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The NetSuds (TM) Report
The June 1, 2001 Issue:
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Definition: "com and .com" = Telecom, Datacom, IT or Internet
In this Issue:
1.0 Heard on the Net
2.0 Jobs in the
"com and .com" Market
3.0 NetSuds on Tour - Time Warner Telecom
4.0 Broadband
Experiences
5.0 Calendar of
Events
6.0 MedSuds - son of NetSuds - www.medsuds.com
7.0 Stanford
Engineering Entrepreneurs Day: e-Day
8.0 Apply to
Present at a NetSuds or MedSuds Entrepreneurs Breakfast
9.0 Tidbits
10.0 The Net
Perspective: How do you experience the Net?
11.0 I've Picked a
Name, Now What?
12.0 Coaching for High
Performance and Leadership Success
13.0 Guest Writers for
this Report
1.0 Heard on the Net
1.1 People on the Move:
Please email: people@netsuds.com to report a change in your
job status if you are
moving from or to a company in the "com or .com" space.
NetSudser Ted Stockwell, who left
the now shuttered Zhone office
in Minneapolis in
March has landed in St. Paul at newly renamed
Bravara.
Reach Ted at tstockwell@mediaone.net Bravara is a
stealth-mode CA-based
network equipment start-up with software
development located in
St. Paul. Ted had founded Roundview in
1999 which was later
acquired by Zhone.
NetSudser Lee Alnes is the new VP
of Sales and Marketing at SSESCO,
a position he obtained
by networking at a NetSuds Entrepreneus
Breakfast a few months
ago. Contact Lee at either 651.842.4264 or
lee@ssesco.com
NetSuds intern Meredith Tuntland
networked her way to a position
as Marketing Analyst
at GovDocs.com in St. Paul. Contact
Meredith
at meredith.tuntland@govdocs.com
NetSudser Matt Geiser has joined
the Cohort Group as a VP after
having served 1 years
as the MHTA VP of Entrepreneurial
Initiatives.
Contact Matt starting June 4 at either 952.484.8055
or at mgeiser@cohortgroup.com
NetSudser Tim Roesler, Sales
Director for Internet Broadcasting
Systems is looking for
sales management, sales, or business
development
opportunity. Contact Tim at marcitim@earthlink.net
NetSudser Steve Janusz, formerly
with SBC Telecom is looking for
opportunities as a
Project Manager in the data and voice networking
arena. Contact
Steve at janusz@rconnect.com
NetSudser Liz Sjaastad, after 8
years supporting early-stage technology
companies in the Twin
Cities as a human resource consultant and
executive search
professional (Andcor Companies) has ventured out on
her own to provide
business and vision directed individual and
organization
consulting and contract work. Contact Liz at either
612.940.2887 or lsjaastad@dsl-mn.com
If you are a tech worker or executive looking for your next
"big thing"
consider interning at the NetSuds office.
NetSuds sees lots of great opportunities every day
in the
start-up AND public
company markets. To find out what it
takes to be an intern
= see http://www.netsuds.com/intern.htm
1.2 Companies on the Move:
Please email: start-ups@netsuds.com to report (1) the
formation of a new
start-up, (2) momentum change at an
existing start-up, (3)
addition of key hires, or (4) a funding
event at a start-up.
Please give details on the above
including any
information you do not want made public. We
are very discrete.
Zhone
closed its Minnesota offices recently and, at last report,
11 ex-Zhone engineers
had landed at Bravara in St. Paul.
Genesis
Innovations, Inc., an (ASP) for middle market companies,
announced on April 27
that it had agreed to be acquired by Eden
Prairie-based B-Basics
for an undisclosed amount. For more info,
contact Michael
Anderson at either 952.941.9701 or
manderson@genesisinnovations.com.
NetSudsers Mark E. Johnson and Bob Schoewe have
started a direct
placement and computer
consulting company in Eden Prairie called
IT Resources;
focusing on project managers, business analysts,and
programmers for the e-business
space. Contact Mark at mej@rsgi.com.
2.0 Jobs in the "com and .com" Market
Please email: jobs@netsuds.com to report job openings in the
"com and .com"
Market. In the body of the message, give the
name of the company
and a URL link to the job postings.
