Sample business plan to share with other entrepreneurs. Business plan from my 3rd startup, GoingOn Networks, which was a social media platform for companies & organizations. BusinessWeek recognized GoingOn Networks in their "Best of the Web: Social Networking Tools" list for 2007.

1. Business Plan for<br />June 2006<br /> <br />Company Overview<br />GoingOn Networks, Inc. (GO) will become the first provider of an integrated blog publishing and social networking platform designed for business and professional use. The platform will host various networks of private-labeled communities. End-user membership profiles will seamlessly interoperate throughout each community within the GO universe. In this way, GoingOn simplifies the management of an individual’s digital lifestyle by aggregating services and data into one single, centralized location.<br />Companies will use the GoingOn platform to easily and inexpensively create highly interactive communication networks which encourage dialogue and collaboration within communities that are critical to their success; including customers and prospects, user and developer groups, management teams and employees. <br />The GO Vision<br />Our vision originates from the successful, working model of the AlwaysOn Network (http://www.alwayson-network.com), an online media brand and community of technology executives, but with GoingOn we are creating a new paradigm of online branding, communication, and community with the GO platform. It will empower companies to better connect with their customers, individuals with companies, and companies with their employees. As part of our vision, GoingOn Networks will be contributors to and leaders in the following movements:<br />Open Media. Participatory media sites and the proliferation of user-generated <br />content are grabbing reader mind share and loyalty away from traditional media brands. GoingOn enables media brands and individuals to publish content, engage readers, build transparent communities, and enhance advertising and subscription income. <br />Open Source. Building our product on top of Drupal, a leading open source CMS <br />platform, GoingOn is tapping into an existing and growing community of over 100,000 users and developers. For our long-term vision we plan to build a gallery of modules and templates that Drupal developers can give away or sell to users of the GoingOn platform. We plan to be an active supporter of Drupal’s open source community and contribute to its overall ecosystem.<br />Open Web. The movement towards using the web as a platform for various<br />applications and technologies. Led by companies such as Skype, Google, and others, the individual web experience is becoming more open and customizable. GoingOn has already integrated various services, such as Flickr and del.icio.us, for our users’ individual profile pages and will continue to be an active participant and supporter of the Open Web.<br />Open Marketing. Across all industries, customers are firmly in the driving seat. With brands increasingly under pressure to be more transparent and engaged with customers, blogging is empowering brands to have both an offensive and defensive marketing strategy. GoingOn will be the active thought leader in Open Marketing.<br />Open Management. As the virtualization of the work force continues to be driven by <br />always-on technologies, executives will use participatory web sites to identify and better manage people, resources, initiatives, and ideas. GoingOn provides a robust solution for these purposes.<br />Why the Market is Ready to GO <br />The market is being rapidly conditioned to understand and accept blogging, social networking, RSS, SMS and other technologies as new forms of communication and information access. These tools are becoming daily aspects of our personal and professional lives. Today, news and information sources are not limited to those with major media credentials, but people with a PC who hold relevant experience and knowledge. These are the new sources of “expert opinions” embraced or rejected by their online peers and readers. <br />Millions of consumers are engaging in real-time conversations that influence markets, brand perception, and products, whether companies choose to participate in them or not. Rather than relying on traditional methods via e-mail, e-letters and static websites, which, at best, foster a one-to-one dialogue. Early-adopter businesses are using these technologies to better communicate with customers, harness customer feedback, and increase customer loyalty – all which impact the bottom line and win over competition.<br />Proliferation of User-Generated Content<br />The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 44% of U.S. Internet users have contributed their thoughts and files to the online world, and Internet usage is projected to grow at 20%-30% annually over the next few years. Another study found there are 1.25 million consumer postings per day.