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Technology Stocks : Net Perceptions, Inc. (NETP) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SecularBull who wrote (1224)	6/17/1999 12:28:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2908

<<...the last line of the Briefing.com opinion is the best-case scenario for us at this point, IMHO. >> LoD: You may be right. CMGI is a great company and I own some of their stock. CMGI usually buys private companies but they are launching some new large venture funds AND their stock is quite an effective currency. They are incubating many internet companies that have complementary capabilities. NETP could add a lot of value to their efforts, IMO. Of course Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures could always increase their position in NETP. They have lots of cash and some good reasons to consider this. Look what happened to GNET when they became the largest shareholder . I still feel that NETP can survive as a very successful independent internet infrastructure player IF they tell their story with missionary zeal. They need to gain visibility quickly -- the NETP story is still misunderstood. We have had some great buying opportunities. It will be interesting to see how things progress this summer. Best Regards, Scott

To: SecularBull who wrote (1224)	6/18/1999 12:31:00 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2908

LoD: An Interesting Article on "The Birth of NETP".... <<Net Perceptions is model of Minnesota high-tech fledgling success DAVE BEAL SENIOR BUSINESS EDITOR Pure happenstance. That's how Steve Snyder describes his unexpected meeting with Ann Winblad three years ago in Minneapolis. They ran into each other at the Strictly Business trade show in Minneapolis. Their meeting quickly led to the sense of urgency that gave birth to and still drives Net Perceptions. Today, the company has successfully gone public. Snyder is its CEO. Winblad, a principal at the Hummer Winblad venture capital firm in California, is a huge backer. And many people view fast-paced Net Perceptions as a model for a high-tech growth enterprise in Minnesota. ''I would love to see half a dozen Net Perceptions created every year,'' says Christine Maziar, vice president of research at the University of Minnesota. ''From our perspective at the university, they really did things right.'' The company develops and sells software tools that help merchants move more goods and services over the Internet. Using Net Perceptions' tools, retailers can forecast customers' preferences. John Riedl, a computer science professor at the U, developed the technology, called collaborative filtering, that led to the company. Today, both the university and the company benefit from the ties that have flowered from Riedl's work. Net Perceptions got the technology. The U got a stake in the company, can obtain more equity under terms of an agreement between the two parties and will get money from the company for further research. Net Perceptions went public April 23 at $14 a share. The stock, an obvious beneficiary of the then-sizzling market for Internet plays, shot up to nearly $35 on its first day of trading. That gave the company a whooping market valuation of more than $625 million, one of the best first-day showings ever for an initial public offering from a high-tech Minnesota company. The stock, like all Internet-related issues, has cooled off considerably since then. It was trading at about $16 Friday. Net Perceptions raised $54 million from its April offering. Earlier financings, participated in by Hummer Winblad, St. Paul Venture Capital and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, helped the company lift off quickly. Analyst Hany Nada just began following Net Perceptions for US Bancorp Piper Jaffray, a co-manager for the initial public offering. Nada estimates the company has a 70 percent share of the fast-growing market for its ''recommendation solutions.'' He expects revenue to grow to $20 million in 2000 from $10.4 million this year and $4.5 million in 1998. Last year, the company lost $5 million; Nada expects losses of $12.2 million this year and $7.6 million in 2000 as the firm rushes to exploit its markets. Rushing is what it's all about at Net Perceptions. Traditionally, venture firms waited five to seven years to see returns from their investments via sales of companies or initial public offerings. The frenzy of competition among Internet companies has compressed that window to two to three years for such firms. Snyder, 44, joined Microsoft in 1983, when the software giant had only 250 employees. He met Bill Gates, then little-known, when the Microsoft chief journeyed to the Harvard Business School on a recruiting trip. Snyder and Winblad met when she was a consultant to Microsoft; she and Gates once dated. Snyder left Microsoft in 1988 to work toward a doctoral degree in psychology at the University of Minnesota. He picked the U, he says, because its psychology department is among the five best in the country. When Snyder ran into Winblad in Minneapolis in May 1996, she asked: ''What's up?'' He told her about Riedl's work, saying: ''I'm in the early stages of discussions regarding a company. Is this interesting to you?'' ''Absolutely, yes,'' Winblad replied. By mid-summer, the company was off to the races. Hummer Winblad agreed to put money into the firm. Ann Winblad became the company's first director; now there are five including Fingerhut president Will Lansing, an Internet visionary who joined the board last week. Riedl, who was on leave from the U, has returned to the campus. He remains on the board. The company, which employs 92 workers, recently quadrupled its space by moving to a new headquarters in Eden Prairie. Today, Snyder traces much of the early success at Net Perceptions to the unexpected conversation he had with Ann Winblad three years ago. ''It was one of those chance meetings that, when you look back on it, you say, 'How did that happen?' ''>>