* Integra Telecom http://www.integratelecom.com/careers/index.shtml
* HighJump SW http://www.highjumpsoftware.com/careers/opportunities.htm
** RecruitUSA http://www.recruitusa.com/profiles/RECRUITUSAINC.html
*** NetLifeStyles http://www.tinagreenslade.com/
3.0 NetSuds on Tour - Time Warner Telecom
NetSuds loves on-site tours! Email me if you
want to show off your
company. I can
be reached at matt@netsuds.com
3.1 Time Warner Telecom
I visited the very new
TWT facilities-based CLEC in the Opus Center.
Thanks go out to Angie
Suarez, angie.suarez@twtelecom.com,
952.351.2342 and Ronald
Clark, ron.clar@twtelecom.com.
TWT is 2-months old in
Minnesota, just freed up from some non-compete
agreements. They
are rolling out in many markets, offering voice,
data and Internet
services. Obviously well-funded, they are building
a first-rate facility
in Minnetonka off of Feltl Road.
It seems to be a trend
that FB-CLECs separate their telecom rooms
from their "data
centers". I guess security is the main reason.
While still building
out at a furious pace, I was struck by 1 central
theme at TWT.
The old telecom paradigm is out. The new paradigm is
in. Rather than
be floored by multi-rack, multi-row #5ESS or DMS-100
I was incredibly
impressed to see a single-rack of Sonus switch,
Sun-
based SIP server (dual)
and Riverstone Networks switch. From these
lightweight but
incredibly powerful pieces of telecom gear, TWT will
offer PRI and like
services at a fraction of the cost of the old
telecom infrastructure
equipment. The Sonus boxes will upgrade to
VoIP very simply in
the near future. Cool! Squared.
The folks at ADC
must also be feeling good. Lots of ADC DSX and
fiber
equipment at the TWT
facility. The most telling feature was the almost
total lack of
Lucent equipment. My, what the Internet revolution
has
wrought. There
was the Alcatel DACs, the Nortel PBX, the Cisco routers
and switches and a few
other pieces of essentiall gear. Although the
NOC is located in
Denver, the TWT "mini-NOC" in Minnetonka is equipped
to handle all their
installations locally.
TWT, along with nearly
all other FB-CLECs are going after business
customers. Both
technical and market reality dictates that strategy.
I long for the day
when a FB-CLEC can provide some residential
competition to our
incumbent. Copper monopolies being what they are,
I will not be holding
my breath.
4.0 Broadband Experiences
I used to languish in modem purgatory. No more. I am
broadband-
enabled.
Apologies to the FTTH folks at Optical Solutions who will
scoff at my measly
bandwidth heaven. Here's my story.
First, there
was ISDN. I got it at home and work. I
killed it at
home after a few
months, primarily because Qwest tried to pile on
a bunch of
installation charges. Jerks. I got a flashy marketing
brochure in the mail
claiming $110 off on installation (called them,
installation was $110)
so my installation was supposed to be free.
They tried to charge
me $220 and claim the charge should have been
$330. You can't
just talk to 1 person at Qwest. You have to talk
to everyone in the
company at least once before they feel satisfied
that you have had
complete customer service.
The one thing I like
about ISDN is that it works 24x7 for my
nailed-up 128K
connection at work. It's too expensive ... but it
works. So does
my Ascend P75 ISDN router; the gear that helped
Ascend become a $24B
aquisition of Lucent. Every 3 months, the
ISDN router at my ISP
(not Qwest), loses its mind and my ISDN goes
down until I call them.
They reset the head-end router port and
I'm off and running
again. I put my fax machine on the analog
port of the P75 so I
didn't have to get an additional analog line
from Qwest dedicated
for fax. Cool.
Cable.
I live in Mediacom country in Chanhassen. Not your largest
cable TV operator.
Not very good, either. But they started offering
cable modem service so
I signed up; anything was better than Qwest,
ISDN or V.56. It
took them 5 "truck rolls", 3
technicians, 2 weeks
and 2 modems to get it
working. Now I get 256K access at home. Cool.
But their ISP was ISP-Channel
which folded in December. Not cool.
Now it is Excite@Home
whose email server problems are industry folklore.