<br />Phenomenal Growth of Blogging<br />Recently, Technorati reported that there were 37.3 million blogs in the U.S. while in 2002 there were approximately 100,000 blogs. The blogosphere continues to double every six months and is now over 60 times larger than it was 3 years ago. Among adult Internet users (18 and over), 11% have visited blogs and 17% has posted written material on websites. Lastly, 2%-7% have created blogs and the number is growing.<br />Popularity of Online Social Networks<br />Most people have experienced the explosion of online social networks from casual sites, such as Friendster and MySpace, to professional sites, such as Linkedin and Ecademy. Within a year of its launch, pioneering Friendster became the 76th ranked website in the world in terms of traffic and has over 27 million users. MySpace is now ranked 6th globally in terms of traffic, Orkut is 48th, and Friendster still survives at 67th. In South Korea, Cyworld is an interactive blog service started two years ago that rapidly grew to become the most visited site in Korea and top twenty worldwide. Cyworld has over 14 million users and generates over $200,000 per day. Professional networks, such as Linkedin, have grown rapidly as people seek new methods of business and job referrals.<br />Increase of Content Syndication and Aggregation from the Internet<br />The growth of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) usage by media companies, major Internet sites, and blogs are driving an even broader and deeper dependency towards the Internet for news and information. On the other side, total newspaper circulation in the U.S. has been declining from over 60 million in 1990 to about 54 million in 2003.<br />A validation of RSS is Yahoo!’s recent integration of RSS feeds into its My Yahoo! Service. This sends out to over 25 million users the power of news over the Internet. The most popular sources are major news sites and blogs (i.e. The New York Times, BBC News, CNET News.com, Gizmodo, and Slashdot). Currently, 31% of blogs have RSS feeds.<br />Rapid Growth of Online Advertising<br />This year online advertising experience 35% growth, which was the largest increase of any media sector. Jupiter Research projects the online advertising market to grow from $6.6 billion in 2003 to $16.1 billion by 2009. One reason driving this growth is an increased sophistication metrics, targeting technologies, and the success of innovative programs, such as Google’s Adwords.<br />The market and people are being conditioned in several ways to understand and accept blogging, social networking, SMSing and other new forms of communication and information access. Today sources of news and information are not limited to those with major media credentials, but people with a PC who hold relevant experience and knowledge. These are the new sources of “expert opinions” embraced or rejected by their online peers and readers. This is the new media environment and world that is creating the “GoingOn opportunity.”<br />What has been missing is a unified platform targeted for businesses that allows them to take advantage of these market dynamics. GoingOn Networks is uniquely positioned to provide a comprehensive solution for this purpose. By integrating blog publishing, social networking, and other web services onto a single, open platform, GoingOn enables businesses to engage community members who are transparent to each other in a much more satisfying, many-to-many public dialogue. The GonginOn platform is the first convergence of the technologies that, when combined, create a powerful communications platform for company, media brands, and individuals alike. <br />Ready-Set-GO <br />Key Platform Features of the GoingOn Networks Platform:<br />Private and public communities<br />Integrated ad serving, management, and revenue sharing<br />Advanced backend and editorial management<br />Hosted confederation of networks and individual members*<br />Support of all open standards and micro-content publishing*<br />Membership profiles interoperate across all GO networks and groups*<br />Personal navigation toolbar available at all times*<br />Support of integration of existing blogs, forums, message boards*<br />One-time content posting to multiple networks, external blogs, and web services*<br />Comment tracking across all networks*<br />Automatically generated “About this Network” page with advanced traffic, content, and member data analytics*<br />Customized cross-network advertising packages and revenue sharing*<br />* Unique to GoingOn compared to competitors, such Six Apart and WordPress<br />Company & Media Brand BenefitsEnd-User BenefitsBuild community around brand and expertiseImprove communications with customers and employeesIncrease brand loyalty and trustFull transparency of membersIncrease site “stickiness”Increase prospects and connectionsAbility to react to market in real timeGain valuable feedback and product ideasGain instant visibility and traffic from other GO networks and GO membersIdentify external and internal resources with robust search engineCan join a network of built-in communities with just one clickFind and make connections based on shared interests and contextAggregates web services such as Skype, Flickr, del.icio.us, BrightCove, and external blogs in one placeBroader exposure of content with built-in network syndicationFree multi-media gallery for storage of audio, video, and picture files<br />“Blogging makes it very easy to communicate. It gets away from the drawbacks of e-mail and the drawbacks of a Web site. Eventually, most businesses will use blogs to communicate to customers, suppliers and employees, because it is two-way and more satisfying.”