SoCal TechNews - Wednesday, July 14, 1999
Copyright (c) 1999 by Benjamin F. Kuo
http://www.socaltech.com
-- LA Ranks in High Tech Region Study
-- Bill Gross Intent on Buying Loyalty
-- Disney To Purchase Infoseek, Combine Operations
-- It's the Chips, Stupid
-- ExciteAtHome Purchases iMall
-- Special: Interview With John Kobara, OnlineLearning.net
Tidbits
Upcoming Events http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/calendar.pl
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LA Ranks in High Tech Region Study
----
Los Angeles ranked highly in a study of the Top 50 Metro High-Tech Poles by
Santa Monica based Milken Insitute, which ranks metropolitan areas based
on the output and concentration of high tech industries in the community.
According to the company, the top of the list is headed by Silicon Valley,
followed by Dallas, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, Washington D.C.,
Albuquerque, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta.
Bill Gross Intent on Buying Loyalty
----
Pasadena based Idealab's Bill Gross talks to Forbes in their feature "The
E-Gang", and talks about how his companies are buying consumer loyalty.
http://www.forbes.com/Forbes/99/0726/6402145a.htm
Disney To Purchase Infoseek, Combine Operations
----
Disney announced Monday that they would purchase the remainder of
Infoseek's shares, and then combine Infoseek and Disney's Buena Vista
Internet Group into a brand new company called Go.com.
http://www.upsidetoday.com/texis/mvm/jump?u=www.cnnfn.com/1999/07/12/deals/d
isney/
http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/executive_briefing?id=378a79790
It's the Chips, Stupid
----
Interactive Week's Fast 50 Ranking came out this week, and it wasn't
a .com at the top of the list. Irvine based chip maker Broadcom was
number one on their list of top tech companies.
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2290357,00.html
ExciteAtHome Purchases iMall
----
ExciteAtHome announced that it was buying Santa Monica based iMall for
$425 million in stock. The company said that the acquisition would help
them provide services to small and medium companies looking to set up
shop on the Internet.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/wr/story.html?s=v/nm/19990714/wr/tech_excit
eathome_3.html
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Special: Interview With John Kobara, OnlineLearning.net
----
In what I hope will become a regular feature, I'm featuring a series of
brief interviews with local entrepreneurs, executives, and others involved
in the high tech industry here--to get their insights into the Los Angeles
high tech environment, the startup environment here in Southern California,
and their advice and suggestions to others looking to start their own high
tech ventures. Perhaps what they say will inspire you to start your own
company, join a startup, and add your name to the roster of aspiring and
successful high tech entrepreneurs who make So Cal their home.
My first interview was with John E. Kobara, President and CEO of
OnlineLearning.net (http://www.onlinelearning.net), a company which offers
online courses and education via the Internet across the world. Tomorrow,
we'll hear from David Cremin at Zone Ventures, and learn what kind of
opportunities they sees here in Southern California, the kinds of things Zone
is doing to promote the environment here, and the companies they're
investing in.
John Kobara:
BK: How did you get involved in OnlineLearning.net?
JK: I was winding up a ten year stint in a series of senior administrative
positions at UCLA, when I was approached by the founder of The Home
Education Network (THEN) Alan Arkatov, to take his company to the next
level. THEN had acquired the worldwide exclusive and electronic online
rights to more than 4900 courses offered through UCLA Extension, the
nation's largest single - continuing higher education campus program. Alan
was initially pursuing a videotape concept where UCLA Extension courses
would be recorded and sold. He took the initial steps to transfer this
agreement with UCLA Extension to focus on the online rights and distribute
these fully accredited courses through the Internet. The job of CEO and
President was a custom fit for me because of my background in marketing,
technology, and higher education, specifically at UCLA.
BK: What are some of the challenges you faced converting
Onlinelearning.net into an Internet company?
JK: The challenges were mani-fold. First, was to come up with a viable
economic, academic, marketing, customer service models for online continuing
higher education. This had not been done before.
Second, it was to help UCLA Extension, which was quite proficient at
delivering face to face education, to convert its considerable talents and
resources to an online format--An online format which would preserve if not
enhance the academic and pedagogical goals and outcomes for which they were
renowned. For example, we focused on student retention rates and student
satisfaction. We decided along with UCLA Extension that the student
evaluations had to be comparable to their regular classes and their
retention rates, that is the number of students who enroll who actually
complete the courses successfully, should be at least as high. I believe we
have exceeded their expectations on both counts. No fewer than 85% of the
students who enroll complete the courses online which is higher than their
regular courses.
Third, to hire a talented and aggressive team who understand the concept of
the company. As an education company that utilizes technology, we hired
people who could contribute to the educational process through their
expertise and backgrounds and were committed to improving education.
BK: What has been the most rewarding part of your business?
JK: Education is the most powerful and transformative process in the world.
The
concept of linking individuals around the world who did not have the time or
the access to courses and curricula that they needed was incredibly
inspirational. Today we have students in all fifty states and 49 countries
most of whom could not take a traditional course. Our virtual classrooms
are global classrooms but they are diverse in many ways. We have students
who live in rural remote parts of the world and the nation that do not live
near a university. We also have an increasing number of students who have
disabilities and ambulatory challenges. Lastly, we have an increasing
majority of mothers and women who are trying to balance their priorities of
career, family, and education. The reward has been providing busy
professionals from around the world with the tools needed to pursue their
lifelong learning objectives anytime, anywhere, at any stage in life.
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Tidbits
...Apparently, Netcom Systems' old place out in Chatsworth is still
up for subleasing--they apparently didn't think they'd outgrow the place
and locked in a 10 year lease agreement... CarsDirect's parking problem
apparently was solved by some other tenants of their office space, when
25 cars were towed away... Zone Ventures new fund doesn't have the tight
geographic restrictions of the original... Apparently the HUD restrictions
don't
apply on this new fund... Juicy rumors or cool things happening? Email
ben@socaltech.com
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Upcoming Events This Week
Full calendar at http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/calendar.pl
** Am I missing your event? Tell me about it! ben@socaltech.com
July 13, Glendale -- "World-Wide Year 2000 Weekend" Internet Society Los
Angeles Chapter. See http://www.isoc-losangeles.org/is-meet.html
July 14, San Bernardino -- "How To Work With Investors" Software Council of
Southern California, Inland Empire Chapter. See
http://www.scsc.org/inland.htm
July 17-18, Los Angeles -- AniFest '99: celebrating the art and industry of
animation, presented by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) for
more information, visit: http://www.asifa-hollywood.org
July 17, Pasadena -- The First Eaton Canyon Workshop: A workshop in a
canyon setting for successful women technology entrepreneurs to network
with each other and with women considering becoming entrepreneurs
themselves. For more information contact Joan Horvath (818) 354-7431, email
joanh1@ix.netcom.com
uly 21, Santa Monica -- "What's in a Name?" Impact! Software Council of
Southern California Sales and Marketing Network. See
http://www.scsc.org/mktg.htm
July 21, Irvine -- "Is the Future of E-Commerce in E-Mail?" Ben Isaacson,
executive director of the Association for Interactive Media (AIM). See
http://www.extraworld.com/calendar.html
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