So ... I get my email
served elsewhere and use Mediacom as a broadband
pipe. I even
have a Cisco IP-Phone on my home LAN and the thing works!
Thank you Cisco ...
and CompleteIS (the local company who gave me the
phone and their SW to
use). I love broadband IP phones, not because
they have so many more
features, but because it is 1 way to beat Qwest.
Five truck rolls.
Yuck. Mediacom will take years to make
money from
my account because of
that. While they were upgrading my neighborhood
for 2-way cable, the
technician forget an amplifier or equalizer. It
took 5 truck rolls to
find the problem because I was the first subscriber
on that particular HFC
(hybrid fiber coax) loop. All my neighbors will
benefit from my
installation.
I didn't have a choice
of cable modems, either. I was rented an RCA
cable modem and, so
far, it works fine. Not many features such as
integrated ethernet
switch, firewall, voice gateway, etc. but I will
take it.
The cable modem
service goes down when the cable TV service goes down.
In 2 months, I have
had 2 4-day down times. Yuck. Even with their
other problems,
Qwest's local loops don't need a CTRL-ALT-DEL! The
cable companies need
better quality control.
The most pleasant
surprise to date has been the advent of DSL
service by
my lake cabin phone
company - Loretel. Loretel has the model
Qwest and
Mediacom need to
emulate. I scheduled installation on April 12. The
technicians met me at
the cabin on time. In 2 hours, I was up and running
with the email address
I wanted, the static IP addressses I wanted
(Mediacom gave me DHCP),
and a complete manual for the modem and the
Loretel service.
When I call Loretel, I
don't get a cumbersome IVR system, I get a person.
The DSL modem is a Net-2-Net
system; still no voice gateway, ethernet
switch or firewall.
My Cisco IP Phone should work well there, too.
Have
phone, will travel.
Talk about local number portability! The IP Phone
is in the 612 exchange.
At my cable-modem home (952) or at my lake cabin
(218), people can
still call me using the 612 area code ... just like a
roaming cell phone in
many ways.
Some day, I will get
FTTH ... but for now I am Mr. Broadband Testbed with
ISDN, cable and DSL.
Is there MMDS in my intermediate future?
5.0 Schedule of Events
5.1 - Minnesota
5/31 MedSuds Evening Gathering
http://www.medsuds.com/
5.2 - Outside
Minnesota (iSuds by Jeff Pulver & Matt Noah)
5/31 Washington,
DC - Evening Gathering
http://www.isuds.com/dc/isuds/
6/11 Stockholm -
Entrepreneurs Training Camp (details TBA)
Pre-Conference
Workshop as part of VON Europe 2001
6/13 Stockholm -
Entrepreneurs Breakfast
http://www.isuds.com/eb/2k1/ma/may/
10/14 Atlanta -
Entrepreneurs Training Camp (details TBA)
Pre-Conference
Workshop as part of Fall 2001 VON
10/17 Atlanta -
Entrepreneurs Breakfast
TBA
5.3 - pulver.com
Events - http://www.pulver.com/conference/index.html
6/11 Stockholm,
Sweden - VON Europe 2001
6/14
http://www.pulver.com/europe2001/
7/24 Boston, MA
- Summer 2001 VON Developers Conference
7/26
http://www.pulver.com/developers/
5.4 - Non-NetSuds Events
None scheduled.
6.0 MedSuds - son of NetSuds - www.medsuds.com
MedSuds is exploding. Announcing the
formation of MedSuds on April 10,
John Alexander (john@medsuds.com) and I (matt@medsuds.com) have seen
interest, enthusiasm
and email list subscription take off very nicely.
The first event is May
31 - see www.medsuds.com for all the details
and to sign up for the
email list.
If you know NetSuds, you know MedSuds.
Special thanks to Dave
Stassen, General Partner at St. Paul Venture
Capital and co-founder
of MedSuds. St. Paul VC is
also a founding
sponsor. Dave
and I have been discussing for a few months the desire
to NetSudsify the
medtech, biotech and life sciences markets in the
Twin Cities.
Thanks to John Alexander for stepping up and
agreeing
to be the CEO of MedSuds. John knows the market much better
than
me so he is your
"go to" guy for MedSuds info. Always feel free to
contact me.