<br /> -Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft - Message to CEOs in 2004<br />“So where does blogging fit in? It's a way to energize the expertise from the bottom—in other words, to allow people who want to share, who are good at sharing, who know who the experts are, who talk to the experts or who may, in fact, be one of those experts, to participate more fully.”<br /> -Patrick Web, Former Vice President of Internet Technology, IBM<br />The GO Advantage<br />GoingOn Networks has first-mover advantages in providing a blogging and social networking platform for corporate users. The GO platform is far more robust in functionality and provides more advanced data analysis for corporate customers and media buyers alike than any other blogging platform. Additionally, the GoingOn team and strategic partners provide an incredible advantage in execution, marketing, product development, and delivery of GO services.<br />Experienced team of entrepreneurs, media executives, and technologists. The <br />GoingOn Networks team has been involved in over 9 early-stage companies and raised over $170 million in venture capital. Our team members have been founders, CEOs or executives of companies such as Red Herring, Ziff Davis Media, Real Names, SmartPlanet, CriticalArc, and HeyAnita. Also our team members have led in the development of such reliable and secure systems, such as Charles Schwab’s online trading system, and building online social networks and media sites, such as AlwaysOn, Ourmedia, 1up.com and ASmallWorld.<br />Strong strategic partnerships. GoingOn is leveraging Tony Perkins’s media brand, <br />AlwaysOn, and the contacts he has built through his years with the Red Herring and AlwaysOn. GO’s first customer and flagship example will be the AlwaysOn site. Additionally, we are leveraging AlwaysOn’s strategic customers, which include Sun Microsystems, Audi, Churchhill Club, MIT/Stanford Venture LAB, iHollywoodForum, and SalesRamp. In the coming months, we will launch with few of these strategic customers, such as Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, SAP, ThinkEquity Partners, Quova, and AlwaysOn.<br />Additionally, GoingOn has forged several important strategic partners for technology, marketing, and channel development purposes. HP will be providing servers and infrastructure equipment along with other partnership initiatives. Endeca will be providing GoingOn customers will a powerful enterprise search solution. Quova will be providing our customers with geo-location information about their network, and an additional layer of security for our corporate customers. These are just a few of the partners we have signed up to work together to make this the best choice for companies seeking a blogging and communication solution.<br />Leadership in technology and product creation. The GO team is developing first-<br />time features and functionalities that will further differentiate GoingOn from competitors. One example is the core platform function that allows users to participate in an interconnected and interoperable network of networks.<br />Members will be able to join any public network with a single click of the button. No more filling out a new profile for each disparate online community. For example, a member of the Skype network can join the McDonald’s network with simple click within the GoingOn universe. More importantly, the GoingOn network will be a highly active, current media window into all communities on GO that highlights the most read content, tracks the most popular communities, provides positive and negative sentiment on a company or its brands in the blogosphere, and more.<br />Low-cost development model. The Company’s product and platform development <br />costs have been inexpensive. The majority of programming is outsourced to an India-based software development firm. Its core team members are highly experienced, former engineers of Microsoft and Infosys who were educated at the Indian Institute of Technology and M.I.T.<br />Some of our strategic and technology partners:<br />Leading Open Source Content Management System (CMS) platform that we are building GO’s platform on top of. We will leverage their existing 100,000 user and developer community.Technology PartnerEnterprise search solution that will power GO’s people search engine. Endeca’s clients include Walmart.com, Harvard Business School, Library of Congress, IBMTechnology PartnerHP is the largest consumer IT and a leader in the IT enterprise market with having the most sales in Windows, Linux, and UNIX servers and the lead in total storage systems. HP is providing servers and other infrastructure to the GO platform.Technology & Distribution PartnerJob search engine. Partnering with GO to provide our users, especially corporate HR, with job postings.Technology & Strategic PartnerLeading RSS aggregation platform company that is providing their technology