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Gold/Mining/Energy : Net Shepherd Inc. (WEB) on ASE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: WhatsUpWithThat who wrote (361)	8/31/1999 7:46:00 PM
From: Crazy Canuck	Respond to of 1252

>>I believe in the plans and believe the company when they say there's a lot going on that just hasn't completed yet.<< I had the opportunity to listen in on the Investors' Forum that Net Shepherd hosted this afternoon. Before I say anything else about it, I would wholeheartedly recommend other companies follow their lead and host similar discussions with their shareholders. It sure can cut through a mess of rumours and misinformation we hear about a company and their plans, or partnerships etc. So, my heartfelt thank you to the brass at NSI for doing this - it was much appreciated!! Now, here is what I felt are the highlights of the session. Acceptance testing of their new system could start in as little as 3 days from now! There definitely is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. This is the system that will open the future for NSI. They have been working on perfecting this for quite awhile now, and it is getting very close. The Acceptance Test stage of the system will occur in September. The new system will be fully operational and open for business in just over 30 days. Translation - they will be open for business and pulling in clients and cash! The revenues from their investments in new technology will start flowing in October So the 3rd quarter will be a net drain on cash reserves. There is approximately $2.1 million in cash on hand, and NSI expects to have this new system operational and generating revenue in about 30 days. This means that they will still retain their positive cash position. So, basically we will end up with a profitable business with a new system (with no known competition), and a growing revenue stream. So, in my opinion this is money that will have been well invested. I want to emphasize that the money they have invested is minimal in comparison to what other Web related companies have spent, and as a result, these companies have no hope of seeing an operating profit for many years to come. There are approximately 12 signed contracts and/or letters of intent, or very firm prospects in the queue. During the time that NSI has been working on building their new system, they have been busy generating contracts. These contracts are based on having an operational system in place (remember - 30 days away). So, my concern about no news on revenue generating contracts has lifted considerably. I know that these contracts are dependant upon having the system working well and getting through the acceptance test process, but hey - this is no different than what other businesses have to deal with each day. The potential market for their Answers.com and Business Intelligence IPO's is staggering. They only need a small fraction of potential market (it's billions folks ) to be a roaring success. Remember, that they already have proved that they can do searches 10 times faster, 10 times cheaper, with a higher accuracy than traditional searches can - and they do not know of any other firm that is doing what they are doing. So the advantage of being the first into a market seems to be theirs for the taking. There are three possible routes to take NSI to NASDAQ. Two of which could happen relatively soon. Three NASDAQ listed companies have approached them to merge with them. NSI will not do this unless they get what they consider as a fair valuation for their company. They could be acquired by another firm, or NSI could acquire a private company and the combination of the two could qualify them for NASDAQ. Now, what struck me is that one of these scenarios could happen at any time. I believe that the company is vigorously exploring these options. I can also see how this could create a stir if the system is up and running, many of the 12 potential customers are activated, and then NSI gets to NASDAQ. The share appreciation would be, shall we say . . . aggressive! Once again, I belive that this was a very useful and informational session. I applaud the company for doing this. I can tell you that at times over the summer I was frustrated at the lack of news, but I always felt good about their future and the potential before them. But now . . . I have some of the old enthusiasm back. If you happened to miss the forum, you can go to the Net Shepherd Website and you can listen to it there. I highly recommend it. Here is the URL netshepherd.com Crazy Canuk

To: WhatsUpWithThat who wrote (361)	9/1/1999 3:48:00 PM
From: Crazy Canuck	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1252

>>I feel there's too much chance of missing out on what I believe will be a sudden move up when it comes<< Most of last night I kept thinking about the potential for this company. After talking to several other investors and friends over the past month, I am convinced that there still are many people do not have a clear understanding of what NSI is doing, and the competitive advantage that they will be able to offer businesses and / or organizations. To help illustrate why I believe in their business model, I have put together an example of what NSI very soon will be able to do (30 days or so). Say you have put everything on the line and have decided to start a new business, and you are entering a new arena of competition. Or . . . you are the V.P. of Marketing for a product manufacturer who is thinking about developing and launching a new product. Or . . . you are the President of a chain of stores, and you are looking to build new stores / warehouses in other areas of the country. What each of these people would definitely need to know is who are their competitors, what products do they offer, where they ship to, what are their shipping rates, etc. etc. Now it goes without saying that it is just good business sense to have a complete picture of what you are up against before you invest a small (or large) fortune in product development, marketing etc.. Everyone knows stories of organizations that decided to forge ahead without the benefit of good, well researched information. Unfortunately, more often than not these uniformed decisions led to failure, costly set backs, and bankruptcy. Business and trade magazines regularly feature stories about smart businesses who took the time to understand the arenas that they were playing in. These companies had two choices, either conduct this research in house, or out source it. The problem that still exists today is that both of these processes are generally time consuming, slow, and expensive. The mantras of businesses today (especially in the Internet World) are . . . Timeliness / opportunity windows / information capture, etc . . . What NSI's Virtual Community system does is to exponentially cut through the costs and time required by an organization to collect and report the information they need. NSI has a radically efficient way to mobilize a task force of thousands who can search for the information you need and bring it together in a matter of hours and / or days. If you look at the Billions spent by businesses and organizations on new product launches that fail, or restaurants or stores that are built in the wrong areas, or the impact of uninformed decisions in business each year, then you can get a sense of the value of the solution that can provide accurate and timely information. Remember that NSI is only 30 or so days away from launching a service that can do this. It has already proved that it can do it, and it has done it already for Dun and Bradstreet. The example that I just discussed is just one aspect of how NSI's virtual community could be used. One of the reasons why I am so excited about what they are doing, is that I had the unpleasant task of pulling together and presenting a detailed report on just who my former employer's competitors were throughout 200 diverse locations. I remember the day that I was given this assignment. After informing me of this assignment, they also told me that it had to be completed before the end of the summer. I remember that it was late in May, and it was shaping up to be a great summer. Thanks to this assignment, I was forced to cancel my summer holidays. I brought in two assistants to help me pull it together and we proceeded to hammer away at this project throughout the summer. It was hell! Granted, it proved to be extremely valuable information that helped our company re-profile our stores, and refine our marketing / merchandising plans - but did I tell you that it was sheer hell! It took months to do it, and some of the information was out of date by the time I had to present it. So basically the process I had to go through was time consuming, slow, and expensive, and it was not what I would call an uplifting experience. If NSI's Virtual community services were available to me back then, I assure you that I would have used them in a heart beat. Given what NSI is setting itself up to do, I would have received this information in a matter of days - not months. I would have had ample time to ask some follow on questions, and I could have had these answered in a matter of days as well. So, if I was able to use NSI's services, what took me months to compile would been completed in less than a week. Because this service did not exist, it basically screwed up what could have been a great summer! So in summary, I can speak from experience in that I can't see how any intelligent company who needs to gather information would not be attracted to what NSI will be able to provide. As an investor, what really excites me about this company is that NSI seems to have no competition in this area, and they have filed for patents to protect their uniqueness. Until I see otherwise, they may be the only ones with this advantage in a Billion dollar plus market. Yes, you have to love the risk reward ratio here! Crazy Canuk