Andy LaFrence of KMPG,
Ken Cutler of Dorsey & Whitney, Sandy Swanson
of Padilla Speer
Beardsley, Andrew Humphrey of Faegre & Benson, Tom
Niccum of Lancet
Software, Tom Marek of Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly,
John Risdall of
Risdall Linnihan Advertising and Becky Wilcox of
Williams Executive
Search are all founding sponsors and deserve much
credit for assisting
John, Dave and I as we launch MedSuds. If you
or your firm would
like to be a founding sponsor of MedSuds, contact
John or me at john@medsuds.com or matt@medsuds.com.
Dave Stassen - dstassen@stpaulvc.com - www.stpaulvc.com
Andy LaFrence - alafrenc@kpmg.com - www.kpmg.com
Ken Cutler - cutler.ken@dorseylaw.com - www.dorseylaw.com
Sandy Swanson - sswanson@psbpr.com - www.psbpr.com
Andrew Humphrey - ahumphrey@faegre.com - www.faegre.com
Tom Niccum - tniccum@lancet-software.com - www.lancet-software.com
Tom Marek - tmarek@oppenheimer.com - www.oppenheimer.com
John Risdall - john@risdall.com - www.risdall.com
Becky Wilcox - wilcox@williamsexec.com - www.williamsexec.com
7.0 Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurs Day: e-Day
NetSudser Mark Granovsky, CEO, G2Planet
and I took part in the 2nd
annual Stanford eDay
on May 19. Great event. About 300 engineering
alumni. Met with
Bill Coleman, CEO of BEA Systems, Mike
Volpi,
Chief Strategy
Officer, Cisco Systems, David Rickey, CEO of
AMCC
and many other
Stanford alumni who are both surviving and thriving
in the world today.
Almost all agreed that
valuations for both VCs and acquisitions are
down by a factor of 6
since last year; about the same as many public
company stocks are
down in high-tech! David Rickey talked about his
acquisition strategy
and most all agreed that M&A priorities are:
(1) cultural
fit, (2) strategic fit and (3) financial fit.
Newer
companies are easier
to acquire because they have less cultural
issues built up over
time. One speaker said it was like adopting
children.
Another key takeaway
is that entreprneurs who still have a vision for
"changing
the world" as opposed to "flipping companies"
are still out
there striving.
Many of the VCs are just as confused about market
direction and so are
sitting on their hands instead of making investments
in today's market.
Not true of all VCs and all markets but it is still
a general reality.
How many times have we heard quarter-reporting CEOs
state, "... and
we have little visibility in to the coming quarters ..."
It has come from ADC,
Cisco, etc.
One newly-minted CEO (just
raised $10M in February) said that it is a
great time to
start a company (if you get funded). The reasons?
Office
space rental is
affordable again. You can pick up Cisco gear on eBay for
dimes on the dollar.
No big signing bonuses and salaries, etc. Mike
Volpi didn't like the
comment about Cisco gear on eBay. Oh well.
The participants all
were in unison on the importance of networking
for
business.
Everyone needs to make personal contact with other professionals
in their field.
Knowing "what" and knowing "who" are very,
very important.
8.0 Apply to Present at a MedSuds or NetSuds Entrepreneurs Breakfast
Every month since Autumn 1999 NetSuds has had an Entrepreneurs
Breakfast (see http://www.netsuds.com/eb/ for past and current
events). If you
are a pre-IPO "com or .com" start-up, you can apply
to present your
company to the investment community at a future
breakfast event.
Apply online at http://www.netsuds.com/eb
Apply to present at a MedSuds Entrepreneurs Breakfast (coming soon)
at http://formmail.to/medsuds
9.0 Tidbits
9.1
Browser/Email Psychology
Do you have an "always
on" connection, e.g. T1, LAN, xDSL, cable
modem? If no,
you can ignore the next question.
Do you shut down your
browswer and email when you leave your PC?
If no, you can ignore
the next question.
Why?
Why shut down your
browser in an always on PC environment? The
browser need not be
shut down for obvious reasons. When people
who have an always on
connection start keeping their browser
always open, they may
discover there are some interesting "push"
technologies which
they may want to take advantage of. I know
"push" got
killed a few years ago. But that was when we were
pushing gobs of
bandwidth on the corporate LAN/WAN for stock
quotes. How
about weather alerts? Traffic alerts? School bus
alerts? UPS
alerts? FedEx alerts? Sports scores?