for GO’s users to create their own feed reader.Technology & Channel PartnerLeading RSS feed management and ad solution company that is providing their technology for GO’s users and customers to manage their web feeds and to generate advertising revenue.Technology & Channel PartnerLeading online reputation company that is providing GoingOn users with the ability to aggregate their online reputations (e.g. Amazon reviews) and verify their credentials such as employment and academic information.Technology & Strategic PartnerLeader on IP intelligence and the geolocation data for businesses. Quova will be providing our network operators with its technology, and a means for companies to have an additional layer of security based on tracking user locations.Technology & Channel PartnerOn-demand customer relationship management solution that GoingOn is integrating with through their AppExchange program. Allows our users to integrate information from GoingOn into Salesforce.com’s CRM solution.Technology & Strategic PartnerGlobal P2P telephony company that will be the communication based for GO users through chat and VoIP telephony.Technology PartnerMarketing intelligence company whose technology analyzes and distills the opinions of the online world. Umbria’s services will be provided to GO’s corporate clients.Technology PartnerOnline bookmarking service that GO is integrating for users to import their own del.icio.us accounts.Web Service IntegrationLeading online photo management and sharing application that GO is integrating for user to import their own Flickr accounts. Web Service IntegrationGlobal leader in online payment solutions that will allow GO users to pay for premium services.Web Service Integration<br />The GO Business Model<br />The GoingOn business model is designed to quickly build and encourage the use of its platform, and make money through monthly subscriptions, consulting, online advertising, web services, resale of third party solutions, and e-commerce.<br />Hosted services. GoingOn will charge a monthly subscription fee to its corporate <br />users in the range of $5,000 and up. Corporate customers can choose between an online self-service model and a package where GoingOn sales team walks them through the set up process. The basic template is offered for free, so that small organizations and individuals can establish their own GoingOn network. GO will only charge if network traffic exceeds an unusual amount of bandwidth.<br />Consulting services. GoingOn sales team will be pitching our marketing startup <br />package that provides a comprehensive analysis of the customer’s needs and positioning to effectively launch and attract their target audience. The starting price point for this will be $10,000. A company can also request additional consulting services for further marketing analysis or customization of their platform.<br />Online Advertising. The GoingOn platform will be quasi-Open Source because GO <br />will own all advertising units across all networks on GO, including top billboard, IMU and sky scrapper units, sold as both text (e.g. Adsense model) and image ads. Like Google, GoingOn will share revenue with its participants. GoingOn will also sell advertising and high-value special placements on the main GO network (GoingOn.com) that will generate a significant amount of revenue.<br />Web Services. GoingOn will offer advanced functionality and features from third <br />party developers and in-house. For example, GoingOn will provide regular IM and video chat, but for video mail, GO may charge a small one-time fee for each vmail. GoingOn will also gain revenue from various referral programs operated by our partners, such as Skype or Amazon.<br />E-Commerce. GoingOn will offer user communities an e-commerce storefront and <br />charge according to a percentage of sales model, and the ability to advertise in the broader GoingOn network classified ad section. <br />Financial Projections Over a 3-Year Period:<br />The GO Product Roadmap & Timeline<br />Currently we are focused on our alpha and beta launch. The following is an overview of our product roadmap over the next two years. We currently have a backlog of features and functions we want to implement for our corporate clients.<br /> <br />-1460504145915-146050-426085<br />Overview of GO Platform<br />GO Mockups<br />Management Team<br />Tony Perkins, Co-Founder & CEO <br />Tony is the CEO of GoingOn Networks responsible for leading and creating its strategy and vision, and focused on promoting and selling the company’s product and services through various channels. Tony is a pioneering media entrepreneur and a prominent opinion leader in the technology business and investment editorial world. Tony earned this distinction as the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Red Herring, which he founded in 1993, and the AlwaysOn network, his current venture. Even as Red Herring's revenues were soaring along with the rest of the technology sector’s, Tony co-wrote The Internet Bubble: Inside the Overvalued World of High-Tech Stocks (HarperBusiness, 1999), a book that foretold the dot-com bust and warned investors to get out quick. The Internet Bubble became an international bestseller; a sequel was published in 2001. Now Tony has launched a new media brand: AlwaysOn (www.alwayson-network.com), a highly interactive online network for technology insiders. With both Red Herring and AlwaysOn, his mission has always been to deliver the brightest thinking, the best analysis, and the most focused reporting and research for the benefit of entrepreneurs and investors around the globe. Tony previously had a column for the Wall Street Journal and has been a television commentator for MSNBC's quot;
