuals through the Zacks Web site and a network of more than 250 other financial Web sites. The Company recently signed a one year revolving contract with Zacks to provide real-time market data on a per quote basis. Zacks will market the service to the more than 250 Web sites that receive their content, including CNNfn, USA Today, and ABC News.
•Comtex Scientific, Inc. - Comtex Scientific is the leading aggregator of news services. A public company, Comtex provides 40 different news feeds in one easy to use package. The Company has entered into an agreement with Comtex to provide their news feed to our end users and others through FI's facilities.
Sales Strategy
Currently Selling Methods.
The Company currently sells its services through its company Web sites. The object of the marketing campaign is to persuade potential customers to register for the services by enticing them to the Web sites. Advertising, consisting of Web site banner ads, brochures, print ads, and television commercials, will send customers to the Web sites. The Company has contracted with Flycast Communications of San Francisco, California and Cybereps of Sausalito, California to assist in selling the company's available advertising space.
Product Positioning.
The Company currently sells it services directly to its subscribers and offers other Internet content providers the rights to resell Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com services to their respective users or subscribers. Recognizing the economies of scale in building it's customer base in this way, the Company is working aggressively to develop several strategic alliances for its on-line services.
In an effort to constantly improve it's product and service offerings, the Company is actively pursuing major U.S and Canadian discount brokerages to provide their customers with access to Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com. These partnerships will be structured with a small payment incurred by the brokerage firm for each user per month. While this arrangement may lower net profit margins by the amount of the referral fee, the extremely large volumes will more than make up for any decrease in unit profit margins.
The Company is also in discussions with several large Internet service providers, such as UUNET, Netcom and America Online, for the purpose of offering their customers access to Freerealtime.com and Bullsession.com services.
Distribution Channels and Partners.
Executive and corporate sales are related to the Company's corporate investor relations department market segment. They plan to employ sales representatives to pursue opportunities with the approximately 40,000 publicly listed companies in America.
Direct-Response Mail.
The Company will be exploring the benefits of incremental, coordinated direct-mail programs over the next six months. Management anticipates a strong profit potential as they strengthen their direct response capabilities. They will be approaching this scientifically, as they improve their customer targeting ability. The Company is proposing two 50,000 piece campaigns, each preceded by a 5,000 piece testing using the discount brokerage clients.
Sales Cycle.
The sales cycle in the individual investor market is very short. Typically a customer registers on the site and is activated the same day. The user's credit card is charged and the sales cycle is complete. The sales cycle in the corporate IR market is between two and three weeks long. Implementation is immediate, login ID's and passwords are issued and the cycle is complete. The sales cycle in the discount brokerage segment is up to six months long. Implementation is complicated and can take up to four months.
Intellectual Property Strategy
The Company protects its proprietary core technology. The Company exclusively owns any and all software that it develops and retains the right to license its products to third parties. It will rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, and contractual provisions to protect its intellectual property rights in its products.
The Company also faces a challenge unique to the software and computing industry. It is essentially impossible for a Company to protect a product's "look and feel". This means that another organization may elect to use the Company's products as prototypes or guides for their own development. This can drastically shorten their development cycle. In order to overcome this potentially costly situation, the Company must adopt a strategy similar to that of other market leaders such as Intel and Microsoft Corp. A commitment has been made by the Company to remain among the top innovators and most customer-focused providers of market data. This requires the Company to collect more revenue into research and development than many of its competitors. The Company regularly has, and will continue to, turn to its customers in helping enhance and develop further releases of its product.
Acquisitions
The Company has a policy of pursuing any acquisition candidates currently operating within the Internet arena. Potential acquisitions must fulfill a number of strategic and synergistic criteria including industry experience, existing infrastructure, quality of current clientele, management, and revenue and earnings growth potential.
The Company will explore acquisition opportunities of financially-related web sites to achieve economies of scale in management, administration and bandwidth.
Management
The team includes the following dedicated individuals:
President and Chief Executive Officer
Brad G. Gunn, 28, is the Company's President and CEO. As a co-founder of the Company, Mr. Gunn has spent the last two years with the Company involved in strategic planning, overseeing the development teams, financing, acting as a subscriber liaison, market research, new product development, and alliance development. Mr. Gunn's previous experience includes; equities trader, and investment advisor. In 1992, Mr. Gunn received his Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Economics with a minor in management from the University of Calgary.
Vice President, Operations
Stuart Robson, 35, is the Company's Director Vice-President of Operations. Mr. Robson's responsibilities with the Company have included; the orderly operation and administration of billing, customer service, contract administration and negotiation, and data operations. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Robson worked as VP Marketing with Netway Internetworking Technologies, Inc., an Internet software company.
Vice President, Product Development
Russell Soph, 36, is the Company's Vice-President of Product Development. Mr. Soph's responsibilities have included; experience as a programmer, responsible for overseeing product development, communications between allies, and strategic Java programming. Prior to joining the Company in 1996, Mr. Soph worked with a telecommunications giant, AT&T, in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Soph's experience at AT&T included; leading work teams of software engineers, programming, and computer architecture planning. Prior to joining AT&T in 1987, Mr. Soph completed his Computer Science Degree from the University of North Carolina.
Other Key Personnel and Staff
Other key team members include two members of the Board of Directors: Mr. John C. Gunn MSC., P. Eng. and Martin Shain, P. Eng., MBA. Mr. John C. Gunn has 28 years of general business and management experience and has particular expertise in the area of corporate negotiations in an international setting. Martin Shain is the managing partner of Winterbrook Investment Partners of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Shain has over 15 years of business experience m venture capital, management consulting, engineering, software development, and applied technologies.
Hope this helps !!!
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