Email is a little
different in that some people password-protect
their email and share
a PC for multiple accounts. But if you are
not one of those
people, why not keep your email client up all
the time. It
actually becomes a "IM client" in this mode -
instant messaging.
Broadband, always on
connections enable a host of applications
and will change our
behavior.
Do you close your
browser and email client? Why?
9.2 Free
Phone Calls - Version III
Like Napster?
The whole peer-to-peer (PTP) server paradigm can
take many forms ...
including free phone calls over the network.
To learn more of this
emerging technology/service, visit
http://www.freeworlddialup.com/ and note that St. Paul is one
of the beta sites.
Sign up on the email list for progress reports
on this project.
9.3 Ha
Ha Joe Nacchio!
Qwest's CEO Joe
Nacchio splits homes between New Jersey and Denver.
Turns out old
Joe can't get DSL at his home in New Jersey because
his ILEC won't install
the necessary equipment to get the service
to him. Too bad
there isn't a viable CLEC alternative to the ILEC
in Joe's New Jersey!
The irony of this situation was reported in
the May 14 issue of
Interactive Week. I wonder if Joe just ordered
a T1 or T3 since he
couldn't get DSL.
9.4 The
"New Economy"
I continue to marvel
at folks who talk about the "New Economy".
I got caught up in
this talk a couple years ago but stopped using
that language back in
2000.
There is no
"New Economy"! The economy did not move
online.
Amazon, eBay, etc. are
evolving the economy but there is not a
revolution; just an
evolution.
I'm sure our world in
50 years will be much different. More use
will be made of data/voice
networks. But in 5 years, our world
will not be that much
different than it is today.
Journalists and hyped-up
marketing professionals will better serve
themselves if they
stop using the the term "new economy". It sounds
like a detergent
manufacturer whose latest soap is "new and improved".
9.5 Pink
Slippers Unite! ... and Vote
From Allison Hemming -
ahemming@thehiredguns.com in NYC
Fellow pink slippers -
It's time to cast your vote! That's right,
we're rallying you,
dotcom survivors, to vote on the songs that best
represent your
internet experience from the heyday to the meltdown.
From obscure to pop,
you'll speak and we'll tally to create the
undisputed list which
will document this all too strange moment in
time. VOTE NOW
at: http://www.thehiredguns.com/survey/
After we close the
voting, collectively we'll make interactive music
history when Angel
Party, take the stage at the May 30th Pink Slip
Party in NYC.
With only hours to learn the music, this rock and roll
band for the new
millenium will play the Top 10 Songs of Pink Slipdom
-- as selected by you!
Check out Angel Party
at:
http://www.rollingstone.com/dds/artist.asp?artist=14345
10.0 The Net Perspective: How do you experience the
Net?
by Jeff Pulver,
jeff@pulver.com. You can subscribe to the pulver
Report (TM) by
visiting http://pulver.com/reports/subscribe.html
As the Net continues
to mature, I think it important to keep in
mind that the "Net
Experience" is different depending upon the
person, their
perspective and personal Net work habits.
On a personal basis,
while I consider myself almost "24/7 on the Net"
what this means to me
is that I am almost always checking email.
This doesn't mean I am
spending all of my waking hours surfing with a
browser or using
instant messaging. In fact, I launch a web browser
only 1 out of every 7
to 8 times for each time I check email. (I used
to be a frequent
Gopher user but the number of sites supporting
gopher over the years
have gone way down.) My personal needs for
access to the "Wireless
Web" isn't for a light weight browser but an
easy way to check
email. Surfing the web with challenged user
interfaces is not my
idea of fun. I wouldn't mind an easy way to
communicate with
people on my private IM list if somebody I'm looking
to reach by phone is
on-line but not answering their phone. There
are times I sometimes
use IM to send "out of band" messages and find
myself needing to
check inbound IM messages more often now than in the
past. One day
soon I expect to see POP3 support for most IM clients
and the ability for an
email client to send/receive IM messages across
IM networks as
seamless as the way Outlook currently is able to
support multiple POP3
email inboxes.
