The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Millions on the Internet (2000)

Introduction. I. THE BIG IDEA. 1. Dot Commerce Creates WWWealth! Welcome to the World of e-Commerce. What Is e-Commerce?Another Type of e-Business. The Three Magic Things About e-Commerce. Wait! I Forgot About the Fourth Magic Thing! Uh, Boss, There's 100 Million Potential Customers at the Front Door! Why e-Customers Love e-Shopping. Things That Bother e-Customers. Some Things People Might Not Want to Buy Online. The Future of e-Commerce.2. The Great Geniuses of Money and Nontraditional Thinking. In the Beginning, There Was You.Failure Often Precedes Success. Disney Falls on His Face. What Is True for the Real World Is Also True for the Internet.Walt Disney, Viral Marketing, and the Internet.Some Successful Internet Geniuses Find Viruses Early On.Nontraditional Thinking: One of the Keys to Success.Today's Big Internet Business Concept Might Not Be for You Because It Might Be Too Late. The Great Geniuses of Nontraditional Thinking. The Netscape Story: Not First, But Still a Winner. What Is the Secret of Nontraditional Thinking? Some Final Comments.3. Blockbuster Brilliance: Getting the Idea. Giving People What They Will Want.Doesn't Need to Be Profitable. Give 'Em What They Already Buy, Only Free!Your Information Is Their Destination. Make Life Easier or Cheaper. Giving Them What They Can't Do Without a Computer. Picking a Specialty Market.Web Publishers Are Special People. Everyone On the Internet Is Special.For Further Info.4. Put Your World on the Web. You Have an Upper Hand. Taking Your Store Online. More Than Just a Catalog.Interactivification.Putting Services Online. You Can't Go Wrong with Rights.Trading on Your Trademarks. Compounding Your Copyright. Name Value.Expand Your Offerings.Getting Away Scott-Free with Selling Stock-Free. Taking Orders for Others.For Further Info.5. Eyeballs Versus Atoms: Your Economic Model. Economic Model Doesn't Mean Christie Brinkley, CPA. Do You Need an Economic Model? Advertising: Eyeballs for Sale.Do You Have Valuable Eyeballs? Measuring Eyeballs. Naming Eyeballs. Pay-Per-View. Click-Thrus. Cut of the Kill.Smashing Atoms: Selling Good Stuff.Catalog Sites. Lifestyle Sales. Logo to Go.Bits for Sale, Two Bits Apiece.Charge Per Access. Subscription. Access Sales Are Tough Sells. Micropayments. Access Theft.Mixing Models.II. READY, SET, STARTUP. 6. Building Your Team. Following the Construction of a (Fictitious) e-Business.Water, Water, Everywhere and All of It Tastes Terrible. Taking a Dip into the Internet. We Can't Give This Stuff Away! A New Business Model. Two More Helpers Show Up.Enter Investment Capital.Three Hundred Thousand Water Lovers a Day. The Great Employee Hiring Continues. More Investment Capital. Hunting for a Better Business Model. Every Business Is Always for Sale.7. Jumping on Team. The Wisdom of Joining Early: Founders and Other Lucky Ducks.Finding Founders. The Gung-Ho Office Worker. Not a Founder, But Still Rich: Corporate Executives Wanted.Engineers: There Appears to Be a Shortage.Database Programmers and Other Superstars. Engineering Managers, Web Programmers, and Other Cool Cats. Protecting Against Hackers. Even More Engineers, Even More Engineering Positions. Keeping All Those Engineers in Line. Someone Has to Make the Software. Oracles Are Present and We Are Nowhere Near Ancient Greece. Can You Draw Blinky? Walking the Design Path to Glory. The Internet World Requires People Other Than Engineers. The Multiple Threat: Jack of All Trades, Will Trade for Stock Options. Finding an Internet Company While It Is Still Poor. When You Hear About It, It's Not Necessarily Too Late.For Further Info.8. Empowering Yourself. Ruling Out Ideas. Is the Idea Truly New? Searching the (Internet) Want Ads. Incubators: No Room for Chickens.Understanding Internet Speed.Doing Further Research on Your Own.Approaching Businesses Directly.9. Domain Is De Name. Picking a Name (But Not Any Name).Very Topical Domain Names. Very Untopical Domain Names. Making a Deposit in the Memory Banks. Spellling Is Importunt! Infringe in Haste, Be Sued at Leisure. Negative Associations. Gotta Be Dot-com! You Don't Have a Hit If You Can't Make It Fit! Naming Consultants (No, Joe Nameth Isn't One).Getting the Name. Is It Available?Registration Station. Someone's Taken My Name! Cheapskate Name Purchasing Tricks. Maintain Your Name!Protecting the Name.TMing It: Transcendental Trademarking. Coping with Missspelings. Connecting All the Dots.For Further Info.10. The Venture Adventure. Venture Capital.Getting the Latest News on Venture Capital. Money from Angels. Adventure Capitalists. Business Development Agencies. Money from Corporations. How Much Will You Have to Give Up in Exchange for Investment Capital? Doing Your Own Valuation. Small Business Investment Companies. National Association of Small Business Investment Companies. Folks Who Might Have Money for You. The National Venture Capital Association. Show Me the Money! Garage.com.III. BUILDING THE BUSINESS. 