Subject: Clickshare Set Back From: Felix Kramer Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 00:28:04 -0500 (EST)
How the Web Was Won
Subject: Clickshare Set Back From: Felix Kramer Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 00:28:04 -0500 (EST)
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Over the past year, as Marketing Director of Clickshare, I've kept you
informed of the progress made by this service that many people have seen as
a promising solution to the problem of how to buy information online.

Measured by "Internet Time," it's been dangerously slow going. But to this
day, the opportunity remains: there is nothing else like Clickshare out
there, aggregating microtransactions. Though it is less likely, we might
still get the chance to find out if Clickshare could be broadly adopted. (I
still believe in it.)

However, I'm sorry to inform you that we recently reached a fork in the
road--and took a wrong turn. Here's my abridged version:

* During the first half of 1996, we had an opportunity to involve
badly-needed partners, but we spent untold hours and months on negotiations
that ultimately went nowhere because of internal disagreements at
Clickshare.
* Since then, in spite of the resulting frictions, our technical team
completed work on our software and integrated that software into three web
sites including a demonstration server of The Christian Science Monitor.
* On September 13, on the occasion of Venture Market East, we publicly
announced that the Clickshare Service was commercially available.
* We had laid the groundwork to move forward within the online community:
potential content and service providers, strategic partners, analysts,
journalists and funders.
* You can see the overall results at  and the
"mindshare" results -- coverage in the top online publications -- at
 (or, quite soon, at my
own web site  if these are not
reachable).
* But for months, prospective publishers and investors had told us, "come
back to me when you have a professional management team and some paying
customers." We were amateurs -- people without the experience or profile to
negotiate the deals and build the organization. In August we finally began
a national search for a CEO.
*Guess what? We found just the right person, who had built an online
information service from the ground up (it was later sold for seven
figures), and who was willing to take a chance running a startup. We were
ready to go -- we'd even set the stage for an ideal attention-getting
launch of our reincarnation.
* Unfortunately, we were waylaid by "founderitis." One co-founder (the
controlling stockholder) was so committed to his views and so unwilling to
relinquish control that everyone else eventually left -- including, most
importantly, the incoming CEO, the core technical staff who had designed
and built the system, and yours truly.

Personally, I must come to terms with having little to show for a year of
my life -- though I've gained many attentive readers online and some good
friends. I also gain some satisfaction from the knowledge that I have never
had to exaggerate or misrepresent Clickshare. And I'll try to steer clear
of people so convinced of the inevitability of their company's success that
they often can't perceive their own best interests.

What happens to the key players who have left (all of whom, in my opinion,
acted honorably and openly)?

* David M. Oliver  and
, co-founder, former President, and until recently
Managing Director-Technology (the principal architect and developer of the
Clickshare Service), has lots more ideas about electronic commerce, user
management, and delivery personalization and is looking for interesting
opportunities.
* Michael Callahan , co-founder and former Member, Board
of Directors (currently based in the Bay Area), has resumed his studies in
math theory while continuing his consulting for Stelias Workgroup and
becoming involved with the Coda distributed file system project at
Carnegie-Mellon University.
* Felix Kramer , until recently Marketing
Director and Member, Board of Directors (currently based in NYC), has begun
looking for the next unusual, unique or never-been done-before project to
launch and promote.
* John Kemp , until recently, Clickshare programmer,
continues as Internet Manager of 
AdventureGoat Online, a web-based adventure travel information service, and
also has many more ideas.
* Our incoming CEO remains anonymous.

All of us except Callahan will be making the rounds at Internet World in
NYC this week; you can write us to arrange to meet us then or at some other
time to talk about Clickshare or discuss other opportunities.

As shareholders, it is in our economic self-interest for Clickshare to
succeed without us. Clickshare continues discussions with content and
service providers and investors. The outright sale of the software remains
a strong possibility. I hope that some savvy publisher, ISP, credit card
company or other entity will come to terms with co-founder William P.
Densmore, Jr. , who will shortly regain his titles
of Chairman and CEO of Clickshare.

Thanks for your interest, patience and support. Feel free to forward this
to any interested parties.

Felix Kramer
Former Marketing Director and Member, Board of Directors

(This document is also online at
)

--  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --
Felix Kramer/Kramer Communications       felixk@panix.com
Online promotion & marketing    http://www.nlightning.com
voice: 212/866-4864                     fax: 212/866-5527
--  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  --


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