| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : DECEMBER 13, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- NET WORTH
myCFO.com: Managing Megabucks Web superstar James Clark targets millionaires with his latest online venture What if you never had to write a check again? What if you could forget about keeping crumpled-up restaurant receipts for tax purposes? And that stack of monthly statements chronicling your investments? They'd be history, too. Instead, a quick trip to the Internet would show you everything you need to know about your finances--at any hour, from anywhere, and in real time. Sound too good to be true? Well, it is, for most of us. But if you're rich--really rich--then Web superstar James H. Clark's latest venture, myCFO Inc., could be a dream come true. The Silicon Valley company's promise is to offer top-drawer tax and accounting services to help the elite manage their finances. At the same time, myCFO intends to use the Web to integrate everything from disparate bank accounts to tax returns into one seamless site that can be reviewed from a plane, train, or yacht. Call it the Jet Set's Net. ''It may not be pleasant for most people to know, but half the money in the U.S. is tied up in the top 1% of households,'' says Clark, whose clients already are collectively worth $11 billion. Problem is, neither Clark nor his 65-person team can say how they will pull off their feat. Sure, myCFO already offers standard accounting, investment, and tax services to some 60 clients--the five poorest of whom average $7.5 million in assets. But the six-month old upstart manages these services the old-fashioned way. ''The back end is done through paper,'' explains my-CFO Chief Executive Arthur V. Shaw. ''We do bill-paying and bookkeeping and are writing checks for our clients. But right now, you can't monitor that online.'' Clients will be able to check things like their bill payments online early next year, but few details can be had for when--and how--the rest of the plan will unfold. That has prompted skeptics to wonder whether myCFO will end up as an upscale version of Quicken. And they question how revolutionary myCFO can be when banks and brokerages offer many of the same services. Plainly put: They doubt myCFO will capture the Net valuations of Clark's previous endeavors, Netscape Communications Corp. and Healtheon Inc. ''Their biggest challenge is to make this into an Internet company,'' says one broker who pitched business to the upstart. Clark is ready for such naysayers. He says he isn't claiming to reinvent the financial management market for the wealthy. Rather, he's hoping to fill a need more efficiently than anyone else--while building a powerful community that can demand special deals. Indeed, the big idea behind myCFO is to use its megamillionaire club to get such bennies as better investment products and more white-glove service from existing institutions. ''When one organization is working on behalf of a set of clients that collectively represents a lot of money, then that organization has tremendous influence,'' explains Clark. Clark's customers do, indeed, represent quite a bit of money: The client list includes Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, Excite@Home CEO Tom Jermoluk, and former Netscape CEO James Barksdale. ''I'm as close to being in control of my financial life as I've ever been,'' says Chambers, who has pared back the number of private bankers, money managers, and such he uses from about 10 to two. MyCFO also gives Clark a chance to hang on to one of his ventures. He was pushed out of Silicon Graphics Inc. Both Netscape and Healtheon were acquired. ''This one is mine forever,'' says Clark. Or at least as long as it lives up to its, uh, billing. By Linda Himelstein _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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