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<br /> . ` team had lengthy experience with write,"Three out of four publishers with
<br /> Advanstar,a company known in the Web sites are currently losing money in
<br /> United Kingdom.Second,Newman liked their interactive ventures;yet most plan a
<br /> the credentials of their financial backers, significant increase in their online invest-
<br /> among them Jacobs and Wendell King,co- ment over the next year.Slowly but surely,
<br /> founder of Angeion Corp.and Gateway print publishers are coming to realize that
<br /> Alliance I,LLC,an early-stage incubator. the Internet is the perfect complement to
<br /> Newman saw in the bios of the founders use Vertical Publishing's system,which will print,and,ultimately,the gateway to rev-
<br /> and investors a combination of business target small to mid-sized publishers who enues never before attainable."
<br /> acumen and management experience vital don't have the resources to employ some- The size of the market,Vertical's manage-
<br /> to bringing Littoralis to market in the one to build and maintain a Web site.The ment team and the software attracted the
<br /> United States. total U.S.market for the product could be interest of Jacobs,who seems to be on the
<br /> $1.2 billion—a figure Arquitte gets by boards of more small companies than anyone
<br /> The software taking the annual cost of leasing the pro- else in the Twin Cities.He sees the success of
<br /> Littoralis For Publishers allows content gram($42,000)and multiplying it by the Littoralis in Europe as a strong advantage in
<br /> to be updated and managed in a"user-
<br /> friendly manner;unlike database-driven
<br /> systems, tes are
<br /> developed that canan be easily rays. efreshed i i These guys were diligent and resourceful
<br /> with new content on a regular basis.The enough to find the [one] person in the whole
<br /> archive system provides a search tool,
<br /> unlike many magazine sites,which orga- wide world who had what they needed.7
<br /> nize past issues simply by date.Clients
<br /> don't need to change their interfaces for —Harlan Jacobs, Genesis Business Centers
<br /> Littoralis to work,and it doesn't matter
<br /> what kind of design software was used to
<br /> produce the site. number of magazines in the market.Even pitching Vertical Publishing to investors."It's
<br /> Around a dozen publishers in the United 5 percent or 10 percent of the market not an average startup because it's been
<br /> Kingdom and Europe are using the system. could make Vertical's founders(and proven in the marketplace;'he says.
<br /> Arquitte,Vertical's CEO,says the ones he's Newman)rich.But Arquitte concedes that Like Newman,he thinks the experience
<br /> spoken to say the software has paid for itself they don't own the market.E-Publish,a that the founders bring to Vertical will sell
<br /> by generating new revenue. venture of the huge Chicago-based print- more than a few investors who still like
<br /> The publications using Littoralis include ing conglomerate R.R.Donnelley&Sons B2B ideas despite the recent stock market
<br /> China Economic Review,World Cargo Co.,offers a similar service,but their focus backlash.Also,the fact that the trio found
<br /> News and Soccer Analyst,a British is more on consumer publications. , Newman and convinced him to sign on
<br /> newsletter for brokers and analysts follow- "They have a large base of print cus- made a favorable impression on Jacobs.
<br /> ing the market in publicly traded soccer tomers and they're a threat;Arquitte says. "These guys were diligent and resourceful
<br /> clubs—a growing trend in the United "But they're just getting into it,like us,and enough to find the[one]person in the
<br /> Kingdom and Europe.Six back issues of their market is more consumer-oriented whole wide world who had what they
<br /> Soccer Analyst took less than a week to than B2B.They're going after consumer needed,he says."It was a match made in
<br /> assemble and index on the Web site using magazines while we're going after trade heaven:'
<br /> Littoralis,and the buzz about the maga- magazines,so we see ourselves in a differ-
<br /> zine's online presence led to a leap in sub- ent niche."
<br /> scriptions. Part of their pitch is that sites could pay Darryl Arquitte and David Held, Vertical
<br /> "MMP's solutions came well within our for themselves by selling advertising and Publishing: 651-225-4262;
<br /> budget—which was a fraction of what subscriptions with subscriber-only con- darquitte@verticalpublishing.com;
<br /> some publishers seem willing to spend on tent,says Arquitte."There's many ways to d h eld@vertica I pu bl ish ing.com;www.ver-
<br /> less effective Web project,says Jeremy make it a storefront"he says."You can ticalpublishing.com
<br /> Cowan,managing director for Prestige , have product listings,job listings,classi- Harlan Jacobs, Genesis Business
<br /> , Media,another MMP client. fieds and Internet advertising on the Web Centers: 612-782-8576;
<br /> site.You can have e-mail newsletters, tedgenesis@aol.com
<br /> 0 , U.S. market alerts,sponsors for[parts of]the site and Charles Newman, MMP:
<br /> Arquitte says at least 35,000 business subscriptions:' 44-273-380040; info@mmp.co.uk;
<br /> print magazines in North America could In their business plan,the cofounders www.mmp.co.uk
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<br /> Ventures July 2000
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