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Gold/Mining/Energy : Bridges.com (T.BIT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: roddio who wrote (792)	4/13/1999 6:35:00 PM
From: Shack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1249

Here's a little "feel good" story off of the Stockhouse forum....full credit to Donna of course. Sounds like we're dealing with a class act here. By Donna: I've just come back from a weekend in Penticton. The sun was shining and the sky was a clear blue but still chilly enough to keep the sunbathers off the lake beaches. RMB and I drove back to Vancouver through Kelowna. While there, RMB called Bridges although he didn't expect anyone to answer the phone on a Sunday. Low and behold- Doug Manning answers the phone and invited us over for a tour of the facilities. When we arrived, a very congenial Doug Manning met us at the door and took us through the first of two buildings. He was working on a report for the Board which is made up of 4 people including himself. We walked through reception to the sales area, Doug explained that each of the 10 salesman works a specific area. Sales are very cost effective for the company because they are conducted over the net - very little travel is ever undertaken. When hiring sales staff, they have found that within a few months their costs are recouped and from that time forward it is pure profit. At the moment there are 10 sales people but there are plans to hire additional staff in the near future. As a matter of fact, sales have increased to the point that they have had to lease more space in an adjacent building to house sales and other expansions. While leaving sales, we passed a Canadian and U.S. map hanging in the hall that had more pins in it than a porcupine has quills!! Besides sales, the first building contains the admin offices, offices for the BoD members, the computer room containing 3 state of the art servers and a room I'll call the "think tank" where they have weekly meetings are held. Doug led us out of the first building to the second one which contained the "content area", graphics, e-mail communications section, a service and troubleshoooting dept. and the program development and maintenance section. A number of staff were working on that beautiful Sunday afternoon ( a rarity in B.C. )- talk about dedication ! Perhaps one of the reasons was that the atmosphere at Bridges appeared upbeat and cheerful with colored balloons and flowers everywhere. Doug invited us back to his office, a framed and autographed picture of Rick Hansen ( man in Motion )hung behind his desk. A copy of Jerry Seinfelds book lay on his desk ( not that there's anything wrong with that !! ). He explained the company's success and management style. He felt the success depended almost entirely on the dynamic group of young computer experts they have hired. He practices a "hands off" style that allows employees to be as innovative and creative as possible. Weekly meetings are held to brainstorm and to have open communicatioins so that "the left hand knows what the right hand is doing". He also told of the enormous amount of e-mail they receive from students that use the service. Each and every e-mail is answered. 50% of the content on their site is directly gleaned from suggestions from students. Leaders in all career categories submit content for the site by e-mail - they are paid for the submissions only and the content is updated continuously. A new server will be purchased to compliment the 3 $20,000 servers they presently have. An Adult career section is being developed that will contain targeted advertising, if I understood correctly. RMB queried Doug about any plans to list on Nasdaq. Doug is currently researching the requirements and costs associated with TSE and Nasdaq. His report will soon go to the Board members. My general feeling regarding the company is they are squeeky clean, clearly dedicated and have an obtainable vision. At the moment they have no competition but Doug realizes this will change. Their goal is to get a firm foothold through sales and innovation. They will have a 2 year jump on any competition. Doug shared with us a notable Will Rogers quote: "EVEN IF YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK, YOU WILL GET RUN OVER IF YOU JUST SIT THERE" We thanked him for his time and hospitality. I couldn't help thinking that this would be the perfect stock for the beleagered ethical funds. I'm only a very small shareholder but wish I had more of this one. I like the company, I like what they stand for and for me the stock is a keeper. Donna