11. Getting It Working. From the Living Room to the Board Room. The Total Control Method. Web Site Hosting.Small Business Hosting on CERFnet. Even More About CERFnet.But All I Have Is a Good Idea for a Web Business and Almost No Knowledge About the Internet.Like I Said, a Real-Life Story.What If I Hire Real Internet Professionals as Freelancers?Ownership Issues.Some Final Comments.12. Cheapskate Shortcuts. Shortcuts Are for Startup. Don't Serve Yourself. Making a Web Space Deal.Real Cheap: Free Web Space. Free Stores with Free Storage.Off-the-Shelf Solutions.Bulletin Board Software. Auction Software.Free and Cheap Content.Syndicated Content. Press Releases. I'll Let You Provide Me with Content. Free Software.Little Niceties. For Further Info.IV. GROWING THE BUSINESS. 13. Getting Famous. Millions of People Doing Your Advertising for You.Press Coverage. Press Releases. Press Release Services. Your Media Person.Advertising Online.Ad Exchange Systems. Using Usenet. Using Other Businesses' Bulletin Boards.Bribe Your Way to Success with an Affiliate Program. Advertising Offline. Ad Agencies.14. You Scratch My Link, I'll Scratch Yours. Everyone Is Friends Online.Direct Competition, Indirect Cooperation.My Visitors Are Your Visitors.Ad Swaps. Inter-linking.Content Sharing. Sharing Customer Information. Privacy's Primacy.Addressing Your Customers for Them.Bribing Your Friends.Offering a Lucrative Deal. Affiliate Afflictions.Don't Just Befriend: Merge! Alliances Ain't Forever.15. Expand the Brand. Why Expand? Offering New Services to the Same Customers.Compounding Interest. Address the User, Not the Interest.Repackaging for Different Customers.Same Cereal, Different Box. Same Cereal, Bigger Box. Super Cereal Multipack.Reasons to Not Expand.Small Fish in Big Ponds Get Eaten. Your Brand Is Getting Blurry.16. You've Seen the Site, Now Eat the Candybar. Crossing the Online/Offline Line.Exploiting Your Value. Enhancing Your Value.Expanding to Other Media.Books for Special Nooks. Living on Air: TV and Radio. A Mega-Magazine.Stuff with Your Name on It.Directly Related Products. Dotcomming a Lifestyle.They Have Stores in the Real World, Too. For Further Info.17. Please Sir, Can I Have Some More Moolah? The Stages of Investing.The Baby Stage: Seed Investing. The Toddler Stage: Early Investing. The Grade Schooler: Expansion Stage. The Teenaged Years: Final Stage Financing.Give Us Some Examples, Please. The Venture Capital Process. Evaluation and Due Diligence. Negotiations and Love Songs: The Final Stages. The King of Internet Venture Capital. Who Have They Been Handing Out Money to Lately? How Do You Get Sequoia Capital's Attention?18. Perils and Pitfalls. Internet Criminals and Other Security Issues. More Security Concerns.Restricted Access and Other Issues. Keeping the Building Secure. I Think the Cleanup People Swiped My Laptop.Your Friend, the FBI.Subscribing to CyberNotes.Viruses and Trojans. The World Has a Lot of Laws--Try Not to Break Any. A Failure of Scalability.The Christmas Stocking Problem.Some Final Tips to Help Keep You Out of Trouble.V. THE BIG PAYOFF. 19. Become a Sellout for Fun and Profit. Evaluating Your Privately Held Internet Business.Can't Find Your Assets with Both Hands.Sighting the Right Site. Finding Buyers.Selling Your e-Business on eBay.com. Selling Your e-Business on Millionaire.com.Selling Your Public Corporation.20. Little Bitty Pieces of Company: Stock and Stock Options. What Is Stock?A Brief Look at Going Public. Taking Stock of Stock Options. Why Having Stock Options Can Be Really Cool. Why Do They Give Options Away?Fictional, But Plausible, Examples of How This Can Work.Things Quickly Pick Up for GroovyHawaiianShirts.com.Fine Print About How Stock Options Are Granted.Exercise Prices: Not Just Gym Fees Anymore! Vesting: You Don't Need a Suit to Do It.Opting to Sell Your Options.ISOs? NSOs? You Dunno?The Taxing Subject of Taxes: The ISO Is So Better!The Section 83(b) Election and More NSO Tax Stuff. Even More Reasons ISOs Are Better, Taxwise. How Does the Alternative Minimum Tax Work?Holding Periods Are Not Cuddling Times.How About an Example, Mr. Book Writer?Insider Trading: A Big No-No.Trading on Material Nonprivate Information. Cowless Tipping. Types of Material Nonpublic Information.Trading Windows: Portholes to Prosperity.Special Rules for Directors and Officers.Helpful Web Sites.21. Sell Your Cake and Eat It, Too: Going Public. Why Do Companies Go Public?Investment Bankers: You Can't Go Public Without Them.Lawyers and Other Needed Professionals. Advisors Are People Who Know Important Stuff. Wait! Have Your Remembered to Incorporate? How Much Stock Can I Sell and Still Retain Control of My Company? Meet the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Registration Statement. The Quiet Period. After You Go Public, Even More Documents. The End of the Story.Index.