NEWS ABOUT THE PROGRAM
1. A Match Made In Chaos Theory
2. Netpreneurs Pass The (Beta) Test
3. Newly Assembled At The FAQtory
REGIONAL NETPRENEURS
1. Electric Press Releases Federal Commerce Product
2. Aurora Announces SOTERiA Security Solution
3. Baan Delivers Enterprise Application Components
PARTNERSHIPS
1. iNEX and McGraw-Hill To Co-Publish Online Training
2. Snyder To Co-Market With iVillage
3. Musicmaker And Liquid Audio In Partnership
4. AOL And E! Online In Programming Agreement
5. WCO Personal Finance Community for Women
FUNDING & FINANCE NEWS
1. NetFactory Raises $4 Million
2. Kodak Take Controlling Stake In PictureVision
3. Lucent Forms Venture Capital Fund
4. DIDAX Acquires Gofishnet
News About The Netpreneur Program
1. A MATCH MADE IN CHAOS THEORY
We're big fans of chaos at the Netpreneur Program. Well, chaos networks, anyway. Get
enough balls in the air and emails in the ethernet, and serendipity will cause good things
to happen. That's how we hooked up with The Smithsonian Associates to produce the upcoming
Networking With The Netpreneurs event on March 11. It's a partnership we're delighted
about, and an event you won't want to miss.
Back in June, Jackie Corbett, who handles public affairs for The Smithsonian Associates
(TSA), heard about the Evening With The Barons event through one of the many groups who
help redistribute information about the Program. She attended and was struck by how the
Barons event paralleled the goals of the Associates-- the interaction, the enthusiasm and
a topic of high interest to TSA and its audience. Well, we got to talking and the result
is Networking With The Netpreneurs, March 11 at 7:00 pm at the Museum of Natural History,
featuring four of the region's up and coming digital age entrepreneurs: Susan DeFife,
founder & CEO of Women's Connection Online; Raul Fernandez, founder & CEO of
Proxicom, Inc.; Nat Kannan, founder & CEO of University Publishing; and Rob McGovern,
founder & CEO of Career Builder.
Join us to hear about the challenges and triumphs these four have encountered in
starting their companies, and how they view the Net as a place to do business. Brief
presentations will be followed by extensive Q&A and a wine and cheese reception. The
Netpreneur Program's own Mario Morino will provide the evening's summary.
"We're excited to be working with the Netpreneur Program," says Jackie,
"Barons had a real crackle in the air. Clearly, this community is pioneering the
terrain of technology and commerce and has unique insights both into these fields and
their impact on society. Like the Smithsonian itself, The Smithsonian Associates is
interested in treasures of the past, but also the signposts to the future."
Not half as excited as we are. The Smithsonian Associates is an institution (sorry,
couldn't pass that one up) recognized globally, and especially in our region, as a leader
in community building, content and education. It's a pleasure to be working together on
this.
You can register online for the event at the Smithsonian site:
http://www.si.edu/youandsi/join/tsa/rap/otomar/net.htm
Or, by phone at 202/357-3030 on Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. When
registering, the code for the event is 1L0-815. The cost is $15.00.
2. NETPRENEURS PASS THE (BETA) TEST
Where do netpreneurs turn when they need discerning advice on products in development? To
each other. And in order to reach each other, they are using the Program's discussion
groups and other services. For example, Internet Guru and WowGlobal are developing an
email service called Wow Address Book Safe which backs-up or converts you address book.
Looking for beta-testers, they sent an invitation to members of Talk The Talk, the
Program's netpreneurs-only discussion group. So did Digital Addiction, which is looking
for people to test their new online multi-player game, 12 Arcana. Other netpreneurs have
done the same many times during the past year. After all, who better to evaluate Net
products than other people developing Net products?
Netpreneur News also covers about milestones like beta availability at regional
netpreneurs. In fact, we just did. If you'd like to beta test 12 Arcana, send email to
John Mueller at jmueller@digitaladdiction.com,
or visit:
Digital Addiction: http://www.digitaladdiction.com
To beta test Wow Address Book Safe, visit:
http://www.interguru.com/user-cgi/abs.cgi?action=main
and send email to Joseph Davidson at jdavidson@interguru.com.
Tell 'em both that the Netpreneur Program sent ya.
Join Talk The Talk: http://netpreneur.org/connect/talktalk
Submissions to Netpreneur News: editor@netpreneur.org
3. NEWLY ASSEMBLED AT THE FAQtory
There's a new FAQlet just up in the Funding area about Evaluating Prospective Investors
containing some suggestions from CyberCash CFO, Jim Condon. Check it out and add your own
comments. We'd love to see this one grow. Also, look for significant updates to the
Background Checks and Search Engine Registration FAQs in the Management and Marketing
areas respectively. The usual FAQtory caveat applies: these are not necessarily complete
explications. They reflect recent discussion among our netpreneur community and are added
to regularly. Please contribute your comments.