My seven year old kids
on the other hand don't use email (yet) and
their entire "Net
Experience" continues to be using a browser to surf
the web. One
thing that amazes me about my kids is that when I was
seven, I vaguely
remember looking things up in the World Book
Encyclopedia that my
parents had in the house. My kids on the other
hand think nothing of
going on the net and performing web searches to
learn about things
they are interested in, whether it is about the
latest Digimon they
saw in a recent episode, when a new game is
coming out for their
gameboy or Playstation or to help answer a
question they had in
their homework.
On the other extreme,
there is an entire population who live entirely
in the Instant
Messaging space. Carl Ford talks about his teenage
daughters and their
friends who spend most of their time in instant
messaging each other.
The point about this
is that as people look to create innovative next
generation IP
Communication services for the "Net Generation" they
should keep in mind
people experience the net differently and there
most likely will not
be one service that fits the needs or user
experience for all
users. And don't forget about an entire
generation of people
being sold the "wireless internet" whose end
user experiences are
going to be different than just about anybody
else.
While I wait for GPRS
services to become available in my
neighborhood, I've
been slowly getting used to the 9.6K CDPD services
which work fine for my
"thin" text based email messages.
Another thing service
providers should keep in mind is whether they
should be focusing on
delivering "push" or "pull" services.
Do you
notify customers via
email and push the messages onto them, or post a
message on a website
and hope the customer "pulls" down the
information?
Knowledge of the customers' Net work habits will enable
service providers to
deliver next generation services which might
actually be used by
the customers they are targeting.
11.0 I've Picked a Name, Now What?
by DC NetSudser Janice W. Housey - jhousey@rmhlaw.com - Counsel to
Roberts, Mlotkowski
& Hobbes, P.C., a Virginia-based law firm dedicated
to the practice of
intellectual property law.
The first step for
many new ventures is selecting a name for the new
company, division,
product or service offering. In most instances, this
"name" has
the ability to function as a trademark and become a valuable
asset of the venture.
Generally, a trademark is one or more words or
symbols used for the
purpose of distinguishing the goods/services of one
entity from those of
others. As is probably obvious, some trademarks
perform this function
better than others. If a trademark is properly
cleared, protected,
and developed, it can become one of a company's most
valuable assets.
Think: COCA-COLA or SPRINT or YAHOO! or AOL. On the
other hand, if
trademark issues are ignored, a company may be forced to
change its branding
and/or be unable to stop another from using a very
similar term for its
competing business. Re-branding can be expensive
and is potentially
embarrassing. Also, all of the name recognition
already developed in
connection with the mark is lost.
Trademarks are
separate and distinct from other types of so-called
"intellectual
property" such as copyrights and patents. For a
discussion of the
characteristics of each of these types of rights, see
http://www.uspto.gov/main/aboutuspto.htm.
Types of Trademarks
- Marks that make good trademarks include marks
that (1) have no
particular meaning when used in connection with the
particular goods/services
such as YAHOO! for internet-based services,
APPLE for computers,
XEROX for photocopiers; or (2) suggest the products
or services such as
WEBMD for internet-based medical information or
WORLDCOM for a
worldwide communications company. Other types of marks
are generally deemed
to be "descriptive marks" because they describe
some feature or
quality of the goods or services such as eTOYS for
online (or "electronic")
ordering of toys. Descriptive marks are
generally not capable
of broad trademark protection unless and until
they are in use for a
significant period of time.
Terms that are "generic"
can never be acquired as the trademark or
service mark of any
one entity. Examples of generic terms include
"internet"
or ISP for "internet service provider."
Trademark Searching
- Before a company gets too attached to a
particular name, it is
generally recommended that a "search" for prior
similar marks be
conducted. A search of U.S. federal trademark records
can be performed
online at http://www.uspto.gov at no charge. Other
countries also have
sites which permit searching. (See
http://www.rmhlaw.com/UsefulLinks.html for additional links for other
countries' Trademark
Offices.) It is important to search before
investing money and
resources in developing a mark which may not be
available and which
may bring the threat of a lawsuit (e.g., the mark
may infringe the
trademark rights of another). However, since there is
no requirement under U.S.
trademark law to seek federal registration,
such a search does not
reveal all similar marks that may be in use in
the United States and
certainly does not include marks that are
registered in other
countries. Rather, the search will only reveal
marks for which a U.S.
federal registration has been sought; it is
possible that another
party has adopted the same or a similar mark for
the same or related
goods and services but has not applied for a U.S.
federal registration
for the mark. Thus, a more comprehensive U.S.
search is often
recommended to include the trademark records of the
individual U.S. states
and common law databases (including trade
directories, internet
domain names, and telephone directories).