Hardball with Chris Matthews,” CNN, CNBC, BBC, and Bloomberg Television. His prolific editorial output consistently lands him on the list of top ten technology business journalists by AdWeek's Technology Marketing magazine. <br />Tony’s public activities include serving on President George W. Bush's Information Technology Advisory Council. He co-founded and chaired Silicon Valley's premier business and technology forum, the Churchill Club in Palo Alto, California. Prior to launching Red Herring and AlwaysOn, Tony was founder and CEO of Upside Publishing and was Vice President of Business Development at Silicon Valley Bank.<br />Chris Dobbrow, President & COO<br />Chris will serve as President & COO of GoingOn Networks responsible for the daily operations of the company and will lead the build out of the company’s sales force and infrastructure. A technology media veteran, Chris has more than 20 years of management experience, including over 16 years at Ziff Davis. His most recent position before joining GoingOn, Chris was at Ziff Davis Media where he served as Senior VP of Corporate Sales, Integrated Media Solutions and Publisher of eWEEK. He successfully increased revenue and profitability across all three business units, and grew top accounts from $52 million in 2003 to $62 million in 2004. He re-energized eWeek that resulted in a revenue growth of 10% to $36 million and a market share growth of 15%.<br />Prior to returning to Ziff Davis Media, Mr. Dobbrow served as President and CEO of Red Herring Communications, the publisher of Red Herring Magazine, web site and events. He was hired to evaluate business and exit strategies and turnaround an unprofitable entity to breakeven, and eventually helped to sell the business assets of the company. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Global Platform Sales for RealNames Corporation, a keyword infrastructure provider to the domain name channel, where he successfully transitioned the company from direct sales model to a channel based model while doubling revenue. He assisted in the capital raising of $46 million in a difficult capital market. Preceding that, Mr. Dobbrow had a very successful 14-year tenure at Ziff-Davis, Inc. where he served as Executive Vice President overseeing some of the company's most successful magazines such as PCMagazine, PCComputing and Family PC. During this tenure, he had a P&L responsibility of $225 million and continually drove his business units to 20% profit margins. While at Ziff-Davis, he also founded eLearning startup SmartPlanet in 1999 and built the business to over 60,000 paying subscriber before merging it with ZDNet. The company was subsequently sold to CNet Networks and remains a unit of CNet. Mr. Dobbrow holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of New Hampshire.<br />Carl Wescott, CTO<br />Carl will serve as CTO of GoingOn networks responsible for the continued development of our blogging and communications platform while assuring its scalability, reliability and security for our users. Carl Wescott brings two dozen years of software development experience including fifteen years in technology management. The common thread to his career is leading the creation of scalable, secure, highly available, mission-critical software systems. Prior to joining GoingOn, he served as Vice President of Engineering at Broadband Mechanics, which designed, built, and deployed DLAs (digital lifestyle aggregators). He has led successful DLAs (i.e. theme-based online social networks) efforts for Ziff Davis ‘s 1up.com and aSmallWorld (www.aSmallWorld.net), among other companies.<br />Most recently, Wescott was CTO & VP of Investor Relations at Zoom Systems, where he helped raise a multi-million dollar round of funding. Wescott is now on the Advisory Board of Zoom. Prior to that, Wescott was VP of Engineering at CPlane, the market leader for carrier-class, integrated service provisioning and core optimization software. The company raised over $42 million in venture capital. As VP of Engineering, Carl managed the software engineering group and was responsible for a team of 40 people. He reduced the monthly burn rate by 70% while raising productivity and hitting product release dates, which the company failed to do before his arrival. Prior to CPlane, Wescott was CTO & VP of Engineering at CriticalArc Technologies, a supply-chain software provider for the hospitality sector. The company raised over $41 million in venture capital where Carl was an integral part of the capital raising and company building process. He designed CriticalArc's original systems and software, which included the online procurement applications and patent-pending credit card processing technology. Previously, he was CTO & VP of Engineering at Tritonic, creating software for financial services customers, such as Goldman Sachs, E*TRADE, H&Q, and Robertson Stephens. While at Tritonic, he was best known implementing & optimizing the online investing systems at Charles Schwab & Co. Prior to this, he was CTO & VP of Engineering at SoftBridge, and started his career at Animated Systems & Design and Mozart Systems Corp.