My most recent adventure was an East Coast analysts' tour. There's a surfeit of information on running a company these days -- but not on dealing with this. That's too bad, because any Internet company should think about doing such a tour -- especially if its niche is a new one.

What's involved? For two or three days, the head of the company visits the analysts at big research firms in Boston, Connecticut, and New York. Journalists and large companies rely on analysts to signal trends and give unbiased evaluations of a company or sector. At the outset, I wasn't sure the trip would be worthwhile. It seemed to demand a lot of time and money for no tangible gain. Apprehensive about wasted effort, I packed in appointments to investors and partners as well. They proved fruitful. But gradually, I realized that the analyst visits alone would have been worth the fare.

Here's why. Analysts haven't much studied zipRealty.com's sector, online real estate. So the key is to get across to them the story of your business and your market before competitors label you. The other point is to give analysts information so that when journalists call about your company or your sector, they have material to base their responses on.

We had initially thought about doing a tour at the time we launched our service in late August, but circumstances -- i.e., the daily onslaught of tasks that come with launching a business -- made that difficult, and we regretted it at the time. Yet I realized on this trip that our timing was perfect because now we have results -- homes sold and under contract through our site. Earlier, we had only our hopes. On the other hand, had we waited two or three months more, competitors would have gotten to tell their stories first.

The work for the tour started weeks before we left. Unfortunately, mid-October is conference time for analysts, so they're flying all over the country. Still, we landed definite appointments with two top firms and a possible gig with a third.

The tour started off rough. I had booked a room at a hotel next to Fenway Park. Sounded great. Baseball. Peanuts. Crackerjacks. The problem was getting from the airport to downtown Boston at 11 p.m. -- never having been to the city before. The rental-car agency's directions sent me off toward New Hampshire. Luckily, I realized it in time. Next, a false move put me on the Massachusetts Turnpike. New directions had me heading out to Watertown. I finally accosted a cyclist, who offered a solid tip -- follow the river into town. To an ex-helicopter pilot like me, that made sense. Bushed, I checked into my room well past midnight. Moral: Take cabs in unknown territory.

The next morning, I took a taxi to Forrester Research. I launched into an hourlong pitch to a senior analyst, who, fortunately, understood the concept of online real estate sales. We were the first company Forrester had met with from the online realty world. This allowed us to introduce what was happening in the business and explain why we -- and online real estate sales in general -- are different from other established real estate assistance sites (such as home-search or large franchise sites). A tip, though: It's best to see these presentations as an opportunity to educate the analysts, not just to hit them over the head with your product. We described competitors' models and how they differed from ours. We had to establish the online realty space as a new and growing segment and present ourselves as a leader. It seemed to me that we did that.

The shaky analyst appointment fell through, so I cabbed it to the headquarters of one of our partners, Inpho, which collects home-price data. Meeting partners face-to-face really enhances a relationship.

Then, I took a cab back to downtown Boston to meet with Barrington Partners, one of our first-round investors. I expected a relaxing catch-up chat. It wasn't to be. To my surprise, they had arranged for me to meet a venture-capital group that was interested in zipRealty.com. Within moments, I was running through a full presentation. Two hours later, they were talking about investing. That's what I call a productive meeting.

The next day, I was up at 4 a.m. (1 a.m. by my body, which was still on California time) to meet analysts at Gartner Group in Stamford, Conn. The 220-mile trip was supposed to take three hours tops. That didn't account for the jackknifed rig on the highway. I arrived in Stamford at 9:15 a.m., starving. Providentially, our PR representative had lemonade for me. A good thing. The sugar got me through the next two hours. The three analysts said afterward that they had changed their attitude about the viability of online realty, and we might be on to something big. That made the entire trip worth it.

No time to gloat, though. I headed right back to Boston for a presentation to potential investors. At least this time, I could enjoy the fall colors along the road. I was starting to feel the effects of the two-day marathon. After the presentation, I caught the late flight to Oakland and was home by 3 a.m. By 9, I was in the office for our monthly board meeting. Another week in the life...

Next, we expand our services to Los Angeles and San Diego. See you in two weeks.

Scott Kucirek is president and co-founder of zipRealty.com, an online real estate brokerage. The company's Internet site and online real estate agents let people complete the entire purchase or sale of a house via the Web. The company's Web site is www.zipRealty.com, and you can E-mail Scott at Scott@zipRealty.com.