All fans of..........Part 1
ProNetLink Meeting: December 10, 1998
I woke up at 5:30 AM and found that I hadn't been transformed into an giant insect despite what certain Silicon Investor thread participants had stated to the contrary. I took a shower, checked my email, and printed out in triplicate the seven pages of questions I received. I gathered all my materials together and headed for the train station. I purchased my round trip ticket from Philadelphia to New York City and caught the 7:35 to Amtrak train.
I arrived at Penn Station in New York at approximately 9:00 and walked over to 51st and 5th Ave. I arrived about twenty minutes early so I took pictures of the outside of the building where PNL's offices are located on the third floor.
Pronetlink's offices are located in the "Olympic Tower" at 645 Fifth Avenue. The building is entered however off of either 51st or 52nd Street. This location on Fifth Avenue is very prestigious. Listing some of PNL's neighbors along Fifth Avenue will give people unfamiliar with Fifth Avenue and NYC an idea of how prestigious this location is. Immediately next door to the Olympic Tower is the five story renovated flag ship store for Gianni Versace in the old Vanderbilt Mansion. In the base of the Olympic tower is the Armani Store, diagonally south across the street is the Rockerfeller Center, diagonally north across the Fifth Avenue is the incredible new NBA store. Retailers at street level along 5th Ave. pay approx. $240 a sq. ft for floor space. Fifth Avenue is one of the premier locations in the entire world. Also of note is that the NBA as well as many other high profile corporate entities have their offices in the same building as PNL.
After taking my photos of the exterior and testing my tape recorder, I took a photo of the registry and took the elevator to the third floor. On the third floor I took a photo of the third floor directory and PNL's front door. Then I enter and was greeted by Taylor, who took my coat. I took a picture of Taylor at the side of her desk . I was then directed to the conference room. I took a photograph of the conference room. I sat down but soon stood up and noticed the signed photograph of Mikhail Gorbachev on the countertop of the cabinet. Glenn was stuck in traffic, so while I waited Taylor offered me coffee, but since I don't drink coffee, I had an apple juice instead. Taylor came in and I asked her a couple of questions about how many people worked in this office and where Rare Medium's offices were. She noted that Glenn doesn't work out of PNL's offices and that normally the trip from his office takes about ten minutes.
Taylor, I ‘d guess is in here mid to late thirties or early forties. It is hard to estimate her age because she seems so vivacious energetic and genuine. I noticed about four or five other people working in the office. All of these individuals seem to be under thirty. Jean Pierre Collardeau unfortunately was away at a meeting and, therefore, not present while I was there. PNL's office consists of the reception area, five offices and a conference room. JP's office is a corner office that looks directly over Fifth Avenue
After a couple minutes Dave Walker arrived. After taking off his coat, he joined me in the conference room. I noted that we are both graduates of Cornell, and we quickly digressed into a conversation about lacross and the last time we were in Ithaca. Dave Walker was low keyed and relaxed. He is one of those people who you immediately feel comfortable enough with to refer to him simply by his first name. Dave's about six feet tall with a medium build. He was wearing a black suit. I will however refrain from making any editorial comments about his choice of neck ware especially since I chose not to wear a tie.
Shortly thereafter Glenn arrived. Glenn started to speak immediately. I interrupted him and asked if it was okay to tape the conversation. Glen and Dave said if I did tape, they couldn't be as forthright in their conversation and would need their lawyers present. So I deferred and placed my tape recorder back into my brief case.
The first item Glenn chose to discuss was the whole Internet message board phenomena and its impact on investing and how this, in turn, affected the share price and perception of PNL. Related to this conversation, Glenn made adamant statement about not having any ideas what were the motives and hidden agendas of many of the posters hiding behind aliases on the various threads. Glenn and Dave then went onto discuss a whole slew of issues including, but not limited to, the following: Legal constraints, legal actions against Internet message board posters, PNL versus other Internet sector stocks, "the big picture", Dave's role and background including his development of website for Unz, Proxicom, Rare Medium & other developers, versions 1, 2 , and 3 plus what V 3.0 will entail, building world wide networks to build membership, Israel, Egypt , Singapore, Ireland chambers of council, CNBC plus other media coverage, competition, the use of the Internet outside of the United States, teaching the world's businesses about how to utilize the Internet for commerce, existing and future alliances including banking alliances, the origin of the firm's financing, the first share holder meeting, how he staffs and utilizes technology to have sufficient manpower while containing overhead costs, critical path management, marketing that has occurred, and the timing of forthcoming events.
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