Depending on the
business plan, searches in other countries may also be
advisable. The
purpose of additional searching is to determine whether
there are other
entities that have prior rights to a term that is
"confusingly
similar" to the mark you intend to use and thus, could
expose you to legal
risk if you proceed with use of the mark.
U.S. Trademark
Registration - A U.S. application for a trademark can
be filed online at the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at www.uspto.gov
or a trademark
application can be downloaded and filed by mail. The
official filing fee
for filing a trademark application is $325 per
administrative
classification. Filings in other countries will almost
always require the
assistance of an attorney.
Assuming that the U.S.
application meets all of the legal requirements
for registration (or
can be amended to meet the requirements), a
registration will
issue for the application. While the process is
relatively
straightforward, the actual trademark laws can often be rather
difficult to interpret.
Thus, most trademark owners are represented by
trademark counsel
during the process of clearing, registering and
enforcing a trademark.
An issued U.S.
registration gives the owner of the registration certain
significant benefits
vis-à-vis other users (or applicants) for similar
marks and provides a
trademark registration owner with a fairly powerful
tool to enforce their
its against another user of a confusingly similar
term. For these
reasons, federal registration is almost always
advisable for a
company name and/or any major product or service offering.
Protecting Your
Investment - In order to maintain the highest
possible
level of effect and
protection for your mark, it is essential that you
use the trademark
properly. A registered trademark should be followed
by an "®"
and the generic name for the products or services (e.g.,
XEROX® photocopiers
or FEDERAL EXPRESS® delivery services). A trademark
notice should also be
included with materials that use the mark. An
example of an
appropriate statement would be: "YAHOO!" is a
registered
trademark Yahoo! Inc."
If you become aware of another's use of a
confusingly similar
term for competing, or closely related, goods and
services, you should
consider contacting an attorney to determine what
rights you may have
vis-à-vis this other user.
Domain Names -
Domain Names are often-but far from always-related to
trademarks. For
example, "network.com" consist of a "generic"
term and
thus, no one company
has better rights to the domain name than another.
The domain name,
"networksolutions.com", on the other hand, contains a
registered trademark
and thus, depending upon the specific facts, the
trademark owner may
have superior rights to the "networksolutions.com"
domain name over
another who has no such trademark rights. Case law is
clear that a trademark
owner can stop another from using and
registering a domain
name that was registered and used in "bad faith."
Thus, proper trademark
clearance and protection may also assist you in
a domain name dispute.
Conclusion -
In sum, a trademark can be one of an entities most
powerful tools and
important assets. However, it cannot become such an
asset unless certain
steps are taken to ensure that the mark is
reasonably available
for use by you and that the mark is then properly
protected.
Please note that the
information contained in this article is for
general guidance on
matters of interest only. The application and impact
of laws can vary
widely based on the specific facts involved. Given the
changing nature of
laws, rules and regulations, and other factors there
may be omissions or
inaccuracies in information contained in this
article.
Accordingly, the information in this article is provided with
the understanding that
the authors and publishers are not herein engaged
in rendering legal or
other professional advice and services. As such,
it should not be used
as a substitute for consultation with an attorney
or other appropriate
legal professional.
12.0 Coaching for High Performance and Leadership
Success
By NetSudser Jan Hoistad of Big Picture Associates,
jhoistad@bigpictureassociates.com
I'm sure you've all
heard about "coaching". It is a common buzzword in
the business world
these days. Hearing about it, your first reaction
might be that it is a
sign of "weakness" to work with a coach. Studies
show, however, that
many highly paid athletes, performing artists, and
heads of major
corporations rely on the support of their coach. You
might want to push it
off as a passing "trend", or you might just take
a look at some of the
reasons many large corporations on down to
smaller
entrepreneurships are utilizing coaching and find it a valuable
service. Here
are some benefits to consider for yourself and your
employees:
For Yourself --
Staying Focused on Your Vision: Coaching helps leaders
keep their eyes on the
vision while keeping their feet on the ground.
