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Strategies & Market Trends : Predicting news and runs for big % gains -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scouser who wrote (1420)	5/5/2000 10:59:00 PM
From: scouser	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2182

CULE news right on the money, w% at 0 strikes again, meanwhile ....... Where the Web Goes: Three-Quarter-Inch-Screws.com Thursday, May 04, 2000 By Samuel Fromartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even after the recent Nasdaq slump, reporters get inundated with press releases from would-be dot-com start-ups, incubators and entrepreneurs with the latest greatest ideas. Which leads a light bulb to go off: What if we started a B2B (business-to-business to the uninformed) Web site devoted to 3/4-inch screws and all the people who buy and sell 'em? Since B2C (that's business-to-consumer) sites are now floundering, this one might be able to get a bit of buzz, then venture capital, then who knows? First step is to register the domain, three-quarter-inch-screws.com, to make sure no one else gets there first. In the business plan, we'll mention the size of the market -- the hundreds of millions (make a note to figure out exactly how many) of disaggregated buyers and sellers who need a central hub for their 3/4-inch screws. We'll raise about $1 million from angel investors who are old pros in the screw business, get a couple of VPs of business development, and secure partnerships with manufacturers. If anyone asks about our partnerships, we'll give the usual answer of a dot-com CEO: "We're talking to everyone. Everyone is interested!" Once we launch the Web site, we'll offer how-to articles about screws, who uses them, the latest developments, maybe even sub-topics on taxation and financing of screw purchases. There will be bulletin boards and chat rooms for buyers and sellers to discuss these issues. Users will even be able to have a real-time chat with an "expert." But let's make clear, this isn't a "content" site supported by advertising, because that business model apparently died sometime this year. What we want to do is e-commerce, e-business, e-3/4-inch screws. We'll set up an auction channel so that sellers can get rid of their excess inventory and then offer RFQ (request for quotes) capability so buyers can get various supplier bids. We'll offer free email so that any registered user can have an email address at three-quarter-inch-screws.com. We'll have instant messaging so users can talk with their pals when they should be working. How will we promote it? Virtual marketing, of course, tapping into the global three-quarter-inch screw business community. Our site will become so indispensable, our members will get others to join. Maybe we'll even give them an incentive to sign up others, like discounts from our strategic partners. We've also got to build buzz in the media, and for that, we'll just take stock phrases from a host of recent dot-com press releases. Here's a few stock favorites we've got to include: "The premier Web marketplace for (fill in the market here)." "An unprecedented opportunity." "Fulfilling a tremendous need for the first time in (fill in market here)." "An ($xx billion) market made up of (xxx million) individual businesses globally." "A proven management team" (but make clear they are still in their 20s). One thing we've got to make clear is that this 'opportunity' is our first "vertical." In six months, as three-quarter-inch-screws.com gets its $15 million second round of venture capital, we'll begin building verticals in 3/8-inch screws and 1/8-inch screws. Because the international arena is hot, we'll duplicate these sites in metric and promote them heavily in the hot Asian and Latin American markets. If anyone asks, we are avoiding the competitive half-inch screw market and sticking with what we know best. What's our cash-out strategy? IPOs seem iffy right now so we'll position this as an acquisition target, perfect for an old-line screw company that wants to build an e-commerce channel. Or better yet, we'll combine with three-quarter-inch-nuts.com. They launched about the same time we did. There might be synergy there. If we win big, we can plow the money into a new B2B incubator, taking 40 percent of start-ups in return for an office, phone, seed capital and of course, our expert advice. After all, we have the know-how. Sounds like a plan. (Sam Fromartz is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who writes about entrepreneurs and emerging companies. Reach him at fromartz.com or at entrepreneur(at)iname.com. Any opinions here are his own.)