BW Online | July 27, 2000 | The Web Tag That Nearly Got Away

Headlines
Columns

Tax Adviser
Management
Finance
Your Money
Technology
Staff & Benefits
Going Global

Small Business Guide

PREMIUM CONTENT MBA Insider

BW MAGAZINE Get Four Free Issues Register Subscribe Customer Service

ONLINE FEATURES Book Reviews BW Video Columnists Interactive Gallery Newsletters Past Covers Philanthropy Podcasts Special Reports BLOGS Auto Beat Bangalore Tigers Blogspotting Brand New Day Byte of the Apple Economics Unbound Eye on Asia Fine On Media Green Biz Hot Property Investing Insights Management IQ NEXT: Innovation NussbaumOnDesign Tech Beat Working Parents TECHNOLOGY J.D. Power Ratings Product Reviews Tech Stats Wildstrom: Tech Maven AUTOS Home Page Auto Reviews Classic Cars Car Care & Safety Hybrids INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads

BW EXTRAS BW Digital BW Mobile BW Online Alerts Dashboard Widgets Podcasts RSS

RSS Feeds

Reprints/ Permissions Conferences Research Services

JULY 27, 2000

TECHNOLOGY

The Web Tag That Nearly Got Away
To get his new address, Graham Balch had to track down a fugitive

STORY TOOLS

Search for business contacts:

PREMIUM SEARCH
Search by job title, geography and build a list of executive contacts

Internet entrepreneurs will do whatever it takes to secure that oh-so-right Web name. "Names are tremendously important," says Julie Cottineau, naming director at New York corporate-identity consultant Interbrand. "They're the tangible hook for the brand with consumers."

But few Netrepreneurs go to the lengths that Graham Balch did in his quest to secure the rights to "ChangeAddress.com." After the 26-year-old ex-Bain & Co. consultant conceived of an Internet-based change-of-address service, he found that his dream URL, ChangeAddress.com, was owned by a Detroit consultant, Thomas Byxbe. In October, Balch sent Byxbe, who claims he once held rights to 900 Web names, $2,000 of the $3,000 selling price.

Then, says Balch, Byxbe dropped out of sight. A panicky Balch flew to Detroit in January and gave himself 48 hours to find his man. "There was no way I wasn't going to follow through," he says. A neighbor told Balch that Byxbe had been evicted. Byxbe's nephew said Byxbe hadn't been working, following a life-threatening auto accident two years before; the nephew added that Byxbe had had some brushes with the law. He'd been convicted of switching license plates and driving with a suspended license and a concealed weapon, court records show. He'd also missed his probation hearings. His probation officer warned Balch that if he found Byxbe, he could be charged with harboring a criminal.

Then, suddenly, Balch's cell phone rang. It was Byxbe, calling from the suburbs from what his nephew called an "escort service." (Byxbe's story: "I was babysitting a friend's apartment.") Balch drove there after first instructing his brother in Atlanta to call the police if he didn't hear back from Balch in an hour. When Balch finally found Byxbe and handed him the final $1,000, he received a C-note from the mysterious Mr. Byxbe in return. "He said he understood all the trouble I'd gone through," Balch explains.

Balch was scheduled to find out if his wait has been worth it on July 24, the date of ChangeAddress.com's debut. Name maven Cottineau questions whether the name gives Balch enough flexibility to expand into other services. And Byxbe? He's in jail in Pontiac, Mich., until at least Aug. 4. "You do the crime, you do the time," he says. At least he is $2,900 richer.