Back in 1998, it seemed brilliant: With investors panting for Web stock tips, what could be a better name for a site than InternetStocks.com?
At least that's what investment bank Robertson Stephens Inc. thought. Last month, the firm shuttered the site and moved its Web research to RobertsonStephens.com. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Chris Agarwal has sold his site, NetStocks.com. Robertson Stephens says its decision wasn't about the Nasdaq's crash. Agarwal disagrees: "The market for early-stage Internet companies just doesn't exist."
NetStocks.com is expanding its coverage to older tech companies under its new owner, 123Jump.com. What about the cost of the old addresses? Robertson Stephens is mum, but Agarwal says Netstocks.com cost "thousands of dollars." Kinda like theglobe.com's stock on IPO day. By Ben Elgin
That's Why They Call It the Blues Why do so many e-business companies have the word "blue" in their names? Do their finances make investors blue? Do they make competitors blue in the face with anger? We don't know. So we asked. Here's what they said.
BLUE MARTINI SOFTWARE
What It Does: E-commerce software and services.
Why Blue? Founder Monte Zweben called his first company Red Pepper, so he tried another color for his encore. He and his wife came up with Martini while sitting at a bar drinking pink ones.
How Blue? Enough to suffer a dot-com hangover. The stock is trading around $7, down from nearly $70 in August.
BLUEMETEOR
What It Does: Web software and hosting.
Why Blue? It's the hottest part of a flame. And a meteor is fast. Hot technology + fast service = BlueMeteor, or so they say.
How Blue? It's a private company, so it's hard to tell.
BLUEFLY
What It Does: Online outlet store.
Why Blue? Blue seems friendly. Fly implies nimble, fast, ready to turn on a dime.
How Blue? If only Bluefly had more dimes. The stock has avoided delisting but is trading under $2.
BLUETOOTH
What It Does: Chip developed by consortium to connect such wireless gadgets as cell phones and handhelds.
Why Blue? Named after 10th century Viking Harald Blatand (which means Bluetooth in Swedish).
How Blue? Still green: Companies only re- cently began shipping Bluetooth products.
At This Site, It's a Steal
Bad boys, bad boys, where you gonna shop? Ask former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, forced to retire after Rodney King's beating and related riots. He's now a senior adviser to PropertyRoom.com, a reseller of goods confiscated from crooks. "He's my door-opener," says PropertyRoom.com CEO Thomas P. Lane.
PropertyRoom.com may not transform the Web from black turtlenecks to black helicopters, but it expects to lock up business from 40 police departments, which will split proceeds with Lane's firm. "We'll be the world's biggest seller of used bicycles," he says, laughing.
Selection is thin, but deals can be had: A recent top bid on a mountain bike was $41, and $24 could cop you two silver necklaces. At those prices, we can all get along just fine. By Spencer E. Ante
Wired by Proxy
Living.com? Toast. Furniture.com? Tee hee hee. But almost unnoticed amid the crash of big online furniture stores stands a group that's selling furniture online and in the black. It's the Amish.
Yes, the Amish. Mennonite doctrine lets believers who shun modern conveniences work with partners who are wired to the gills. A Google search turns up 1,500 sites selling Amish wares online. "Amish people interpret linking with electrical wires as a connection with the world, and the Bible tells them not to be `conformed to the world,"' says Wes Newswanger, director of the Mennonite Information Center in Lancaster, Pa. But if a middleman uses the Net to sell furniture, "They think: `Hey, that's the next guy's decision."'
Middlemen such as Michael Paparello run sites for craftsmen like Levi Fisher. "I had to explain to him what a computer was," says Paparello. They sell about $4,000 worth of garden furniture and swings a month at Michaelsmark.com, which is profitable. Just don't look for Fisher on CNBC: He wouldn't even talk on the phone. By Jeanette Brown
For Good-Hair Days
There's an e-business storm that could muss even Pierce Brosnan's hair. So why is Mary Rector-Gable betting $1 million of her own money that there's an audience for a Web portal for hairdressers, blending entertainment, job postings, and Webcasts of last month's North American Hairstyling Awards? Is there demand for such stories as "The Lowdown on Long Locks: Is the Hair Extension Business Right for You?"
The Roselle (Ill.)-based founder of BehindtheChair.com says she can stay small and avoid the mistakes beauty-site washouts made on the way down the drain. BehindtheChair has no e-commerce, just content to draw 150,000 monthly surfers, mostly from the salon trade, and ads from companies like Paul Mitchell. Says Rector-Gable, a recruiter for beauty-products companies since 1988: "We focus on fun." But with Web markets in turmoil, even this more conservative trim could have its wild hair days. By Arlene Weintraub
GetYrZzzzs.com
Remember when the Web was new and exciting? Well, the thrill is gone for
some folks. A survey of 624 people by the furniture retailer IKEA claims
the most popular way for Americans to help themselves fall asleep is to
roam the Web. So Priceline.com founder Jay Walker isn't alone as he
suffers through those sleepless nights.
WHAT DO YOU DO TO HELP YOURSELF FALL ASLEEP?
Surf the Internet 20%
Watch TV 18%
Eat 15%
Count sheep 14%
Read a book 12%
Balance checkbook 8%
Answer e-mail 6%
Talk on the phone 4%
Other 5%
Copyright 2001 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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