<br />Carl has been featured on CNN and on the cover of Internet Week for his role in the software industry and at Charles Schwab. He earned a BS in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, a MS in Computer and Information Sciences from University of California-Santa Cruz, and was a PhD. candidate in Computer Science at University of California-Santa Cruz.<br />Bernard Moon, Co-Founder & Vice President of Business Development<br />Bernard is Vice President of Business Development where he is responsible for targeting and securing strategic partners in technology and business functions that enhance GoingOn’s service offerings and revenues. Previously, he was Director of Strategic Planning & Sales at Innotive Corp., a multimedia and digital publishing software company based in Seoul, Korea, and currently serves as an advisor for the company. Prior to this, Bernard was a Director at iRG, a leading boutique investment bank in Asia, where he focused on TMT (Telecommunications-Media-Technology) companies and provided such services as market entry strategies, M&A advisory, and capital raising. <br /> <br />Prior to iRG, Bernard was Vice President of Business Development & Marketing at HeyAnita Korea, Inc., a leading voice portal and solutions provider, based in Seoul. At HeyAnita Korea, Bernard was responsible for establishing strategic and content partnerships, leading the development of the company’s branding strategy and initial advertising campaign, and helping to build the company from its conceptual stage to a 54-person operation. Additionally, he assisted in the closing of the company’s two rounds of financing totaling $14.5 million from firms such as Softbank and CDIB. The company’s revenues in 2005 were over $12 million, and it has been profitable since 2002. Prior to joining HeyAnita, Bernard was co-founder and Vice President of Strategic Development for Chicago-based View Plus, Inc., a video-on-demand company where he was a core decision-maker and strategic planner for various aspects of marketing, operations, recruiting, technology, alliances and market entry. He assisted in raising $600,000 in seed capital for the development of its prototype and the closing of its first institutional round of $33 million. He initiated and secured partnerships with companies such as Oracle and Scientific-Atlanta. Additionally, he gained experience in the strategic planning unit of Digital City Chicago, a partnership with the Tribune Co. and AOL, where he was involved in the rollout of new virtual communities, their community development project, and other new initiatives. He also served as a legislative liaison to Governor Jim Edgar of Illinois on issues of healthcare and disabilities.<br />Bernard completed a post-graduate fellowship with the Coro Foundation, which was an experiential-based leadership development program. He received his MPA in Telecommunications and New Media Policy from Columbia University and a BA in English and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Bernard blogs at Junto Boyz and writes a column covering the blogosphere and social software at AlwaysOn.<br />Board of Advisors<br />Dries Buytaert, Advisor<br />Dries Buytaert is the founder of Drupal, a highly scaleable and modular open source web application development platform. More than 40,000 people have joined Drupal.org, and the project is maintained and developed by more than 300 active contributors. An extremely powerful yet flexible system, Drupal powers a wide variety of websites. Drupal was the software behind 'Deanspace' which revolutionized U.S. Presidential races and enabled Howard Dean to transform modern politics. Companies like Yahoo! and Skype and eBay use Drupal to support their operations and sites like Ecademy.com and TheOnion.com have built their sites with Drupal.<br />Dries has a degree in Computer Science with honors from the University of Antwerp and he is currently completing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Ghent where he is sponsored by the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders. Dries’ research covers several areas of dynamic and adaptive optimization technologies in the context of Java, the core theme of which is runtime code generation, profiling and instrumentation.<br />Marc Canter, Advisor<br />Marc is one of the most recognized people in the sphere of social networks and blogging, and he has been interviewed and quoted on the subject matter in numerous publications. Over the years Marc has also traveled all over the world, consulting to global corporations (Sony, JVC, Fujitsu, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Kalieda Labs and many others) and delivered speeches and seminars about the multimedia industry and burgeoning world of micro-content publishing and social networking.