Today's leaders
struggle with day-to-day pressures and decisions not
present in the past
few years. Sure, there were pressures, but of a
different nature -
those were pressures of excitement and staying on top
of the potential for
growth. Now, faced with an economic crunch, daily
pressures have
increased. Creative development and networking feel like
luxuries. It is
hard justifying time to visit the bigger visions and
goals.
One aspect of coaching
keeps a leader focused on the big picture. It is
a time to give
conscious attention to future needs and developments, and
strategizing ways to
integrate these daily. Coaching can be invaluable
through the stages of
any business. Learning to ride the contractions
and expansions of
business life cycles, as well as the marketplace, is
a necessary skill for
a leader, and coaching can be a vital asset.
Handling Stress:
Leaders need to manage stress for themselves and their
employees. Many
of my coaching clients struggle to maintain a regular
schedule. Time
for their own responsibilities gets eaten up with
continuous demands for
their attention and input. Everyone needs extra
support in times of
stress. Leaders need extra support to maintain 1)
continuous alignment
with your role and responsibilities, 2) deep inner
stability, and 3)
great self-care.
The coaching
relationship is typically a place where you can talk about
just how difficult it
may be to handle all the demands - then, with
support, it is a
relationship in which to figure out ways to prioritize
the needs for self and
others, to look at what is possible, to evaluate
potential decisions
and choices. A good coach cannot tell you what to
do, but they can help
you stay in touch with what is important to you
and your employees.
For Your Employees
-- Developing Strength and Skills Throughout Your
Organization:
Wise leaders strive to develop the strength and skills
of others around them.
The employees at all levels who are conscious
and creative in
responding to the needs of the business, no matter how
large or small.
This allows the leader to focus on the "bigger
picture", it
ensures smooth successorship at all levels,
responsibilities and
challenges are shared, employees feel empowered.
A good coach can cut
time and cost by helping your directors and
managers get on board
with your direction. With motivation and good
coaching, they can
quickly learn and strengthen the skill areas in
need. These are
usually teachable skills. Thus everyone in the company
can keep pace with
your business vision.
Assisting Those Who
Need or Want to Leave: As companies tighten their
belts, it is a
conflict when you have to lay people off. It is a
difficult aspect of
the business world.
Companies are offering
people assistance through career counseling and
coaching to sort out
where to go or what to do next in their work life.
This support service
may be in alignment with your company values, and
it may be cost and
time effective for you.
I have also coached
managers or directors who are not sure they are in
the right position or
company. Maybe the company has changed, or they
took a position they
wanted to grow into. Now they are questioning
compatibility and so
are you. Some insightful organizations are
assisting people to
figure out if this is the best "fit", how to grow
the skills necessary
for the role, or what else they might want to do.
This is humanly
effective, as well as, cost effective. People will want
to work for a company
that cares, and does so by providing professional
development dollars.
No matter what the
economy or your business needs, coaching is here to
stay. Get yourself a
good coach.
13.0 Guest Writers for This Report
I have opened up the
Monthly NetSuds Report to guest writers. If
you have a passion for
a topic, and you can write (at least no worse
than me), send an
email to me at matt@netsuds.com You can even send
copies of your work.
It needs to be on "com and .com" topics and can
include entrepreneur/investor
activities. Good information from our
service providers and
vendors is also welcome so long as it is not a
"commercial"
for any one company or individual.
We will consider both
sponsored and unsponsored columnists and guest
writers.
If you are aware of others who would like to receive the NetSuds Report, ask them to visit http://mailman.netsuds.com/ to subscribe or unsubscribe.
Please send your comments and feedback regarding this issue of the NetSuds Report to matt@netsuds.com
P.O. Box 277
Chanhassen, MN 55317
952.934.5424
fax: 425.795.2019
matt@netsuds.com
(c) 2000, 2001 NetSuds.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
We help people build and enhance their network of contacts in the
"com and .com" world.