FAQtory: http://netpreneur.org/netcorner/faqtory
Regional Netpreneurs
1. ELECTRIC PRESS RELEASES FED COMMERCE PRODUCT
(Reston, VA) Electric Press has released eFed, a new product the company calls "the
first off-the-shelf, Web-based software developed specifically for government
procurement." eFed allows agencies and vendors to handle all facets of government
procurement from browsing a catalog, to back-and-forth communication between buyer and
seller, to purchasing a product and hooking into back-end accounting and inventory
systems. eFed enables government end users to identify and order products and services
from approved government contracts and provides mechanisms for configuration checks,
requests for quotes and for receiving quote information in return. Since the software is
pre-integrated and comes with procurement process functionality built in, agencies and
vendors can be up and running in 30 days. If needed, Electric Press can also customize the
interface and functionality to personalize the system, as well as host it. NASA's SEWP II
Program Office and the Army's Small Computer Program Office have both already adopted eFed
as their IT procurement application.
Electric Press: http://www.elpress.com
2. AURORA ANNOUNCES SOTERIA SECURITY SOLUTION
(Reston, VA) Aurora Enterprise Solutions is set to launch its new secure enterprise
information system platform, SOTERiA. Coded entirely in Java, SOTERiA provides an
information protection infrastructure that becomes transparent middleware inside the
client's networked computing environment. Portable and scalable, it is compatible with
Windows 95, Windows NT, UNIX, open VMS and the Internet.
Aurora: http://www.aurorasim.com
3. BAAN DELIVERS ENTERPRISE APPLICATION COMPONENTS
(Reston, VA) The Baan Company introduced BaanSeries, a new product family of open
components for extended enterprise applications. A Java-based browser interface allows
transparent access to the entire application suite across the Internet or intranets. As
part of the announcement, the company unveiled two software component elements for
BaanSeries, BaanERP and DEM-SE. BaanERP does resource scheduling, planning and management;
DEM-SE assists with strategic modeling.
Baan: http://www.baan.com
Partnerships
1. INEX AND MCGRAW-HILL TO CO-PUBLISH ONLINE TRAINING
(Fairfax, VA) iNEX Corporation and the McGraw-Hill Professional Book Group have formed an
alliance to co-publish and market Internet-based training programs to business and
government organizations. The companies will focus on creating programs in sales training,
business skills, managerial and leadership development and quality training. The companies
say that while online training is relatively widespread in the computer and information
technology environment, this alliance will be one of the first in the general business
skills training arena.
iNEX: http://www.inexworks.com
McGraw-Hill: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com
2. SNYDER TO CO-MARKET WITH iVILLAGE
(Bethesda, MD) Snyder Communications, Inc. and NYC-based iVillage announced a
joint-marketing agreement to leverage Snyder's Your Kids marketing programs on the
Internet via iVillage's Parent Soup, an interactive parenting community. The launch is
scheduled for April 1998. Snyder will use its sampling and WallBoard programs, which
target dual income households that have children in daycare centers, to support the Parent
Soup/Your Kids Web site. The site's url will be included on one-million sample pack boxes
and more than 10,000 Your Kids WallBoards displayed in daycare locations nationwide.
Parents will be able to access expanded editorial content from the WallBoard program and
participate in consumer polls and surveys, each sponsored by a Your Kids WallBoard
advertised brand. These sponsors include Kellogg, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gerber.
Parent Soup: http://www.parentsoup.com
Snyder Communications: http://www.snyder.com (under
construction)
iVillage: http://www.ivillage.com
3. MUSICMAKER AND LIQUID AUDIO IN PARTNERSHIP
(Herndon, VA) Musicmaker announced an agreement with Liquid Audio, the Redwood City,
CA-based developer of secure Internet music-delivery systems, to make more than 5,000
music tracks available for sale and direct digital download using Liquid Audio technology
beginning April 1. The enhanced Musicmaker Web site will feature songs for purchase and
download from a variety of artists and categories. Each downloadable track will cost $
1.00 and can be charged to customers' credit cards. In addition, customers can preview
more than 85,000 tracks for creating custom compilation CDs. Up to 70 minutes of music can
be selected on a CD, with prices from $9.95-$19.95.
