THE NEXT FRONTIER: Another conference last week felt a lot like Silicon Valley: lots of people talking about "valuations" and "revenue models," pressing forward to swap business cards, noshing on wine and cheese in-between the panel discussions.īut most of these people were wearing conservative suits, not polos and khakis, and the venue was a Manhattan hotel. Said Lee, "I hate to drive expensive cars, but after driving this for about a year, I don't think I could go back." Aneel Bhusri, Greylock: Porsche Shernaz Daver, Inktomi: BMW Frank Quattrone, CS First Boston: Jaguar and Chrysler Town Car Mike Wilson, eBay: Porsche.īut the most comprehensive justification came from 72-year-old Chong-Moon Lee of Diamond Multimedia Systems, who proudly displayed his $69 watch to the audience, listed all of his previous cars (which included four Volkswagens and a used Cadillac) and then talked about the fact that he leads "a tough life" and that his lawyer "forced me to buy" a Mercedes. During the panel discussion entitled "Success Stories," Porsche- driving moderator Guy Kawasaki asked panelists what type of cars they drive.Īfter much protestation - and long stories about their first junkers and how they owned them for 10 years - they finally 'fessed up.
At one point, a mob in the food tent closed in around VC Steve Jurvetson so tightly that he literally had to push people back to avoid being completely engulfed.Īsk any entrepreneur present and he would tell you that the "opportunity to change the world" is at the top of his list of reasons for creating his own venture. In addition to picking up tips on pitching ideas and writing business plans, attendees had the opportunity to interface with real live venture capitalists. Not bad for a product no one really needs.ĬAR TALK: Last week, about 1,000 Silicon Valley dreamers gathered for an "Entrepreneurs' Bootcamp" in South San Francisco. Stuven calls Webshots "the ultimate viral marketing product" and says, "It literally jumps from cubicle to cubicle." She pegs the total number of regular users at between 2 million and 3 million.
And they relied on the power of the pictures to market themselves. The siblings decided to advertise on smaller Web sites where they could negotiate lower rates. "When we started out back in 1996, online marketing had yet to be developed," Stuven said. The owners won't comment on how much they're making, but they say their venture is profitable. The Webshots site is advertising supported.
Stuven recalls that they took their first credit card order within an hour of making the switch, and it wasn't long before they'd junked the old business plan.
The name then was Auralis, which Stuven admits "was a poor name." Business was slow enough that the two could pack and ship orders themselves.Ī year later, Laakmann and Stuven decided to let Auralis customers update screen savers online. Stuven said the company started in a 500-square-foot office in 1995 selling floppy disks loaded with outdoor sports-themed screen savers.