<br />He is the founder and CEO of Broadband Mechanics, a digital lifestyle aggregator (DLAs) company. Broadband Mechanics builds new kinds of tool and environments which enable everyday people to create and maintain new kinds of online communities. Additionally, it allows people to integrate, aggregate and provide appropriate levels of customization to media, communication and personal publishing. Through his company, he has built 1up.com, Ziff-Davis’s social network for video game fanatics, and consulted Tribe.net, a leading social network funded by Mayfield, Knight Ridder, and The Washington Post Company. His other customers include aSmallWorld (www.aSmallWorld.net), Avid, AlwaysOn Network, and Visual Media. Broadband Mechanics is also working with Laszlo Systems (www.laszlosystems.com) to build compelling interfaces for these DLAs, which are they believe are the next generation portals.<br />Broadband Mechanics recently released Ourmedia (http://ourmedia.org), a community for digital creators to store their work for free. This nonprofit effort provides unlimited storage for grassroots video, audio, music, photos, text and public domain works, and presents a community space to share and discuss personal media.<br />Broadband Mechanics was founded in 1999 and one of its first projects was to build an interactive TV authoring system for Richard Li's NOW.com. Subsequent projects included designs for AOL (2001), a Reuters NewsML trading system (2000), and Ealing Studio's Digital Production Studio (2000). Prior to this, Marc consulted for SuperBowl XXXII and designed a digital city for Trieste, Italy, and was involved in other numerous multimedia projects. <br />Marc co-founded MacroMind in 1984 and began developing for the newly launched Apple Macintosh. MacroMind became Macromedia in 1991. He was part of the team that created the first multimedia player, the first cross-platform authoring system and the world's leading multimedia platform. Marc was considered one of the founders of multimedia and the strongest evangelist in the industry for nearly a decade. <br />Prior to MacroMind, he worked for Bally-Midway programming music for videogames. He programmed the first ever licensed music (“Peter Gunn” for Spyhunter) and killed more aliens and saved the planet earth more times than he would like to count. He started his career after college when he went to New York City to help his friends build a music studio called “Noise NY.” It was during this time that Marc gained valuable experience and expertise working with laserdiscs, laser light shows, NAPLIPS, pro audio and video equipment and a new technology called videodiscs. He obtained his BS in Intermedia from Oberlin College. He blogs at Marc’s Voice.<br />Bill Cleary, Advisor<br />Bill Cleary has been active in assisting entrepreneurs with their business development and overall marketing efforts through Cleary & Partners over the past several years. Prior to this, Bill was Chairman of the Board for Matchmaker.com, a highly innovative and fast emerging new web company – which was ultimately sold to Lycos. Previously to this effort, Bill co-founded CKS Group (Cleary, Kvamme and Suiter) in 1987, which initially began as Cleary Communications, where the primary emphasis was on deploying integrated marketing communications and branding efforts through digital media. With the advent of the web in early 1994, CKS was instrumental in launching several major web brands that endure and thrive to the present day; including Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon.com, Disney, AdForce, and Excite. As an entity, CKS was described as one of the most innovative marketing companies of the decade. Through the creative use of digital media and the web, the company transformed the communications strategies of Fortune 500 market leaders such as General Motors, United Airlines, MCI, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and Apple Computer. CKS filed an IPO in 1995, and was considered one of the truly noteworthy (and profitable) firms of the web-centric world.<br />Prior to CKS, Bill was with Apple Computer where he was instrumental in the launch of the Apple IIc and IIe – two critical launch products that defined Apple through the mid-80’s. He worked closely with Apple’s external marketing professionals to develop fully integrated marketing communications and market development programs. He was ultimately involved in the introduction of numerous successful sales promotion efforts as well, which ultimately transformed the way that computers were marketed in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to Apple, he was a high school teacher for American History, Anthropology and African-American studies.