Musicmaker: http://www.musicmaker.com
Liquid Audio: http://www.liquidaudio.com
4. AOL AND E! ONLINE IN PROGRAMMING AGREEMENT
(Dulles, VA) America Online Inc., and LA-based E! Online have formed a partnership to
bridge online and television entertainment news. The anchor tenancy agreement will give
AOL's members direct access to E! Online through a continuous presence on the front screen
of AOL's Entertainment Channel. The agreement also expands E! Entertainment Television's
coverage of the world of online entertainment. Using AOL as a source, E! Television will
develop program segments that report on new media entertainment news, online polls, live
online celebrity chats and other entertainment information on the Internet.
AOL: http://www.aol.com
E! Online: http://www.eonline.com
5. WCO PERSONAL FINANCE COMMUNITY FOR WOMEN
(McLean, VA) Women's Connection Online (WCO) launched its new Personal Finance Center
which provides research, online resources, live chats and bulletin boards coupled with
online trading and investment capabilities targeted at the increasingly affluent women's
market. The Center was created in conjunction with National Discount Brokers (NDB), The
Motley Fool and First Advisors. Discount brokerage services are offered by NDB integrated
with original content, online chats with industry experts and co-branded WCO/Motley Fool
bulletin boards. First Advisors provides access to free stock quotes and portfolio
tracking capabilities. In addition, First Advisors provides a fee-based service for
subscribers to track investment portfolios of leading money managers. The Personal Finance
Center includes services offered by NDB specifically for the WCO community, including a
dedicated team of customer service, trading and quote representatives. In addition, NDB
will contribute investing and personal finance content to the WCO site.
WCO Personal Finance Center: http://www.womenconnect.com/finance
NDB: http://www.ndb.com
Motley Fool: http://www.fool.com
First Advisors: http://www.firstadvisors.com
Funding & Finance News
1. NETFACTORY RAISES $4 MILLION
(Silver Spring, MD) NetFactory, Inc. has concluded a round of financing for $4 million
with Sigma Partners, Inc. and Atlas Venture, two private equity firms. The financing
consists of a $4 million equity investment of convertible preferred stock. The funds will
be used for product development and sales and marketing infrastructure expansion for
NetFactory's flagship products, NetCharts and ChartBlaster. Both are online charting
products which provide visual representation of data and real-time information across
virtually any source or platform.
NetFactory: http://www.netcharts.com
2. KODAK ACQUIRES CONTROLLING STAKE IN PICTUREVISION
(Herndon, VA) Eastman Kodak Company has acquired a 51% stake in PictureVision, Inc.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed. PictureVision provides PhotoNet Online and
PhotoNet Disk which allow consumers to view and share their photographs on computer when
having their film developed by participating retailers. With PhotoNet Online, pictures are
scanned and uploaded to a secure area of the Internet where consumers can email, store or
download their photos directly into a PC. With PhotoNet Disk, up to 40 images from a
regular camera are returned to consumers on floppy disk along with self-contained
software. PictureVision products will be integrated with those of the Kodak Picture
Network, which provides consumers with an Internet-based digital network service.
PictureVision: http://www.picturevision.com
3. LUCENT FORMS VENTURE CAPITAL FUND
(Murray Hill, NJ) Lucent Technologies has formed a venture capital fund, Lucent Venture
Partners Inc., to identify and invest in emerging technologies. The new subsidiary, which
will have $100 million committed to its initial investments, will focus on technology in
high growth areas such as wireless, data networking, semiconductors, communications
software and professional services. Lucent Venture Partners says it will leverage external
investments into Lucent Technologies' existing operations through the formation of joint
marketing agreements, joint product development efforts and possibly partnerships and
acquisitions. The group will be closely aligned with Lucent Technologies' corporate
strategies and operations. "We'll be identifying technologies in the early stages of
development that could complement what we're doing in Bell Labs, or that could fill a
particular gap in our strategy," said John Hanley, managing general partner of the
group. "The focus will be on cutting-edge technologies that fill particular niches in
communications networking."
Lucent: http://www.lucent.com
4. DIDAX ACQUIRES GOFISHNET
(Chantilly, VA) DIDAX, Inc. has acquired privately-held gofishnet.com, inc., the largest
Christian retailer on the Internet. Gofishnet, headquartered in Costa Mesa, CA, has
reached revenues of approximately $10,000 per month and is projecting that revenues will
exceed $100,000 per quarter by the end of 1998. Sales to date have been primarily music
oriented, and plans call for expansion into other retail fields. DIDAX will issue
approximately 130,000 restricted shares of its common stock for all outstanding gofishnet
shares.
DIDAX: http://www.christcom.net
Gofishnet: http://www.gofishnet.com
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