<br />Bill is deeply committed to Santa Clara University’s MBA program (Leavey School of Business), where he has served as the Chairman of the Advisory Board, an Executive Fellow, and a teacher. He funded the William T. Cleary Chair for entrepreneurship in the marketing department. He also serves on the boards of the Montalvo Arts Center, Hillbrook School and PGP Corporation. Recently, he joined the Dean’s Advisory Council (Human Origins) at Stony Brook University on Long Island. In this role he has worked closely with world-renowned paleo-anthropologist Dr. Richard Leakey – in support of several key initiatives centered on environmental and social concerns. Bill obtained his MS in Secondary Education and BS in Social Science with a concentration in cultural anthropology from the State University of New York, College at Buffalo.<br />Brad Feld, Advisor<br />Brad Feld is currently a Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital and has been with the firm since 1996. Prior to Mobius, Brad founded Feld Technologies, which was sold to AmeriData Technologies in 1993, where he became Chief Technology Officer. Brad currently serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Atreus, Comergent, ePartners, FeedBurner, Gold Systems, Judy's Book, Klocwork, NewsGator, Quova, Rally Software, and StillSecure. In addition, he is on the board of The National Center for Women & Information Technology, The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, and The Colorado Conservation Trust. Brad has previously been a member of the board of directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and founded the Boston and Colorado chapters. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<br />Brad loves to read, is an avid marathoner, believes computers are his friend, is happily married to an amazing person, has two gigantic golden retrievers, and tries to enjoy himself every day as he subscribes to the “you only get one chance” view of life. He blogs at Feld Thoughts.<br />Bruce Gellman, Advisor<br />Bruce Gellman has been an investor and advisor to several startups. He has been with two companies from early stage to successful IPO. For GoingOn, Bruce is advising the company on its sales efforts. He has successfully established national sales organizations, national sales channels and major OEM technology and sales distribution agreements in his past roles. <br />As President of AudioCodes Inc., Bruce was responsible for building AudioCodes business presence in North American and helped it towards its IPO [NASDAQ: AUDC] in 1999. During his five years at AudioCodes, Bruce introduced key VOIP and Media Server technologies and was on the forefront of VOIP products for enabling key services. As Vice President of Business Development at Sourcecom, he was responsible for developing the sales and channel strategy for the Sourcecom's Innerware routing technology which was quot;
implantedquot;
in OEM and end user products. Sourcecom was a leading provider of routing technology to the earliest of DSL trials and early deployments.<br />At Sync Research, Bruce was Vice President of Strategic Sales and Business Development where he helped grow the company from its early stages to an IPO in 1995. He played an instrumental role developing and executing Sync's successful business plan and was responsible for many of the key OEM and carrier relationships. Prior to joining Sync Research he was at Amdahl Corporation where he had held senior sales management positions for over 9 years, including Sales Vice President of the company's Communications Systems Division. Prior to Amdahl, Bruce was Sales Director for NCR Comten, Inc. where he directed sales and marketing efforts of their communications processors and networking products. He began his career with Burroughs Corporation, working with large commercial banks in the New York Financial District, where he also was active with the original SWIFT and CHIPS funds transfer networks.<br />Susan Mernit, Advisor<br />Susan Mernit recently became Senior Director of Product at Yahoo! Personals. Prior to this position, she was a partner of 5ive, a consumer experience consultancy. She has more than ten years of senior executive experience building profitable new brands and products, with P&L responsibility. As an entrepreneurial, creative leader skilled in managing media brands and services through a full life cycle, from concept to launch, she has led the development of leading consumer brands for Scholastic, Parade Magazine, Advance Publications, Netscape, and America Online. A former magazine journalist, Ms. Mernit’s products have won industry awards from The Newspaper Association of America, Folio, Clarion Women in Communications, The American Journalism Review, the Software Industry Association of America, and Editor and Publisher Magazine, among others. <br />Regarded as one of the most effective and experienced Internet/new media executives in the country, she served as Vice President, Programming, Design and Production at Netscape.com, transforming the site into the number 1 daytime work/home content destination on the Internet and tripling advertising, e-commerce and search revenues. Ms. Mernit’s business skills and creative energy have successfully and repeatedly created Internet operations that became core to an off-line business’s identity and branding, and improved its bottom line. A published poet and journalist, she is passionate about media and design and is a consultant to a number of nonprofit education organizations. Susan is an active blogger.<br />